Flame hawkfish - tell me your stories

brett559

brett559

New member
I am getting close to adding a flame hawkfish to my 42g setup. He'd be in there with two clowns, a mystery wrasse, and a royal gramma. I am planning on adding a coral beauty and perhaps a single female lyretail anthias.

I've researched them as best I could. People love their personalities - apparently they are easy to keep, but will decimate shrimp. I've resigned myself to a no-shrimp tank (see: mystery wrasse).

I'm looking to add some red, and I want a "percher." I had a longnose hawk in my prior tank, and he was a good little fish (until he somehow found the tiny gap in my mesh screen top and jumped out).

Do they get mean as they get older? Anything I need to know?

I currently feed PE mysis and NLS pellets.
 
I have had one in every reef tank I have had....along with shrimp. Ours used to follow us around the tank....my wife insisted that he knew her and would pick her out of a group of people lol. Unfortunately he jumped a couple of weeks ago. Never had any issues wtih him though.
 
They are super cool... and mine has never touched the cleaner shrimp in my current tank & in my old tank had a lot of peppermint shrimps as well.. Well, I've read that its better to have the shrimps in 1st & then introduce the flame hawk...
Mine loves to watch the reef & people outside the tank... really active & almost feeds with everything.
 
I have three. One in my 50G and a pair in my 120G. The pair have only been together a month, but it is cool to watch them swim around together. It was no problem putting them together. People always say they go after shrimp but I have never seen it. Yes, they are jumpers. As bad as Jawfish. As far as feeding goes, lose the pellets and stick with fresh and frozen foods. Worms are even better.
 
As above they are real characters and very personable. Mine used to wind up the my female clown, perch in front of her until she reacted and then do a lap of the tank and appear near her again until she reacted again, it was a proper wind up merchant.

They are quite intelligent (for a fish) so need a tank with places to perch and keep them entertained. I personally believe that the reason people say they become naughty, eating cuc, is because they are bored in the confines of a tank and not so much because they are hungry. In the wild they are fine with cleaner shrimp so they wouldn't naturally see them as food.
 
Great fish I had mine for about 2 years now. I have seen it strike my Blood Red Shrimp a few time but never my cleaner shrimps.
 
Wife wanted red fish, and I didn't want to risk a Flame Angel. So "Tony" the Flame Hawk became her red fish. Love him...cool little fish. Doesn't bother the cleaner shrimp that's at least twice his size.
 
I know they like meaty foods, and I do feed mysis, but I'm hoping to get my fish on pellets as well for when I go out of town. Any success getting flame hawks on pellets?
 
All my fish are fed breakfast and lunch via an auto-feeder. I use a mixture of flake and pellets and the Hawk eats both. I simply program dinner when we're away. Can only speak to my experience.
 
I have had my current flame hawk since 1999. My first one jumped after about a year. The only crustecean to survive long term is my CBS (since 2006) - he had a wingspan significantly longer than the hawk when I got him, so I always figured he's just too big to eat. They were both in a 30g together until I upgraded to a 75g a little over a year ago, all of that time with an ocellaris clown, and most if it with a cherub angel and serpent and brittle star. No agression issues.

While my flame hawk is definitely a assertive eater, but not agressive. Great personality. he comes over to anyone looking in the tank. My previuos one liked to follow my hand around when I cleaned the tank because if I picked up a piece of LR he could swoop in and get anyhting living under it (amphipods).

All of my fish, except my mandarin, are enthusiastic about pellets and flakes. I prefer it that way because au frequently travel for a week or 2 and need to be able to rely on an automated feeder.

A flame hawk definitely gets my vote!
 
I had one too years ago. Great fish as others have said and mine would always come to see me when I walked towards the tank. Very personable and got along well with it's tankmates.
 
You shouldn't have a problem getting them to eat pellets or flake ime but throw in some nice meaty krill to your mix for a treat.
 
I have a flame hawkfish and have all of the fish you mentioned except for the coral beauty and anthias and he gets along just fine with all of them in my 120 gal tank. The only fish that I have had trouble adding has been pearly jawfish. The flame hawk hates them. He stalks them and has killed 3 of them.
 
mine won't touch pellets but eats everything else. doesn't bother the peppermint's or the coral banded shrimp. intense red stands out in any tank.
 
<a href="http://s1194.photobucket.com/user/triksrevival/media/20150922_200208.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa369/triksrevival/20150922_200208.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20150922_200208.jpg"/></a>Ive had my pair for a few months with a pair of clowns, pair of tailspot blennys, 3 pygmy filefish, and a Midas Benny, everyone gets along great. I do have a cleaner shrimp that the male has attacked and taken a leg or 2 when the shrimp was trying to clean him. Also they are voracious eaters, I now feed my tank twice a day because of the two. These two fish are easily my favorite fish.
 
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