Does the Longnose Hawkfish eat Cleanup Crew?

djatl

New member
I came across a comment in "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" that Hawkfish like crustaceans. Since that's a common part of most cleanup crews, I wanted to see if anyone's had that problem with the Longnose Hawkfish. He's on my stocking list for my new 65g FOWLR, but I'll be getting the cleanup crew before him. Should I just add the CC (at the right time) without worrying about it, or is there a recommended CC that will survive a Longnose Hawkfish? I actually like Hermit Crabs. :)
 
I used to have a Longnose and the only thing at risk really would be stuff like nudibranchs and shrimp. Hermits, snails, urchins, crabs, etc. should all be fine. I'm guessing there's some chance a crab caught during a molt might be at risk, but I never had a problem. Their mouth is really rather small and less powerful than something like a trigger or a puffer that can easily destroy every member of a CC.

It's also worth mentioning that small fish might be at risk. In my personal experience I kept one with a few clown gobies and a neon goby and never had any problems other than the longnose chasing them away from his perch.

Also I want to add that in reference to the book, longnose hawkfish aren't really comparable to most of the other hawkfish in terms of aggression and risk to tankmates and your CC. Unless specified, when books or people refer to the behaviour of hawkfish, they tend to be referring to the type of things you could expect from something like a flame hawk, arc eye, etc.
 
Thanks for the clarification. The example that book gave was an Arc Eye hawkfish eating every blue foot hermit crab in the tank. Glad to hear the Longnose may still be a viable option.
 
I have a 3" Longnose Hawk in my 90 gallon reef tank and he has been a perfect tankmate. I currently have 2 skunk cleaners, pistol/goby pair, emerald crab and numerous tiny blue leg hermits.

He has never bothered any CUC and doesnt get aggressive at feeding time either. I think they look meaner than they are but YMMV.

He was a great addition and I really enjoy him.
 
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