question for longnose hawk owners

[nickyblase]

Hi all,

Been reading several old threads about this, and am looking for some fairly specific informaiton.

I'm interested in adding a longnose hawk to my reef tank. It will be my last fish. I've got 2 pretty large skunk cleaner shrimp in there that I've had a year and a half.

I'm curious if the fact that the shrimp are larger than the hawk I'm looking at, and are already in there would make any difference. I've heard some yes, and some no, but most of the people who have said this were not necessarily people who had added a (smaller) hawk to a fish with (larger) shrimp. Any personal experiences would be very much appreciated.

I had also read somewhere that someone had a watchman goby killed by their hawk. Has anyone else experienced anything like this???

If I needed to, I could always move my cleaners into my other tank, but I am not at all interested in moving the goby.

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[hawkfish21]

I have had my longnose hawk for a year now. He has never touched anything other than the food I give to him.

 

[sirbooks]

It will make a difference as far as the odds, but there's still a chance that the shrimp will be consumed. Longnose hawks are particularly known for grabbing ahold of large pieces of food then bashing them against a rock or the substrate to make bite-sized bits. Shrimp are never guaranteed to live with hawkfish, except in cases where the shrimp is large (maybe a Stenopus species) or can defend itself and the hawk remains small. You will be running a risk by adding the hawk, though it may never bother the shrimp. Be aware that as it grows, the hawkfish will be more likely to eat the cleaners.

I sincerely doubt you'll have any problem with the goby.