want to buy nano tank for cowfish

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chrisw81

New Member
just registered, first post.

ok so I am :wh by the girlfriend which is why i am here. we were window shopping and walked inside a pet store to look at some of the puppies. upon wandering around the store she saw a baby cowfish and immedietly fell in love. she won't stop, we have to have one. i had a 29 gallon salt water aquarium a few years back with good success (although my anemonae died) but eventually gave that tank away when moving. i loved the aquarium and wouldn't mind getting back into it with a smaller sized tank.


i was looking for advice on what would be a pretty inexpensive type of set up for a cowfish. size of tank, size of pumps, what kind of lighting? along with the LR and LS (how much of each?) i would want some corals and other color in there as well, but probably not too many more fish (if any at all, maybe a clown or "dori" because of the finding nemo movie).

i live close to the ocean so i figure i can get my water from there?

can i use sand from the ocean as well in place of the LS? how about if i walk around and find some fist sized rocks?


i'm sure i'll have more questions but i'll cut it there for now, thanks!
 
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AlexfromSATX

New Member
Welcome to nanotank.com!!!! I know how you feel my gf fell in love with those too! But those get way to big for our size of tank. The smallest adult cowfish will grow to be almost 6inches and can be kept in a recomended tank size of at least 50 Gallons. Also these fish feed on many of the invertarates we use in our tanks. As for "dori" probably not a good idea either because they require tons of space for swimming and grow to about 8-12 inches. Now I know they sell very small specimans of each, but then you would be looking for a bigger tank in very short amount of time down the road. Also The surgeonfish (dori) and the clown would be too big of food competition for the cow fish and would probably make it starve. There are just too many cons to keeping that fish combo, but I'm sure your GF will understand. I'm sure she would prefer a live fish to killing one. I would look into the nano fish guide here on nanotank I believe it is posted in a post about 2 posts down, but I'll post the link in a moment. If you have any other Q's please ask. Good luck!
 
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chrisw81

New Member
sounds good, thanks for the advice. wish me luck breaking this news to her.

we actually went to the local aquarium and saw a full grown cow fish, and we also saw one in an aquarium at the local nordstrom's, so i think she's expecting to hear that it will outgrow a small aquarium.

btw I just moved away from SAtx to up here in seattle after graduating college. i miss it there
 
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AlexfromSATX

New Member
yeah, my gf was sad when I broke the news to her. I asked the exact same question at my LFS about the cowfish. Where did you graduate from?
 
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chrisw81

New Member
well breaking the news to her didn't go so well, she's trying to pressure me into a 50 gallon tank. in a 500 sq ft apartment? ha! just going to have to find a smaller fish for her to fall in love with


graduated from UTSA last may, architecture, working at a firm up here now
 
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AlexfromSATX

New Member
Yeah, I'm at UTSA now. 1 more year !!!! Good luck with finding another fish, but i'm sure you will find one, Try gobies and blennies.
 
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