Spotted Box Fish: removal problems

ToeJam

ToeJam

MMORPG ADDICT!!
Jan 9, 2009
765
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Tacoma,WA
Ok i am reluctantly having to pull this dude out of my tank. I like him. He does love the tank I have and gets along with every fish.

I have to remove him cause my wife doesn't want her clowns to die. So I am forced to remove this guy from my tank. I am sure my clams will be happy to since he does nip at them near feeding time....he is annoying like that.

I keep him well fed to stay off my clams...but that isn't an issue. I like the fish more.

So here is the problem. ANY Stress will cause them to secrete poison from their skin. And they are expert level fish because of this. They can wipe out entire tanks *themselves to* from their own poison.

Pulling a fish out by net is stressful ....so my plan was wait for feeding time....put food in the net...and dip it in the tank...and let him move towards my net and scoop him out fast before he can pop any poison off.

Is there any other way to get him out without a possible wipe out?:huh:

Also the web says the poison kills other fish..but says nothing about corals.

This is what he looks like...cool little sucker.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/images/categories/product/p-75345-Cubicus-Boxfish.jpg
 
they are cool fish but I had no idea they were so poisonous.... food for thought though, wouldn't he secrete the poison in the bag or other container you put him in and potentially new tank? I sounds to me like you would lose him no matter what if he is bothered.
 
Whilst they are known to secrete a toxin, I've had 2 that never did, even when they were dying. (first one was when I was a newbie and given VERY bad adc=vice and wasn't up on water levels!!! The second was a lot more recent and got zapped by a Mantis Shrimp!!!

We get them in at the LFS where I work, straight from abroad. They get bagged, boxed, put on a plane, taken off a plane, put in a car and driven to our shop. There they are acclimatised and put in tanks. Never had one "leak" yet:)

When I had to remove my last one from my main tank, I just caught in the net, put him in the sump overnight (my other fish thought he was food) and bagged him the next morning and took him back to the shop.

So yes, there may be a risk, but in my personal experience it is a teeny tiny one:)
 
Ditto.. never heard or seen anyone ever have a boxfish release poison in captivity. Not saying it never happened or couldn't happen, just is very much not the norm. I would avoid trying to catch it with a net though.. a trap, plastic "acclimation" container, 2 litre bottle, etc would probably be less stressful on the boxfish than a net.
 
I would prefer to keep him cause he is funny to watch....and he already goes to the top of the water waiting on me once I come home from work....spits a little water on the surface...goes and nips the big clam and pisses it off...then back up again.

My wife likes the clam over him.....i read that they eat clams so...I may be forced to take him out.....i have to decide by tomorrow ....I can get a full refund so that isn't an issue since the store owner and I get a long well...its mostly full credit refund...

such a cool fish with personality ...unlike the other boring ones I have.. this one goes crazy when I walk by the tank....but not when my wife does...oddly recognizes me....didn't think a fish would do that.
 
a boxfish leaking is like a puffer puffing they only do it when they know there in trouble
so what i wuld do is get a nice clear ziploc bag or a big glass bowl and net him that way
hele get confuzed for shure but its nowere near as bad as netting him
and yes boxfish, cowfish and pufferfish are all closely related, verry smart and have alot of personality i personaly wuldent even think of getting rid of him but its your call
 
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