Hawkfish

[CrayolaViolence]

I've never owned a hawkfish before and was wondering how they did in a reef setting. Is there a particular kind that's better than another? All the ones I've read about say reef: with caution. I've looked at the long nose, the blood red, and the red. Currently I have a very peaceful tank, with minimal fish (and they are small) and two sea horses. I do plan on eventually adding 2 tangs maybe 3 for algae control. I have a huge (and somewhat bloated) clean up crew. Which is comprised of WAY too many hermit crabs. All I can say is it seemed like a good idea at the time to drop in as many as I did. I'd blame it on being drunk, but I don't drink. So, will the hawkfish do away with all of them, some of them, or none? Will it eat the snails. Which I also have a lot of but they are not as, er, shall we say, OCD as the hermits which can't seem to stop moving stuff around (and they're so small you wouldn't think they could).
While I don't really want the hermit crabs to become fish food, I'm definitely not gonna cry over them if I do. Other than those being possible prey, the only other small fish I'd be concerned about are the mandarin, and maybe the seahorses. Wasn't sure if hawkfish would go after them or not.
Any how. Does a hawkfish seem like a good candidate?

Thanks

 

[Becks]

I was worried about adding a longnose hawkfish because people say they will eat inverts etc who most likely say that that without owning a longnose. Mine was large and did not bother any of my hermits or blood shrimp, ignored all my other fish including two small clowns and no other fish bothered him. Any new addition gets put into place normally by my coral beauty but he too ignored my longnose hawkfish.

Not sure about any other species of hawkfish. But I would add a longnose without thinking about it personally, they may be different with sexy shrimp or small peppermint shrimp but longs your shrimp are big you should be fine.

 

[Silly clownfish]

My flame hawk has slowly picked off any small hermits I added. Some might make it for months allyor longer. I don't eally recall as it has been many yesrs since I added any. I think he waited for them to swap shells.

My coral banded shrimp was bigger than the hawk when I added him. They have been together successfully for about a decade.

My hawk is no problem with other fish. This one doesn't go after copepods, so no competition to my mandarin. A previous hawk did like the larger amphipods. It would follow my hand around the tank during maintenance waiting for me to pikc up rocks so it could swoop down on any exposed bugs.

I love the color and personality of my flame hawk!

Kim

 

[ThRoewer]

With small fish I would only consider the longnose hawkfish. All of the other will eat whatever fits their mouths.
I had one of the larger ones long time ago. That one ate my firefish and cleaner shrimp. The cleaner shrimp's antenna still hanging out of his mouth were the corpus delicti that gave him away.
Since then I avoided the whole family.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[Myles]

I've had flames that were aggressive with other fish and some that were model citizens. All the ones I had would eat shrimp and crabs.
Myles

 

[Cliving1]

I had a longnose for quite some time and never bothered coral or inverts. Great addition and personality

 

[juniorrocketdad]

I have a long nose that doesn't bother anything

 

[zooman72]

I have a Falco's and a Flame (I love hawkfish) in neighboring 40B's, and they don't bother anything (damsels, clowns, dottybacks, gobies, blennies), even though they are both quite large for the species, but maybe I just got lucky, so YMMV...

 

[scooter31707]

Knock on wood, my Flame is about 3 inches now and he hasn't touched a soul. Hasn't even looked in the direction of an invert.

 

[d-man]

I have 2 longnose in my tank. They are great.i have a harlequin shrimp and they leave it alone

 

[jar41]

will longnose bother corals? i only have lps,no clams,3 shrimps some crabs and snails.....

 

[juniorrocketdad]

They won't bother corals but they could eat your shrimp

 

[laga77]

I have seven Hawkfish. Two pairs of Flames, one pair of Longnose, and a Golden. All are really cool fish. If fed enough meaty foods, you should never have a problem with them.

 

[TauntingBeef]

I have more of an issue worh my lawnmower than my hawk

 

[Itsadeepbluesea]

It seems like it depends on the individual fish. I had a falco for a while. He was a really cool fish, but he did kill and eat my hermit crabs as well as bullied all the other fish in the tank. It was only a 29 gallon so the small quarters may have had something to do with it. But he was enough of a problem that I ended up trading him in to the LFS.

 

[zooman72]

Individual behavior is one variable, but so are tank size, rock layout, and other inhabitants sharing the aquarium. I don't have any "delicate" fish sharing the aquariums with my hawks, and that probably makes a difference.