Flame Hawkfish care

Empress · Jan 30, 2017

laga77 said:
Not if fed a well balanced diet.

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Really??? Are you sure? What are you feeding yours? I would love to have one....but....I got 3 shrimps that I don't want to lose.

leahfiish · Jan 30, 2017

Empress said:
Really??? Are you sure? What are you feeding yours? I would love to have one....but....I got 3 shrimps that I don't want to lose.

It is hit or miss.

laga77 · Jan 30, 2017

I have 7 Hawkfish in 3 different tanks. Their main food is blender mix of clams, shrimp, salmon. Followed by live black worms, mysis, and krill. Have some fun and throw a small feeder guppy in the tank and see him go after that. That is what we fed them back in the '80's before I knew better.

seaplane · Jan 30, 2017

I had a Flame Hawk for 5 yrs that I wish would have eaten Peppermint shrimp. Those demons used to shred Frogspawns and Duncans, never touched an Aptasia.

eatbreakfast · Jan 30, 2017

IME flame and longnose hawkfish have been fine with shrimp and small fish. Some of the other, larger species, weren't as safe once they got bigger.

Ethan Engdahl · Jan 30, 2017

Just had a longnose hawk fish jump and die after being in the tank over a year. Lesson learned...

rbadger · Jan 30, 2017

My flame hawk snacked on several of my peppermint shrimp and cleaner shrimp. Shrimp are a favorite of most marine animals...

SillyBeast67 · Jan 30, 2017

Thanks everyone for all the input and advice! I think I'm going to look into a diy simple mesh hood here in the next week or so. I don't have any cleaner shrimp, just crabs and snails. So far I haven't noticed any pecking at them.

Salt Kreep · Jan 30, 2017

My 4 year old Flame Hawk Jumped about 2 weeks after moving to a new house and a new tank. I say keep it covered. Flame Hawks are too cool and too personable to loose to something preventable like an uncovered tank top.

Bdog4u2 · Jan 31, 2017

Every flame hawkfish I've had has jumped. I haven't had a fish die besides jumping in years and my gap is only 1.5 inches..

SillyBeast67 · Jan 31, 2017

Bdog4u2 said:
Every flame hawkfish I've had has jumped. I haven't had a fish die besides jumping in years and my gap is only 1.5 inches..

At the moment I am unable to put a lid or cover over my tank. I'm gonna chance it for a week or 2 until I can get one built. Hopefully nothing happens. Had this lil guy for about a week now and nothing yet. He does like to swim towards the top of the tank and sits on my return nozzles which worries me a bit

Bdog4u2 · Jan 31, 2017

SillyBeast67 said:
At the moment I am unable to put a lid or cover over my tank. I'm gonna chance it for a week or 2 until I can get one built. Hopefully nothing happens. Had this lil guy for about a week now and nothing yet. He does like to swim towards the top of the tank and sits on my return nozzles which worries me a bit

Pretty sure mine got chased out by my huge domino damsel and catching him has being pain without tearing down the tank he's too smart

gus6464 · Jan 31, 2017

My Flame Hawk likes to hang out here a lot. Was afraid that he was thinking about jumping out but I think he just likes the current there.

NeuroticAquatics · Jan 31, 2017

I just got a Flame Hawk a few weeks back from someone that said they found it in their overflow box on a couple of different occasions. I've got my tank covered with eggcrate now.
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eatbreakfast · Jan 31, 2017

gus6464 said:
My Flame Hawk likes to hang out here a lot. Was afraid that he was thinking about jumping out but I think he just likes the current there.

It's not so much the current as it is the high vantage point. Hawks love to be higher than their surroundings. They can see more that way.

Jimbo · Jan 31, 2017

Great fish. Mine jumped. I didn't put my lid on correctly one night, left a 1" gap. He found it. Definitely a jumper

gus6464 · Jan 31, 2017

I have a couple of fish that are supposed to be chronic jumpers but none have even gotten close to the surface. I have had jumpers before in other tanks but the difference with this one is that I turned up the surface agitation to 11. Maybe jumpers don't like to get close to a super turbulent surface.

eatbreakfast · Feb 1, 2017

gus6464 said:
I have a couple of fish that are supposed to be chronic jumpers but none have even gotten close to the surface. I have had jumpers before in other tanks but the difference with this one is that I turned up the surface agitation to 11. Maybe jumpers don't like to get close to a super turbulent surface.

That hasn't helped in my case. I have a lot of surface agitation as well, but have still had a handful of dartfish make it through my 1/4" screen top, and will occasionally hear my wrasses jump, but they hit the screen top.