Cowfish

[benjoss]

Hey I am planning on getting a Cowfish (Lactoria Cornuta) and I was wondering what you guys (or gals) think about them? Has anyone had any? and how were they? Thanks a lot.

Ben

[DJ88]

HI Ben,

I ahve had two. Wonderful fish. Not reef safe.

How big of a tank are you planing on putting it in? They grow very fast and grow very big. 20" as an adult. In less than six months mine went from 1" to 6" and growing steadily. As a juvenile you will need to put foam over your powerheads intakes as they aren't strong enough to get out of the suction. They pick and taste everythig in the tank. Twice at least. My larger one used to pull the polyps off of my xenia for fun. It didn't like the taste but still did it none the less.
If you have a large tank you can dedicate just to these guys I say go for it. You will need an established tank with good filtration as tehy are very very mesy eaters. And produce lots of waste.

They are a very fun fish to have as they will be at teh front of the tank everytime you walk by "begging" for food.

If you want to know anything more let me know.

[benjoss]

Hey, Luckily my tank isn't a reef tank. I wll tell you whats in it. I have had it for about four months and I decided to take my time and not rush putting things in it. I have one Blue Devil Damseil, A Clown Fish, An Anemone, five snails, and four hermitt Crabs. I have live Rock in the tank as well with two feather dusters. I have a little bit on an Algea problem which is slowly disapearing. What do you suggest I feed the guy and what can I do to make sure he was a happy place to live? Thanks

[DJ88]

Hi again Ben,

Glad to see you are looking into this guy before buying.

The main thing other than that they are not reef safe is how big of a tank will they go into. As for food. They will eat anything. I gave mine pieces of Nori(Sushi seaweed un flavored) and anything else I put in the tank. Try different foods and see what they like. I ended up making my own frozen food. It had anything and everything you can think of in it.

They do grow big and grow fast. Ask Canadian and Silverfish on this board. They watched mine grow faster than any fish I had.

Be warned to.. Mine had a nasty littel habit of taking a nibble at my fingers. When they were small it was cute. Once the bigger one reached 5 inches it took chunks of skin

images/smiles/icon_eek.gif images/smiles/icon_eek.gif images/smiles/icon_eek.gif

hee hee.. Serious.. Great fish tho.. images/smiles/icon_smile.gif