Yellow Box Fish

[lilacamy931]

Oh No! That is awful Sorry to hear that happened but it is a point to learn from and thank you for bringing it up as I probably would not have considered that..

 

[Jonny967]

can I ask Jonny why you would expect to finish growing around 8"? Just out of interest. Also is the yellow spotted boxfish species or a different one?

Hello,
I would expect 8" to be the finished size of my boxfish as i would expect it to be at full size at around 2.5 to 3 years old. It is 1.5 years old now and is 5" long so as a guesstimate i think 8" would be about right. I am not saying that all boxfish would be this size and wouldn't be surprised if one grew to 15-16" or others stayed smaller. What would be interesting is to see these fish in the wild and get a true representation if size.

Also the yellow spotted boxfish is the same as the yellow boxfish but there are many other types. also remember that fully grown the boxfish is not the bright yellow of a juvenile.

 

[lilacamy931]

Thanks Jonny! Didn't know how long it takes for full maturity! Many many thanks

 

[kj23502]

As for the toxins don't believe everything you read it is extremely rare for a boxfish to release them i knew someone who found theirs stuck to the powerhead when it was little - the fish wasn't damaged nor did it release anything.

Devil's advocate

How do you and your friend know that it didn't release anything? A small box fish would release less chemical than a larger one(logically anyway). Diluted enough in the volume of water, it could've just been a minor stressor to the existing fish, but not enough to kill anything.

 

[Jonny967]

As for the toxins don't believe everything you read it is extremely rare for a boxfish to release them i knew someone who found theirs stuck to the powerhead when it was little - the fish wasn't damaged nor did it release anything.

Devil's advocate

How do you and your friend know that it didn't release anything? A small box fish would release less chemical than a larger one(logically anyway). Diluted enough in the volume of water, it could've just been a minor stressor to the existing fish, but not enough to kill anything.

True, we don't know that it didn't release anything nor how potent the toxin is. The fish was just under 1" long when it happened but size is not everything when it comes to venoms and poisons
What i would say is that a smaller fish would be more likely to get stressed by tankmates or injured in a tank and release toxins, as large boxfish like to show their dominace over other inhabitants. The character of these fish is second to none even upto my lionfish.