Hawkfish choking??? HELP!

[mikearoni]

I got home 5 minutes ago and noticed that my long nose hawk fish was nowhere to be found. I though nothing of it, he's usually chasing the inverts behind the rocks. As I was feeding the brine shrimp in the tank, which is his favorite, still did not come out. I look behind a rock and there he is with something stuck in his mouth and he is breathing really hard like he's choking. I tried to catch him but he just gets away and hides behind a rock. Any of you ever heard of or seen this happen before? Any ideas on how to help him out?

[ScruffyRubicon]

Wait it out or catch him and see if it can be easily removed.

[tlgreve]

Hmm, I once saw an arc-eye hawk eat a cleaner shrimp as big as it was, it took a LOOONG time, but he was finally able to get it down. Can you see anything sticking out his mouth? If you can catch him as Scruffy was saying, he might spit whathever it is out.

[Loverotties]

Originally Posted by ScruffyRubicon

Wait it out or catch him and see if it can be easily removed.

Ditto! and good luck!

[mikearoni]

well yesterday i couldnt catch him so I let him be, hoping that it would come out itself. around midnight I was checking on him and he was perched on a rock and a crab was nearby walking towards him. now this is weird, I went to wash the dishes, and when I came back which was 5 minutes, the hawkfish is free of whatever he had in his mouth and I see that same crab that was near him eating that very same piece he had in his mouth. could the crab have helped him out?? that would be kinda funny.

[xipander]

That would be awesome if it did. But glad the hawkfish ended up ok in the end.

[tlgreve]

me too!