Crab or no crab?

Imtheguy35 · Jul 31, 2013

I have a long nose hawkfish and after doing a lot of research it seems to be a crap shoot... Some say medium sized some say none at all... Wondering what you all think and any advice on kinds of shrimp.. I was thinking trying a camel maybe? Not sure if he will be a 20$ meal though..

RiverRat · Jul 31, 2013

My long nose hawkfish is interested in all things small. Not sure about crabs (I don't keep any), but he still picked at my larger shrimp. I ended up moving them to the large refugium.

Mrfresh · Jul 31, 2013

I would say emerald crabs sold be fine
They are pretty defensive.

If u do get one put him in the rocks
Don't let him float down

I did that one time and my tang picked at him all the way down.
But once on the rocks my tang left it alone. He things anything floating is his to eat

Imtheguy35 · Jul 31, 2013

Would it have to be a larger emerald you think? Do you think a pistol shrimp would defend its self?

Mrfresh · Jul 31, 2013

Maybe find a pair or a fish and pistol shrimp
And same thing just open the bag close to the sand bed so it's not a long journey to the bottom.

Genesis Corals · Jul 31, 2013

You don't want a camel shrimp in a reef tank. I think a pistol should be fine, introduce it at night in order to give it time to settle and it should be good. Hopefully others with direct experience can chime in.

Zero Nitrates · Jul 31, 2013

I have a long nose hawkfish with a fire shrimp. They seem to leave each other alone.

RiverRat · Jul 31, 2013

Hi....I had a pistol shrimp with my longnose hawkfish. The shrimp didn't get eaten, but the longnose was always looking for him. The fish would perch on the rock outside of the shrimps cave. It was just creating stress in the tank, my goby (which was paired with the shrimp) even left the shrimp. I removed all shrimp from the tank and the longnose relaxed and enjoyed his frozen food. This is just my experience though, all fish are different, so who knows. Longnose hawkfish are supposed to go after small/slender fish and he has left all my neon gobies alone (as well as other gobies).

Imtheguy35 · Jul 31, 2013

thanks guys it seems mixed results I might standby and see if I can find a deal on a pistol and introduce at night after I let my hawk gorge himself!! Thanks...