Suspect ! Flame Hawk ?

[steve474]

Well over a period of time My Blue Leg Hermits, Feather Worms etc (Now you see um Now you Dont!)

After a little further reading I suspect my Red Flame hawk friend, any one had similar experience.? Great fish but i suspect some of my livestock is lunch.

Steve

[traip93]

i know flame hawks have a taste for cleaner shrimp.....and they do eat hermits

[robfern]

My Flame Hawk ate 2 peppermint shrimp, 2 cleaner shrimp, 1 emerald crab, 1 small clown fish and 1 large lawnmower blenny (which was about twice his size).

I am not joking. I know every fish has it's own personality, but this dude had to go. He was sent back to my LFS.

I have seen tanks that have no problem with Flame Hawks, but mine was later nicknamed Hannibal.

Regards,

Robby

A Glass of Chianti, anyone?

[tdwyatt]

common consumer of crustaceans (alliteration accurately applied)

[bamann345]

Man, I wanted to get one...but I have some blue leg craps and some emerale crabs......I guess I will pass on the fish.

They have soo much personalitly though! This there another good fish to replace them with?

[tdwyatt]

Originally posted by bamann345
They have soo much personalitly though! This there another good fish to replace them with?

It depends on what you're looking for. The hawkfish are ambush hunters, using their stealth and long-term immobility to give passing prey a false sense of security. Many of these fishes will perch on corals in the wild and wait for shrimps to appear, sometimes for hours if prey is sensed nearby.

For personality, any fish will learn to recognize you at feeding time, and will respond accordingly. It is just a matter of time before they learn to associate your appearance with food, and respond with enthusiasm (just go easy of the food, VERY small amounts, like one flake or one pellet). Some of the gobies will have similar habits to the hawkfish, and although they may not be as bright (well, SOME are!), they make up for this with their attitude. I personally am partial to having yellow headed sleeper gobies on different ends of the tank, as they will continually have little "swaps" of rubble and shell in the tank for their burrows.

[GOHOKIES]

Tom, I've read that sleeper gobies are sometimes hard to keep, mostly due to feeding requirements. What are your secrets to success?

[tdwyatt]

Originally posted by GOHOKIES
Tom, I've read that sleeper gobies are sometimes hard to keep, mostly due to feeding requirements. What are your secrets to success?

Target feeding near the burrows, as they will seldom leave the immediate area of the burrow. It is best to have them locate their burrow in an area where you can introduce food items with a feeding syringe that has a piece of rigid tubing attached to the open end. Fill the entire syringe with your blendermush (go easy on the tank) and turn off the return pumps and in-tank circulation, squirt near the burrow, and move away from the tank and turn off the room lights. It is best to do this after all the other fish are fed, as occasionally the gobies will not come out in the presence of other more active fish.

Part of it will be your choice of other inhabitants in the tank, part of it will be structure of the rock and the location of the burrows as well. Some specimens will still not feed if there is not a gentle current sweeping suspended food past the burrow. Biggest problem with these fish is that in coral systems, insuring adequate feeding often means overfeeding the tank in terms of maintaining low phosphates/nitrates for sps and related coral coloration.

These fish are really quite amusing, and quite beauriful as well.