Longnose hawkfish questions, how shrimp safe are they? how big they get?

[lilleahseafreak]

i plan to take all my rocks out and re-arrange the tank and while i am at it i am going to catch my more aggressive fish and trade them in as i have lost alot of fish over the years and wish to re-stock BUT i cannot add any new fish with them in there as the new fish would be torn to bits

one new fish i'd like to try is a long nose hawk fish

i have a falco hawk (he is leaving the tank) and he leaves my shrimp alone, my gold CB shrimp is small enough to eat but he leaves it alone and leaves the big CB shrimp and cleaner shrimp alone. (they were there first and i have heard hawks will leave shrimp alone if the shrimp were there first which may be true as i got a peppermint shrimp as big as my cleaner and he ate it!)

so my questions are

how big do long nose hawks get? one site says 2-3 inch one says 4-5 inch, 5 inches is too big for me....

how are they around shrimps? i mean are they rabbid shrimp hunters?
will it likley be like my current hawk and leave them alone if they were there first and are not too small???


is there anything else i should consider before switching my falco hawk for a long nose???

 

[bkmorris]

great fish. they do get to about 5 inches though. also, they are major jumpers. that's how i lost mine. mine never bothered any of my shrimp, large or small. never even looked at the other fish. they are very personable and entertaining.

HTH

 

[GreshamH]

Notorious shrimp eaters. Probably will stay away from larger, but they are known for eating smaller shrimp. Shrimp are one of their natural food sources in the wild.

 

[Underwaterparadise]

I'm with Gresham! IMO all Hawk fish are known shrimp eaters. If they are small they are toast if the shrimp is big you may be ok!

 

[juaninsac]

They have a small mouth, but boy is that deceptive. They do the same as lots of wrasses (like bird wrasses) if prey is too small. Grab it in their mouth and bash it against rocks until it fits. Pretty gruesome.

 

[funman1]

I love my long nose Hawk. When people come over they are first to notice him.
He has eaten every shrimp we have put in there except for a large cleaner shrimp. He will leave large cleaners alone, but that's about it.

He even eats hermit crabs, when they try to switch shells.
The hermits don't fit in his mouth but he bashes them till they do.
It's kinda fun to watch him eat a $1.00 hermit.


Bottom line: SHRIMP EATER