Killer Cow????

[snapcrackler]

Moo.. picked up a happy looking 3" scribbled long horn cowfish today, with minimal research AND on impulse because I had just had two margaritas with my lunch at Hacienda Las Glorias prior to stopping by LFS.

Now that he/she is happily hovering around with my 40 red leg hermits, 30 or so snails, etc I read that some cowfish: Eat crabs, eat snails, excrete toxins when upset.

I would like to keep the cow on the farm as long as it's happy floating around and eating frozen mysis and stuff, but if it's going to be all poisonous and crab-killing, I may have to gently relocate it to it's former home.

By the way, it has creepy flourescent blue eyes that look like little LEDs and I got it for a mere $15. 8)

He/she appears to be quite comfortable at the moment, but it's hard to tell if a fish that is shaped like an origami box with spikes and flourescent eyes is happy, or just ready to go on a cow-rampage and kill everything in my tank.

What do you think....... :?

 

[BillyZ]

I think you should never buy a fish on impulse. That's why I try very hard to avoid bringing my wife with me to the LFS.

We saw a cow fish ay my LFS once and it took every bit of convincing I could muster to keep my wife from thinking we had to have it.

Wish I could offer more advice. I'm sure someone here has some experience with them.

 

[snapcrackler]

How right you are...... hehe

Well, I hope this cow story comes out good.

If I wake up tomorrow morning with dead inverts, a toxic slime in the water, and the cowfish on the couch playing my nintendo gamecube, laughing, then I will know what happened...

 

[PrettyFishies]

LMAO! Margaritas and fish... Good Luck buddy... But seriously... I hope it all works out... who knows... a lot of times the book says one thing and the fish do another...

 

[snapcrackler]

I hear ya......

Now I must say... this cow is the sweetest fish I have ever seen so far, I have been watching it for the last 3 hours and it just hovers around and everyone seems to enjoy its company...


Even my 4 yellowtail Damsels just sit tight and stay away from Cow.

I think the majority of Damsel problems have to do with not enough cover. (My uneducated 2 cents worth)

Before i got a giant patch of Caulerpa, my damsels had good rock cover but they always scrambled to carry rocks away in their mouths to make little caves.

Tonight, with addition of huge batch of Caulerpa, they seem elated, and have been changing color...from very black-blue to bright electric blue. All are cruising around though the Caulerpa with smiles. They cruise slowly and happily....

Cow is unthreatened and cruising slowly through Caulerpa world.

All are so full they cant stand another bite of mysis or zooplank.

All is good in the cow tank.

 

[silverain420]

Check out the article on www.cowfishes.com

Jen

 

[snapcrackler]

Excellent article..........

That gives me a lot more to go on.

Thank you for the reference.

I'm gonna go check out the rest of the site.

8O

 

[ddcboys]

I had a Long Horn Cow fish for 2 years. He just recently past on due to a MAJOR Ich prob, but on to the best. The fish is quite interesting and a good conversational piece. My fish would just Have the upper part on the entire tank to himself and would eat first before the rest of the fish had a chance. He never bothered any of my crabs he diddn't even go that low until the end. I would feed him frozen brine shrimp and he would just rip it apart. All in all great addition just cruises around and when he get accilmated to the tank put your finger next to the glass and it he likes you he will come and kiss your finger mine used to do it for me and my wife, but not everyone else. His name was marvin and in his honor I leave the Alien . HTH.

 

[silverain420]

The author of that article wrote and even more in depth article I am currently trying to track down. If I can find it, I will let you know. It's called Curious Cowfish and was published in three parts in FAMA magazine (Nov 00, Dec 00, Jan 01)

Jen

 

[snapcrackler]

That is awesome. I will keep up with the mysis and allow him to get comfortable. He seems very peacable. He's not eating much right now but it's been less than 24 hours since splashdown.

Thank you for your information. I have posted a pic of (part of) my scribbled cowfish. He is peeking out because he did not like the looks of my camera.

Oh by the way did you have any anemones in your tank along with him? I'm slowly building a reef with LR and corals/anemone and I heard that they are not compatible with anemones.

Just wondering. Thank you.

 

[Porksound]

Very cute ad nearly irresistable. But if you're planning to keep corals he's a HUGE mistake. He might be the very unusual exception to the rule, but cowfish eat corals, clams, crabs etc... they jump out of the tank pretty well, and if upset enough they will exude the above mentioned toxin and Kill Everyone in the tank, including himself. There's no way to clean up a cowfish toxin spill... but it is rare that they do this.

The worst part is LR filtration isn't enough for these guys. Their waste is high in ammonia and they tend to produce a lot of waste for their size. frankly, cute as they may be they'e a headache as well.

I hope he works out for you.

p

 

[snapcrackler]

Yup I will be keepin soft corals, and I already have crabs... a couple of them seem to have mysteriously disappeared?

I might just trade him in for a more reef friendly fish at LFS.

 

[hawksview]

I had a cowfish in my tank for almost a year.He was the coolest thing on wheels lol.Everybody that came over just flipped out on him.Unfortunatley my novice knowledge at the time of how saltwater aquariums worked proved to be a tough lesson.55 gal tank and to many fish in it.I think i had to big of a bio load on my filter.I had problems keeping my ph level up.The cowfish got sick and died.About 2 days later everything in the tank was dead too except for a watchman golby.Not sure how he made it but i still got him to this day.I would love to get another cow and with what i know now i wouldnt be afraid to try it again.Like was said earlier they do produce a lot of waste so make sure you dont have to many fish in the tank with him.They are a great fish to watch.I say if he isnt doing any damage KEEP HIM