What to feed flame hawk

[fisherc92]

I picked him up Friday and he has yet to take to my LRS reef nano frenzy. Hes a juvenile. Pretty small. He darts around picking the rock from time to time. Do I go out to a LFS and grab some pods or rotifers? Try some other food?
Maybe normal for him not to eat yet?
All other signs point that he is healthy. He moves around the tank well.

I have about 15 snails and 20 hermits, and a decent size cleaner shrimp.
I think I've seen him nip at a snail once so far.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I have had mine about 9 months from what I remember-- he's still on the smallish size, not quite as long or fat as a thumb. But he has a great, non-picky appetite. He will eat pellets, flake, and most any frozen food that fits into his mouth (which again, is somewhat small). I think that if yours is in fact small, the smallest sinking pellets would be a good start, and push flake down into the water because he probably won't go to the surface to feed until later down the road when he is settled in. Same thing with frozen at first-- small brine rather than mysis.

 

[DRW0212]

I feed mine pellets, mysis and brine shrimp. I’ve had him for about 5 years now.

 

[fisherc92]

I have had mine about 9 months from what I remember-- he's still on the smallish size, not quite as long or fat as a thumb. But he has a great, non-picky appetite. He will eat pellets, flake, and most any frozen food that fits into his mouth (which again, is somewhat small). I think that if yours is in fact small, the smallest sinking pellets would be a good start, and push flake down into the water because he probably won't go to the surface to feed until later down the road when he is settled in. Same thing with frozen at first-- small brine rather than mysis.

Appreciate it. I feel like the nano frenzy breaks up really small in the water column and he definitely sees it, sees my other fish eating it. But chooses to go the other way. I'm wondering how much brine would change that. I'm definitely willing to try. Do you have pods in your tank? I feel like he wants to prey on the rocks

 

[Potatohead]

Mine eats anything. I would try mysis, spirulina brine, even flakes and pellets. He probably doesn't realize it's food yet.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I'm sure he would love pods, but in that particular tank I don't really have any. Maybe picking at pods could help yours transition to picking at tiny settled pellets, and then gradually work right up the food chain. Pods couldn't hurt tank, right?

 

[nereefpat]

Try live brine, if you can get it. That almost always works for any healthy fish.

A live feeder guppy would elicit a response. Get the smallest one you can net out. I've had to do that twice with long nose hawks.

Once it figures out to eat in your tank, frozen mysis would be among the best food.

 

[lion king]

I just picked 2 up in hopes to bond, 3 weeks and I don't think it's going to happen. Both were really not eating, so I dosed general cure and the next day they started picking at the food, after the 2nd dose, they have an excellent appetite.

It had been a long time since I had a flame hawk, but I remembered that they weren't that picky, Many times when fish don't eat it's because of internal parasites, just something for you to be aware of.

 

[Hugh Mann]

My late flame Hawk ate everything except mysis. By the sounds of it, yours is quite small, and they have really tiny mouths. Try brine shrimp, live if you can. Otherwise one food I found was a hit was a very finely shredded mix of shrimp, squid, scallop and clam.