Box Fish in an SPS reef

[skippyreef]

Hello guys,

I am looking at a Barred Boxfish as a possible addition to my new tank or an Ornate Boxfish. Does anyone know if these are safe or not for a reef. I researched teh Toxin concerns and the blue spot is the most toxic and most likely to do so.

[nbd13]

Mike- if i remeber right, Steve Weast posted some pics about his cold water reef. I remeber him saying that boxfish like cold water.

maybe i am not right, but i am pretty sure that they like cold water, do a search on reef central in the general reef discusion forum.

the pics were pretty cool!

Nick

[mesocosm]

Greetings All !

Hello guys,

I am looking at a Barred Boxfish as a possible addition to my new tank or an Ornate Boxfish. Does anyone know if these are safe or not for a reef. ...

It depends on what you mean by "reef safe." In terms of the corals, boxfishes in general are typically ... typically ... no problem. In the wild, they are generally algae and zooplankton eaters. But if you have, or plan to have, crustaceans ... then that's a different story. Boxfishes will LOVE any crustaceans ...

... for lunch ...





Some generalized extracts:

For genus Ostracion ("Cubicus" boxfish, "Blue-Spotted" boxfish ... etc)

Inhabits lagoon and semi-sheltered seaward reefs. Juveniles often among Acropora corals (Ref. 9710). Solitary. Feeds primarily on algae with a compliment of microorganisms, invertebrates, mollusks, sponges (Ref. 5503), sand dwelling polychaetes, crustaceans, foraminiferans, and fishes (Ref. 37816).

Fishbase.org Extraction

... and ...

Inhabits clear lagoon and seaward reefs from the lower surge zone to at least 30 m. Solitary. Feeds on didemnid tunicates, polychaetes, sponges, mollusks, copepods, and algae (Ref. 37816).

Fishbase.org Extraction

For genus Tetrosomus ("helmet" boxfish, Turretfish ... etc)

Usually occurs in seagrass beds and sandy bottoms in coastal waters. Feeds on benthic invertebrates.

Fishbase.org Extraction

HTH

[skippyreef]

Well I am going to have to weigh things carefully because I wanted to do cleaner shrimp LOL

[cookie extreme]

hi skippyreef,
i once had a small yellow boxfish. very very cute with lots of personality.
but and this is a big but. i must have stressed him out while doing a big clean up of his 330 liter tank he shared with a clown wrasse, mandarin and a couple shrimps (he never touched them or the like, but ate all tube worms he could find and was very efficient in doing so) and he must have released some toxin into the water. clown wrasse was dead within 20 minutes, boxfish followed shortly after then mandarin died in my other tank (i hoped a transfer in to new water would help) 2 hours later. the shrimps and corals showed no sign of any ill effect at all. lesson learnt = do not stress your boxfish!!!

[skippyreef]

Thanks Cookie!!

I appreciate teh advice. I am leaning away from them at this point even though I love the little guys!!