flame hawkfish compatibility

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slickace17

New member
I have a flame hawk fish in my 75 gallon with a snowfall clown blue damsel and chromis I was wondering if I could add a large blood redd fire shrimp my hawkfish is medium size
 
My Flame Hawk doesn't mess with my cleaner shrimp, Fire Shrimp or my Coral Bandit Shrimp. It really boils down to size and whether they could easily fit in it's mouth coupled with how well you feed.
 
I agree...if it is small enough they will eat it. My Flame doesn't touch my cleaner shrimp.....probably helps the shrimp is bigger than the Flame though lol.
 
i had a very large cleaner shrimp before i added 2 longnose hawkfish. they all lived together just fine for a few months and then...chomp!
 
In most cases the hawkfish will consume whatever it lives with. They get fairly large. Often the fish they don't due to size or speed will end up on the floor or stressed to death from being chased.

I have a flame hawk in a 75 that I can't catch... It was model citizen for over a year. Since then, I have lost a blue with yellow tail damsel (had it since the tank was started in 2005), Coral Banded shrimp. half of a clown pair and a hybrid lemonpeel angel... Everything left is much larger.
 
But the reality is that their natural behavior is to eat anything they can get ahold of. Therefore, the advice is to not introduce them into tanks where their natural behavior will be a problem. There will always be exceptions, but the general behavior is the general behavior :)

I put one in my system on a gamble and nature (as usual) won.
 
BeanAnimal said:
But the reality is that their natural behavior is to eat anything they can get ahold of. Therefore, the advice is to not introduce them into tanks where their natural behavior will be a problem. There will always be exceptions, but the general behavior is the general behavior :)

I put one in my system on a gamble and nature (as usual) won.
Click to expand...

This is the way it is. Great fish, but by nature an ambush predator.
 
I keep mine in the frag tank without ornamental shrimp. Great fish but I think eventually it would result in shrimp cocktail....
 
Most of the people who seem to have more success have an established shrimp before the hawk. Personally I agree with the above and would say its a bad idea to introduce one with a resident hawk who would more than likely see it as a nice tasty treat.
 
I put a peppermint shrimp in the same tank with my Flame Hawk and it was attacked immediately. Luckily I was able to rescue the shrimp before it was too late and put it in another tank. I wouldn't risk it with a fire shrimp. They are way too expensive to be fish food.
 
slickace17 said:
I have a flame hawk fish in my 75 gallon with a snowfall clown blue damsel and chromis I was wondering if I could add a large blood redd fire shrimp my hawkfish is medium size
Click to expand...
Flame hawks are really full of character. Many have stated that their flame hawks have been model citizens, but I had a different experience many years ago.

Loved that bright red fish. It had a real personality. Popped around from rock perch to rock perch and always visited the front of the tank when I walked in the room.

One day after work I decided to pick up a mated pair of coral banded shrimp from my LFS. They were pretty pricey back in the early 90s. Couldn't wait to get home and introduce them to the tank. After a drip acclimation I was ready to place them in their new home and went ahead and did just that. Well within about two minutes they were both consumed by my flame hawk. I actually couldn't believe how fast he gulped down this really expensive dinner. It was a lesson learned for me and I never tried that again LOL
 
I have 4 peppermint shrimp in my 180.... i put my flamehawk in there well after the shrimp and he hasnt even looked at them. i also feed pretty good so that might have something to do with it.
 
It has been said many times that the reason they eat cleaner shrimp, which aren't part of their natural diet, is boredom. Perhaps in larger aquaria they are kept more stimulated and this is lessened slightly.
 
I have had my flame hawk for 15 years,my CBS has been in with him for over 8 years, most of that time they were in a 30g, but they got upgraded to a 75 about 6 months ago. The CBS was bigger (arm span) than the flame at the time of introduction. The hawk has never bothered emerald crabs either (I did have a couple starve at one point when I ran out of nuisance algae..). I can not keep hermit crabs with the hawk, even larger ones. I think he waits for them to molt.

I never tried any other kind of shrimp since I have had the hawk.

He is pushy at feeding time. I put food in at opposite ends of the tank so my shier fish, especially my goby, gets some.
 
they have been in my tank for almost a year.... i also have a six foot tank dont know if that has anything to do with it
 
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