2017-09-01 Coral Magazine

Yellow Boxfish (Ostracion cubicus)

Indo-Pacific. 45 cm (17.7 inches)

mantle (although not always) and echinoderm tube feet.
They typically ignore cleaner shrimps as food, but instead
seek them out and solicit their parasite-picking services.
I have never had a boxfish “nuke” a reef tank, but the
toxin is known to kill invertebrates (more on this below).

POISONING AND OTHER PITFALLS
If you choose to keep a boxfish, the first thing you must
do is try to reduce the chances that it will exude its toxin
and wipe out its tankmates. The most important thing
that you can do is to keep your boxfish with passive tank-

mates. If other fishes are harassing an ostraciid, it is more

likely to exude ostracitoxin. Some obvious species you

will want to exclude from a boxfish tank include morays,

large dottybacks, snappers, aggressive angelfishes, large

damselfishes, surgeonfishes, triggerfishes, and puffers. A

less obvious group of fishes that should be avoided, be-

cause they are known to pester boxfishes, are the cleaner

wrasses (Labroides spp.), as discussed below.

One of the most dangerous times for the boxfish

keeper is when the fish is transported from the dealer’s

tank to the home aquarium. During this process the

Bluespotted boxfish (Ostracion immaculatus)

Northwest Pacific, Japan. 25 cm (9.8 inches)