Flame Hawkfish... Bad idea?

[NickHolmes]

My LFS has a smallish Flame Hawk. I've always wanted one but I know the risks involved so I'm trying to get an idea of the success rate from reefers who have one or who have had.

Current inhabitants that I think would be at risk:
Peppermint shrimp
Harlequin shrimp (easy target, will sell if I get the Hawk)
Hermits
Snails

Less risk:
Royal Gramma
Chromis
Flasher wrasse

Tank is 60 gallons. Low nitrates have always been a problem so heavy feeding with meaty foods wont be a problem

 

[vtecintegra]

I've got two that don't cause any problems with others, being firefish, wrasses, cardinal, blennies, grammas, and each other. They pace around a lot though in 130g with lots of rock to sit on. Seem to want a bigger tank. I don't understand them.

 

[acanman]

I've never had a problem out of mine. I feed my fish good tho. But I have coral banded shrimp,cleaner and fire shrimp and he doesn't bother them at all. I wish he'd kill my pistol shrimp lol. I'm tired of him burying my scolys and acans

 

[lion king]

A 60g is a good size tank, he'll likely be a good addition with caution towards the shrimp. Mine is in a small predator tank and he eats live ghost shrimp and guppies that I feed the waspfish. The aforementioned large shrimp like the coral banded, etc are usually safe, but smaller dhrimp and inverts may be at risk. He may even catch a hermit by the leg.

 

[NickHolmes]

Thanks for the feedback, so far all positive. Would be great if we can get it to 20 votes

 

[ReefGeezer]

I had one in my 75. Cool fish. Lots of personality. He ignored shrimp until he got big enough to eat them. Then they were gone. And, he didn't get along with a male Lyretail Anthias for a while. They were both buttheads for a while, but really didn't do any damage.

 

[Tonycass12]

Mine would pick off a couple hermits every few weeks. Never got into the snails but I don5 think they will play nice with shrimp.

 

[dking271]

They’re awesome fish but can be hit or miss on personality. I have had several over the years and had to re-home one as it matured. Mine have all eventually become shrimp and snail killers. My current Hawkfish thinks the entire rock structure is his and bullied my enormous Royal Gramma to the point that I had to move the Royal Gramma. Prior to that the RG was the boss of the tank and bullied a good sized Candy Hogfish and they had to be separated. My current Hawkfish now has a SixLine Wrasse to bother, though the Sixline will flash at him and antagonizes him all day. There is no doubt that he is the boss of my tank. He leaves the hermits, astrea, Urchin, and clownfish completely alone but over time eats my cerith and Nassarius snails to the point of having to replenish every three months.

Having been down this road before as much as I love the Hawkfish, I think I would pass with your current inhabitant. Your peppermint shrimp would be a meal, the Flasher would most likely get bullied, and the Royal may battle it out over territory. 60 may be big enough to avoid some issues but it’s a big risk. They do have awesome personalities and color up the tank quite a bit, you may get lucky but have a backup plan if you move forward.

 

[G Santana]

I had one many years ago and it never bothered anything. I intend on getting one again even though I have a beautiful blood shrimp I like... cross fingers!!!

 

[Waters]

I have had one in pretty much every tank I have ever set up...never had a single issue with any of them.

 

[codenfx]

I really want a flame hawk but I don't want my scarlet hermits to be killed and I already have a small lawnmower blenny and clown goby, I have a feeling they may get attacked. Flame hawk is such a cool fish.

 

[NickHolmes]

Thanks for all the input! Phoning the LFS in the morning, hopefully they still have it.

 

[Dani305]

Do it!

 

[NickHolmes]

He’s been at the shop for nearly 2 weeks so hopefully that has got him accustomed to prepared food. I’ll put him in an acclimation box for a few days so I can feed him some meaty things as well and give the bristletooth tang some time to come to terms with it