The Puffer Forum

I finally saw a long horned cowfish for the first time at my supplier and i thought it was the coolest thing. Are these related to the puffers in anyway? Unfourtantly i was advised not to put one in my tank with my clown Trigger as they are easly frightend. Are there any marine puffers that can get along fine with a clown trigger. I like to get a saddled or crowned puffer.

Long-Horned Cowfish (Lactoria cornuta) are in the family of fish called Boxfish which are related to puffers but they do not puff. Instead they will, when threatened or frightened, release toxins into the water to ward off predators. This is a very dangerous thing in a closed environment like a tank, and even more dangerous with aggressive fish like your Clown Trigger, so you were definitely right not to get him. On top of that they grow to 18" inches so you're looking at at least 120 gallons.

As for a puffer to put in with the Clown Trigger, I would be extremely cautious as Clowns are notoriously aggressive (one of, if not the, worst of the Triggers). They grow to nearly 20 inches in the wild, but usually 16+ inches in aquaria, so you're hopefully already running a tank of at least 120 gallons for him alone. If you did want to try a puffer I would try a fast, inexpensive tankmate like a Damsel first to see how the Trigger does with a tankmate. If the Clown is small your chances of success are greater, but you added your most aggressive fish first which will really complicate things for you in the future when you try to add more fish. It would help to rearrange the rockwork completely and to feed him before the introduction of the new fish, but that will not guarantee success with this species.

I would not go for any of the Canthigaster puffers as they are too small to be housed with such a large and aggressive fish- one bite will almost certainly be fatal. If you have a lot of room in the tank and a lot of rock work with many areas to hide you might be able to try a larger marine puffer, but like I said, your Clown is going to be the one to decide what can stay in the tank. If one of his tankmates won't let him be the boss he will do it in.

So, like I said, try a fast, inexpensive tankmate with him first and then go from there. I would only try a larger marine puffer if you have a large tank (200+ gallons). If your clown is still very small it might work, but keep in mind all future tankmates are facing a future with a fish that will turn into a tyrant the larger it grows. It might be a good idea to either dedicate your current tank to the Clown alone (if the tank is large enough for him) or to get a different Trigger that is much less aggressive like the Picasso (or one of the others belonging to the genus Rhinecanthus), or the Indian Trigger (Melichthys indicus, a personal favorite). A great site to research the compatibility of your fish, and to read answered questions similar to yours is at http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/fishe ... /index.htm.

Don't forget to quarantine all new additions at least 4 weeks!

Another sweet thing about cow-fishes; as I understand it they are very timid creatures , and surprisingly NOT immune to their own poison. So; if bullied or for some reason scared, they might wipe out the whole tank including themselves.

The perfect captive fish!

I'd rather look at the bigguns in the ocean. I'm afraid when folks see those cute juvies, they have no idea what they're getting, nor do the shops tell them about adult size & possibility of wiping out their tank. I assume that means any corals they might have too? What about LR? Is it all rendered useless then?

Thanks for the info about the cowfish guys. There a really interesting fish. My dealer actually sold the two of them in less than two days. My clown trigger is actually a juv just under 2 inches. He's really getting a belly on him. I actually am keeping him alone in a 80 gallon with 20 gallon sump right now. I am setting up a new tank(200 gallon or more) in the spring of next year when i move. hopefully he stayes under 5 inches till then. I'll look into another tank mate when i have a new tank running. I'll proably stick another tuff fish in there before so he doesn't assume he owns the tank.