Flame / West African Hawk ... looking for experiences

[ekrunch]

I'm looking to add either a Flame Hawk or a West African Hawk to my 275g reef system and i'm curious as to what inverts they eat? I normally run cleaner shrimp and an assortment of astrea/nassarius snails. Any compatibility problems here? My cleaners are definitely full size but i'd say a determined Hawk fish could probably take them down.

Any compatibility problems with fish? I'm running a Royal Gramma Basslet quartet, is that a problem?

Please share your experiences, I'd love to have one of these fish though! Great personality every time I see one.

Thanks in advance,
Ed

 

[bluedevils32701]

hawks will eat small cleaner shrimp! i would not trust them with small inverts. snails and hermits should be fine though!

 

[ekrunch]

Thanks for the information! I've been wanting one of these fish for a long time and have always been hesitant. My cleaners are pretty much full size now so I doubt it will be a problem. If I have to replace one it could get interesting, but i've got 3 full size ones now so I should be good to go for a while.

 

[Airwolf75]

I have a flame hawk in a 180g, with 2 blood red shrimp and a tiger pistol, acro crabs and trapezid crabs. he botheres none of the above. Just make sure any shrimp is too big to eat, and you'll be ok. He also shows no interest in hermit crabs or snails.

 

[ekrunch]

I was considering this guy, but I don't want to come home to him munching on my Basslet Quartet or my Gobies. I feed heavily with a variety of Frozen & Flake/Pellet foods, he ought to be able to find something in there to eat!

 

[Grouperhead]

I'd go with a flame...I think those African hawks can quite pretty large and aggressive. I have a 3" flame that I've had for at least 18 months now. Absolutely great fish. I had a pep shrimp in the tank he's in and he ate it in pretty short order (like 3 days after acclimation.) Never really had the desire to see if he would eat a cleaner or blood shrimp. It's hit or miss with these guys, and it usually ends up as a miss. Don't think your shrimp are too big either, the hawk will still grab them and bash them into little pieces on the rock. Hermits, emerald crabs, and everything else has never been bothered by mine.