Hawkfish aggression to wrasses, advice needed

cdw79 · Jan 13, 2023

Hi all,

Got two wrasses out of QT yesterday, a blue flasher and a McCosker's. Beautiful fish. I noticed they were doing great, then both seemed quite timid. I finally saw why- my longnose hawkfish, whom I love to death, is beating on them- chased one in circles until it hid, the other is occupying a corner of the tank. Not great.

The hawk is very personable and comes up to the surface to feed regularly, so I think I can catch it. My plan was to stick it in the acclimation box, maybe let the wrasses establish, and see if that solves the issue (rearranging the scape is not an option for me). But I'm worried if I catch him, hold him, and let him back in, say a week later, that the same behavior might happen. Additionally, I would wonder if he would be remotely as easy to catch the second time.

I love that hawkfish and would love to make it work- he's everyone's favorite fish when they visit. However he's been beating on my assessor here and there, and now I'm kinda over it. Is my solution feasible? Will letting him back into my 65 just reignite the same issue? Thanks in advance

Cthulukelele · Jan 13, 2023

Hawks hate wrasses added after them a lot of the time. Do you have a sump/fuge? Hawks are usually pretty easy to catch, and it might work out well to move the longnose hawk to there for a couple weeks the reintroduce once the wrasse has established

vetteguy53081 · Jan 13, 2023

cdw79 said:
Hi all,

Got two wrasses out of QT yesterday, a blue flasher and a McCosker's. Beautiful fish. I noticed they were doing great, then both seemed quite timid. I finally saw why- my longnose hawkfish, whom I love to death, is beating on them- chased one in circles until it hid, the other is occupying a corner of the tank. Not great.

The hawk is very personable and comes up to the surface to feed regularly, so I think I can catch it. My plan was to stick it in the acclimation box, maybe let the wrasses establish, and see if that solves the issue (rearranging the scape is not an option for me). But I'm worried if I catch him, hold him, and let him back in, say a week later, that the same behavior might happen. Additionally, I would wonder if he would be remotely as easy to catch the second time.

I love that hawkfish and would love to make it work- he's everyone's favorite fish when they visit. However he's been beating on my assessor here and there, and now I'm kinda over it. Is my solution feasible? Will letting him back into my 65 just reignite the same issue? Thanks in advance

I have eliminated Hawkfish for good. I have had arc eye hog all the food, flame eat all my shrimp of 2-4 years, falco spotted and longnose go after and injure my anthias- Simply no more
Where a kitten has hunting instinct for mice, hawks seem to have the same for wrasses

Cthulukelele · Jan 13, 2023

I should have finished your post lol woops yes your idea would work. Getting him out of eyeshot of his "turf" would work even better though

Cthulukelele · Jan 13, 2023

Also to vette's point, hawks in general can go pretty sour sometimes. May not even help

Piscans · Jan 13, 2023

get a 10-20 gallon tank just for him, keep it simple. for my 2 aggressive species i have a 10 gal and they both happily coexist and swim together. i have a blue spot puffer and a hawk fish in there, i kept it really simple and feed only a little food so it dosent get too much bioload. no coral so no real need for water changes. the fish just eat microfauna. considering adding some kenya tree cause the light is reef spec. i might also save the light, make a pico reef w/ it and then get a cheap light bulb for that tank casue i only need a little light to see the fish

vtecintegra · Jan 13, 2023

Took my long nose back to the LFS. Started beating up on others.

cdw79 · Jan 13, 2023

So I have caught the hawk and all seemed well. Almost instantly the tank seemed to have more life in it.

Then the leopard wrasse wakes up. Recently transitioned Blue Star, male. I turned around from work and saw him go at the McCosker's. I have never seen it touch anything, a very chilled out fish. Is this going to be an issue too? I feel like I can't win today

Cthulukelele · Jan 13, 2023

cdw79 said:
So I have caught the hawk and all seemed well. Almost instantly the tank seemed to have more life in it.

Then the leopard wrasse wakes up. Recently transitioned Blue Star, male. I turned around from work and saw him go at the McCosker's. I have never seen it touch anything, a very chilled out fish. Is this going to be an issue too? I feel like I can't win today

Give them some time to figure things out. I imagine there will be some power jockeying. It sounds like your longnose was probably the top of the food chain.

cdw79 · Jan 13, 2023

The Blue Flasher is scared to death of the leopard- the leopard turned to face it from about 18 inches away, not even going at it, and the flasher panicked and tried jumping about 3x in a row. I've got him in the acclimation box to let him calm down and hang out a bit. The other flasher I can't catch- he's taken up residence in the back corner that's covered in superglued rocks. No chance I get to him.

I'm at a crossroads, it feels like. I can put the Leopard into QT (he comes up to eat at the surface every day, shouldn't be hard) and go buy some sand to put in a tub, keep it there for 2 weeks or so, let is sit in the acclimation box for a day, and hope that upon reintroduction it won't be as territorial / recognize his territory. I suppose another option might be to lose the leopard entirely, or keep everything as is (leopard ruling the tank, McCosker's hiding, Blue flasher in the box) hoping that the several hours of daylight from my window that the leopard doesn't wake up to would be enough to let them settle, get some food, etc. as I hope for less aggression from the leopard.

It's been a bit of a stressful day to say the least. Not sure what would maximize chances of success. I would really like to avoid having to sell another fish, too, if at all possible.