Wow, you guys have to lighten up.
The names cowfish, boxfish, and trunkfish are often used interchangeably. Whatever name you want to use, they
all have the ability to release Ostracitoxin. So yes, there is "THE RISK", which most people are afraid to take. But will it wipe out your whole tank, most likely not. There are very few cases of it happening but again they do have the ability, so thats why it’s still considered to be a risk to great for some hobbiest to chance.
I have treated others boxfish/cowfish and house these fish as well and over the years I have never had one release Ostracitoxin.
There are many more reasons besides THE RISK, that many people are warned off these fish but they were not mentioned but should be considered. Reasons below are:
1. They grow fairly large quickly. Example full grow the long horned cowfish & Ostracion cubicus.aka yellow boxfish can reach up to 18 inches The only one I have found not commonly collected is the Helmet Cowfish that grows to only 4-5inchs fully grown.
2. They can't go in BB tanks. Cowfish, as with other boxfish, uncover their meals of crabs and shrimps by blowing jets of water into the sand with their mouths. (Very cool to watch)
3. NOT Reef-safe. They will eat inverts (crabs, shrimp, etc) when older. When small at pet store their mouth is way to small to try to eat inverts, although I have experienced them try, they do little to no damage when small.
4. They don't do well in a tank that’s heavily stocked or with fast moving fish (i.e tangs, wrasse, etc) Never put a cleaner wrasse with a boxfish/cowfish as they hate them being near them. In the wild they are loner fish and keep to their selves. They are also slow swimmers, so not able to move fast to get out of the way of fast moving fish. They tend to be easy target to get bullied as well.
5. They can't be in a tank with heavy water flow, (power heads) Although Their unique method of swimming, called ostraciform swimming, causes them to look as if they are hovering but cowfish/boxfish do not swim well and would get blown around in to heavy of flow. They get easily exhausted, as stressed again they are not good swimmer.
But Cowfish, Boxfish are one of my favorite fish and under the right tank conditions I would recommend them to anyone. They one of the most interesting fish to watch, not to mention they are extremely smart & very personable fish. As they will spend most of their time watching to see what your doing with their marble blue/green eyes.
