red spotted hawk

[Skeptic_07]

My lfs has one of these ( Amblycirrhitus pinos ) for sale that looks healthy. I've read that hawkfish eat shrimp. I have a blood red shrimp that i bought a year ago. i think hes adult size, about 3 inches not counting his antennae. I read that adults can be fed ghost shrimp, the fish only gets to about 3.5" max size, i dont think it would be a problem, but i want to be sure because i like that shrimp and i hate getting stuck with fish that cause probs. Should i worry about this fish attacking my shrimp?? also, sould i worry about the shrimp constantly hiding because of this fish? thanks.

 

[Skeptic_07]

nobody has any experience with this fish? i feel like much of the advice i've been given is about hawkfishes in general and the writeups in books that i read always said "may eat smaller ornamental shrimps" thats not vague at all.... no... i mean, not even an exammple of what should be cautioned.. anemone shrimp? coral banded? peppermint? camel shrimp? there are many types of smal ornamental shrimp. i think the blood shrimp and skunk cleaner are biggest of the 'ornamental' shrimps. please help? there is very little info out there that is specific to this type of hawkfish. please? LFS guy says it will eat the shrimp but common sense is telling me no. i need more opinions, cant go on lfs guy alone they've steered me wrong many times!

 

[ACBlinky]

I don't think I'd risk it. I've seen small hawks and dottybacks destroy shrimp much larger than themselves -- even if they can't eat the shrimp in one piece they may still kill it or at least try to. I think in this case it's safe to trust your LFS guy - sounds like he's willing to risk losing a sale in order to do what's best for the animals concerned, nice change from all the ones out there who just want to make a fast buck.

 

[Skeptic_07]

Thank you, i'll let this one go. Its a really cool fish though! Red spots allover its face.. reminds me of me in high school! lol...

 

[spotfin]

I had one several years ago. It was a model citizen, but I didn't have any shrimp in the tank.