Canreef, meet Ferdinand.

[fishoholic]

I love cowfish but I will tell from experience high flow tanks are a big NO NO with cowfish. He might look like he's doing ok with it but the reality is high flow stresses them out! It makes them work twice as hard as normal to try to swim in the currents and causes them a great deal of stress when trying to navigate around the tank which greatly shortens their lifespan. Also cowfish are notorious for getting stuck in the rock work (I've lost two this way, sadly one I had for over a year).

The more flow in the tank the more the cowfish will seek areas with lower flow. The more the cowfish seeks lower flow areas the more likely he his to get stuck in the rock work. I was lucky once with mine and was able to move the rock so he could get out, but sadly 2 weeks later I wasn't so lucky and he got stuck between rocks in a different area of my tank and died. He didn't take anyone out with him (but I do have a 600g system) but once they get stuck (dam horns get in the way and only break off so much) it really stresses them out trying to get free. The stress kills them fairly quickly too if you can't free them in time.

They are an awesome fish and very personable but IME high flow = inevitable death.

[asylumdown]

hmmmm, I'll take that in to consideration. I have been meaning to reduce the flow overall for a while, so this might be a good occasion. In retrospect, 2 MP60's and 2 MP40s on a 6ft tank was like nuclear bomb styles overkill. I've already got the MP60's turned down to a max speed of 60% to prevent a sand hurricane, but I'm still getting corals that are growing weird because of the current. I have even been considering selling them to replace them with MP40s.

[kien]

Ferdinand is getting around alright. He has his own thread!