Wrangy
Acrotrooper
So I have and adore a flame hawkfish (Neocirrhites armatus) and that I recently restarted the tank and am back at only having three fish in the tank. One thing I've always adored is the look of a pair of hawkfish (espcially longnose hawks!), combine this with the need to buy new fish and create a little bit of busyness in the tank I decided that I'm going down the route of getting my flame hawk a partner 
Flame hawkfish are sequential hermaphrodites, meaning that they all start life as females and the largest and most dominant become the males. Given that my flame hawk is now two years old (at least in my tank) and fairly fat and happy I'm rather certain that he's male. So I started chatting to Dave at Deer Park about it and pairing them up, he didn't have much experience with it nor seen anyone but said he'd get me in a cute little hawk (who is tiny
lol), that little beauty arrived last night and I have picked her up this morning! (I may have bought an acro as well though) so a big thanks to Dave for getting me one so promptly and so healthy
Now comes the tricky part lol, the pairing of the hawks!
My plan is to keep the new female in a small seperation container for the next week in the tank for Hawk Hawkins (my flame hawk named after the smart casual song lol) to adjust to the presence of a new flame hawkfish and hopefully I will be able to tell during this time how he will go with her in the tank. Once that week is up and I'm satisfied then I'll be opening the container but not removing it so she still has it to retreat to and for an easy catch lol.
With any luck I will be able to have these two pair up for life over the coming months as they do pair for life in singular pairs and sometimes harems If anyone has had any experience with this please chime in!
UPDATE: (just while I created the this thread elsewhere as well)
Well she's in the tank and has acclimatised really well You can tell as she already has the deep red colours back as opposed to the paled out colour she was when in the bags.
And of course the typical look you get from hawkfish!
Well we've had the first interaction and they were very inquisitive of each other which is good! Hawk Hawkins showed no outright aggression which is exactly what I want! I threw a little single piece of flake into the container and she went straight for it which is excellent, she spat most of it back out lol but it's really good knowing that she's willing to eat and try what's given to her!!
Flame hawkfish are sequential hermaphrodites, meaning that they all start life as females and the largest and most dominant become the males. Given that my flame hawk is now two years old (at least in my tank) and fairly fat and happy I'm rather certain that he's male. So I started chatting to Dave at Deer Park about it and pairing them up, he didn't have much experience with it nor seen anyone but said he'd get me in a cute little hawk (who is tiny
lol), that little beauty arrived last night and I have picked her up this morning! (I may have bought an acro as well though) so a big thanks to Dave for getting me one so promptly and so healthyNow comes the tricky part lol, the pairing of the hawks!
My plan is to keep the new female in a small seperation container for the next week in the tank for Hawk Hawkins (my flame hawk named after the smart casual song lol) to adjust to the presence of a new flame hawkfish and hopefully I will be able to tell during this time how he will go with her in the tank. Once that week is up and I'm satisfied then I'll be opening the container but not removing it so she still has it to retreat to and for an easy catch lol.
With any luck I will be able to have these two pair up for life over the coming months as they do pair for life in singular pairs and sometimes harems
If anyone has had any experience with this please chime in!UPDATE: (just while I created the this thread elsewhere as well)
Well she's in the tank and has acclimatised really well
You can tell as she already has the deep red colours back as opposed to the paled out colour she was when in the bags.
And of course the typical look you get from hawkfish!
Well we've had the first interaction and they were very inquisitive of each other which is good! Hawk Hawkins showed no outright aggression which is exactly what I want!
I threw a little single piece of flake into the container and she went straight for it which is excellent, she spat most of it back out lol but it's really good knowing that she's willing to eat and try what's given to her!!
