pygmy hawkfish and shrimp- just how small

[GeoffSFAs10]

ok i have a geometric hawkfish on order cause they stay small and i really want a hawkfish ( even though i know these are not hawkfish ). anyway i searched and i have seen the picture several times of the geo with the shrimp antenna sticking out of its mouth. im wondering just how small of a shrimp these will eat? i have two peppermint shrimp which are decent sized in my tank and i don't want them to get eaten. i peppermints are getting close to an inch in length i would say, maybe 3/4. im just wondering if theyd be safe with one and a not a $5 meal.

 

[Jeffrey Porter]

if the hawkfish is small and the shrimp are established they should be fine. i put 5 anemone shrimp in my tank last sunday. for some reason they all dispersed when i put them next to the anemone. next morning one had found the anemone and the rest were gone. the remaining one is 3/4 inch and the hawkfish doesn't look at it.

 

[Serioussnaps]

dont let him get hungry

 

[GeoffSFAs10]

yeah i dont think its gonna be a very big one. but ya never know. the last one the guy had got eaten by a coral banded shrimp so he must not get in very big ones. and with how much attention this tank is getting, i doubt he'll go hungry

 

[Peter Schmiedel]

Guess you refere to my pic?

The fish was adult and the shrimps where freshly added cleaner shrimps with the usual sales size - meaning rather small.

If the shrimps are bigger and already established in the tank there should be no problem.

 

[GeoffSFAs10]

yes thats the picture i saw in about every thread dealing with them. but hey why stop now. haha.


the peppermints i have now do have some good size to them. they are close to the lenght of the firefish i have, without the antenna. i think that if the fish is small enough then these shrimp are gonna have problem plus there are alot of places for them to hide which they usually do.

 

[Peter Schmiedel]

The shrimp need to be 1,5 times bigger then the fish. Plectranthias inermis is feeding on myside shrimp and will regard all smaller shripms as food.

 

[GeoffSFAs10]

well he got them in yesterday and called me. im gonna go look at them sometime after noon and just use a good guess in sizes to compair them. if he doesnt work out, maybe i'll just get a scooter blenny haha