hawkfish with other small fish

[hotdogmj71]

I'd like to get a hawkfish but I have some smaller fish including a 2" blenny and some small wrasses. Are any of the smaller hawkfish appropriate to place with these smaller fish? I'm looking at these 4 - Amblycirrhites pinos (redspotted)
Oxycirrhites typus (longnose)
Neocirrhites armatus (flame)
Cirrhitichthys falco (falco)

They have an expected adult size of 3" to 5". Liveaquaria states the falco can eat small fish but with an adult size of 2.5", how big can their mouth open?

Any experiences out there?

Thanks

 

[Potatohead]

They shouldn't/won't be aggressive to fish (in terms of actually eating them), at least I haven't seen it and I have had a couple. They will likely eat small snails and possibly shrimp or crabs, personally I have only seen the first.

I prefer the Flame myself, the most expensive but also cool coloration and not very aggressive.

 

[McPuff]

i've had a few hawkfish and none of them have ever tried to eat a small fish. They will hunt for small food all day long in the rocks... but they will not eat your fish.

 

[ThRoewer]

I had a hawkfish in the past that took my firefish and cleaner shrimp for food - the antenna of a cleaner shrimp still hanging out of his mouth were the corpus delicti that gave him away.

The only ones I would consider relatively safe with smaller fish and shrimp would be Oxycirrhites typus and Neocirrhites armatus.

Oxycirrhites typus would be my first choice with Neocirrhites armatus a close second.

I would keep hawkfish now only in pairs - their behavior is much more interesting. O. typus is often offered in pairs. Hawkfish are capable of changing sex both ways, but female to male is the normal change and goes faster than the other way around. With two males you would likely encounter a lot of aggression and would have to separate them with a clear divider until one has reverted back to female.

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[mitchrapp]

My longnose hawkfish constantly attacked my royal gramma, but I added the gramma after the hawkfish were established. Not sure if adding the hawkfish later would have made a difference.

 

[scooter31707]

Mines have ate some shrimp before, but no small fish. He's in with a purple orchid, firefly, chalk bass, little twin spot goby. On this note, he was added after all of those mentioned (don't know if that made a difference).

 

[hotdogmj71]

Thanks for the responses. So now that I feel better about adding a hawkfish, what experiences does anyone have with multiple hawkfish species?

 

[scooter31707]

Thanks for the responses. So now that I feel better about adding a hawkfish, what experiences does anyone have with multiple hawkfish species?

In that size tank, I would say no. I am currently doing a flame hawk and a longnose hawk in my 240. They do go at it sometimes when they cross paths. So in a 4ft tank your chances of them crossing paths will be a lot more, but every tank is different and it just may work out for you. If you do try it, be prepared to rehome one of them. Then that's going to be a hard decision b/c both have great personalities and you get attached.