All that glitters is not always gold. Sometimes, it's a Hawkfish, and this is one of those times. More specifically, the Golden Hawkfish, sometimes also called the Blue Line Yellow Hawkfish, and less still, the Banana Hawkfish. Scientifically, we know it as Paracirrhites xanthus. Xanthus for the gold, Paracirrhites for the little curl above their eye, which all the Hawkfish in this genus have. The Golden Hawkfish is one of the rarest in the aquarium keeping hobby!
Golden Hawkfish are splendid aquarium inhabitants, with some very interesting behavior. They lack a swim bladder and so will sink if they stop swimming. This allows them to perch on things like a bird landing a wire, but this is more like a fish, landing on a rock. They'll pick a high spot in the tank and watch over the whole thing on the lookout for snacks. This lack of bladder means they can descend quickly down onto their unwitting prey. They're super interesting to watch, and with the golden color, they're going to stick out for real!
In the wild, they'd use this behavior to ambush all sorts of small inverts and fish. Golden Hawks do this in the aquarium too if allowed the opportunity. This open menu lifestyle means they're willing to eat a lot of different food too. In house we feed them Gamma Mysis, Brine Plus Spirulina, Brine Plus Omega 3, Bloodworms, Krill Pacifica, Krill Superba, along with Chopped Mussel and Chopped Prawn. They can easily be taught to take pelletized foods like the Nutramar Complete. They'll also not hesitate to eat any fish or inverts that are small enough to take down. Your larger shelled inverts like snails and hermits are pretty safe, but any really small fish or invertebrates like Perclimenes genus shrimp are in danger. They'll love the opportunity to have some live food as well, if your local LFS offers it. We feed them twice a day and this is plenty. Larger adults could be fed once per day if they got a big enough meal. Click here to learn more
Golden Hawkfish are splendid aquarium inhabitants, with some very interesting behavior. They lack a swim bladder and so will sink if they stop swimming. This allows them to perch on things like a bird landing a wire, but this is more like a fish, landing on a rock. They'll pick a high spot in the tank and watch over the whole thing on the lookout for snacks. This lack of bladder means they can descend quickly down onto their unwitting prey. They're super interesting to watch, and with the golden color, they're going to stick out for real!
In the wild, they'd use this behavior to ambush all sorts of small inverts and fish. Golden Hawks do this in the aquarium too if allowed the opportunity. This open menu lifestyle means they're willing to eat a lot of different food too. In house we feed them Gamma Mysis, Brine Plus Spirulina, Brine Plus Omega 3, Bloodworms, Krill Pacifica, Krill Superba, along with Chopped Mussel and Chopped Prawn. They can easily be taught to take pelletized foods like the Nutramar Complete. They'll also not hesitate to eat any fish or inverts that are small enough to take down. Your larger shelled inverts like snails and hermits are pretty safe, but any really small fish or invertebrates like Perclimenes genus shrimp are in danger. They'll love the opportunity to have some live food as well, if your local LFS offers it. We feed them twice a day and this is plenty. Larger adults could be fed once per day if they got a big enough meal. Click here to learn more
