Long Horn Cowfish -- Reef Safe?
- Thread starter SkullV
- Start date
SkullV
They Got My Number
SPS, LPS, or softies?
Pics?
TheFishTeen
New member
Never had that experience.
TheFishTeen
New member
They do get very large as mentioned above but not very quickly. They can live for many many years...
Dante_JoseCuerv
New member
I've had my longhorn in my softy reef for several years now and never had any problems. He poops a lot but that's about it. I say go for it!
asylumdown
New member
I know this thread is ancient history, but when you google Long Horn Cowfish care, this is the most recent one that comes up.
I just wanted to add my two cents as I keep hearing the "they're poisonous!!!" thing too. I've had my guy now since late february in a high flow SPS dominant, 275 gallon reef.
He is easily every one's favourite fish. A notorious beggar who will sit in the middle of the tank staring directly at you while you eat dinner in the dining room. Not the best swimmer in the world so I have the pumps go to 50% power at night, but seems to cope with 2 MP60s, 2 MP40s and a 2000GPH return pump pretty well. Was eating out of my hand his first day in QT.
So far he hasn't bothered a single coral, not SPS, LPS, or zoas. The closest I would say he comes to anything that could resemble picking on a coral is that he's figured out that bits of mysis and brine shrimp get caught by in the tentacles of the longer polyp acros and hydnophoras so after the main feeding frenzy over, he'll hover over them picking off any bit of food he can spot, which causes the corals to close up for a while. I've had no issues with skin poison and don't expect to.
We're moving so something is going to have to happen with this tank soon, but he's cool enough that I'd actually consider setting up a 250+ gallon aquarium just for him.
I just wanted to add my two cents as I keep hearing the "they're poisonous!!!" thing too. I've had my guy now since late february in a high flow SPS dominant, 275 gallon reef.
He is easily every one's favourite fish. A notorious beggar who will sit in the middle of the tank staring directly at you while you eat dinner in the dining room. Not the best swimmer in the world so I have the pumps go to 50% power at night, but seems to cope with 2 MP60s, 2 MP40s and a 2000GPH return pump pretty well. Was eating out of my hand his first day in QT.
So far he hasn't bothered a single coral, not SPS, LPS, or zoas. The closest I would say he comes to anything that could resemble picking on a coral is that he's figured out that bits of mysis and brine shrimp get caught by in the tentacles of the longer polyp acros and hydnophoras so after the main feeding frenzy over, he'll hover over them picking off any bit of food he can spot, which causes the corals to close up for a while. I've had no issues with skin poison and don't expect to.
We're moving so something is going to have to happen with this tank soon, but he's cool enough that I'd actually consider setting up a 250+ gallon aquarium just for him.
alex gonzales
New member
What about in a tank with juvenile angels that will eventually get big?, also how big exactly do they get?
ilikefish34
New member
I would say that there are other variables to deal with here. What is a Juvenile? Some say it is simply rather they have changed into their adult colors but the size difference between a Majestic that has done this and an Emperor can inches. The idea of starting off small should help your odds. Large Angels tend to pick on slow moving Cowfish, as do Tomato Clowns and Dominos. The size of the aquarium may be the biggest difference maker and the larger the aquarium, the greater the chances that it may work. Also, keep in mind, that some Angels are simply more aggressive than others. My guess (not my experience) is that in a very large and well fed aquarium, the Angels should ignore the Cowfish. In an aquarium under 300, I would start to give doubt. Hopefully someone with firsthand experience will chime in. Good luck!
alex gonzales
New member
Thanks for the input. My tank is a 400 gal, with lots of hiding places.
Monkeyfish
Active member
In my limited experience - most other fish ignore cowfish. I wouldn't put one in a tank with fast aggresive fish (triggers, larger thalasoma wrasses, etc.) due to food competition. Ironically, my OSFF hated my cowfish (tetrasomus gibbosus) when he was first introduced and would chase the cowfish around the tank. They get along fine now, but it took a couple of weeks for the filefish to calm down.
Dmorty217
Saltwater Addict
Just to touch on the poisonous thing, fish that are poisonous in the wild and use it for defensive measures don't behave the same in a aquarium IMO. Like it was mentioned people have had them die and not kill anything else in the tank. I have a Australian sea apple that is supposedly poisonous too, but I have seen fish pick at its feeding tenticals and nothing happened also found the sea apple sucked agains one of my 2" drains to my closed loop system and still nothing was effected and it was clearly stressed
asylumdown
New member
I may have spoken too soon when I said that my cowfish doesn't bother corals. In the past week he's decided that one particular colony of SPS is delicious. He's eaten the growth tips off the entire diner plate sized coral. I've watched him doing it, so I know he's the one causing the damage. I'm hoping it's just a phase, because it was definitely an out of the blue change.
Similar threads
