Flame Hawkfish

R.Courtney · 2026-09-10T00:10:22-0400

Our flame hawkfish has some pretty significant damage to his tail fin. I think it’s actually worse than when this photo was taken this morning. We plan on trying to catch him and move him to give time to heal, but other than that we aren’t sure what to do with him. I’m not sure who the culprit is. Our Midas Benny doesn’t bother him. Our yellow tang pesters him but really only gets in his space and pushes him off his rock

I’ve seen the hawk and our clown have one squabble and have seen the hawk in the clowns cave a couple times, so she would be my guess. But I haven’t seen any other issues besides the one time so can’t say for sure. Any advice?? We love both of them and would like to keep them.The hawk was the last edition because he was previously in a smaller tank with a different clown that was chasing and fighting with him.

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Tahoe61 · 2026-09-10T10:34:20-0400

That's a tough one. #fishmedics might have some suggestions.
It likely is aggression but by whom, my money is on the female clown.
You can try a mirror for distraction. My concern would be a secondary infection setting in.

bristleworm · 2026-09-10T10:37:20-0400

my money is on the clown fish.

mann1139 · 2026-09-10T10:38:37-0400

How long has the hawk been in that tank? How big is the tank?

BryanM · 2026-09-10T12:25:04-0400

2nd vote for the clown being the problem.

Baldyreef · 2026-09-10T12:40:18-0400

3rd vote for the clown, not even sure if the tang can do that kind of tail damage

MichaelReefer · 2026-09-10T12:41:26-0400

@Jay Hemdal

Jay Hemdal · 2026-09-10T13:08:43-0400

R.Courtney said:
Our flame hawkfish has some pretty significant damage to his tail fin. I think it’s actually worse than when this photo was taken this morning. We plan on trying to catch him and move him to give time to heal, but other than that we aren’t sure what to do with him. I’m not sure who the culprit is. Our Midas Benny doesn’t bother him. Our yellow tang pesters him but really only gets in his space and pushes him off his rock I’ve seen the hawk and our clown have one squabble and have seen the hawk in the clowns cave a couple times, so she would be my guess. But I haven’t seen any other issues besides the one time so can’t say for sure. Any advice?? We love both of them and would like to keep them.The hawk was the last edition because he was previously in a smaller tank with a different clown that was chasing and fighting with him.

Tough to say who might have done this - even a large invertebrates could have at night. Clowns are the most likely fish to have caused this I suppose.

Moving the fish into an isolation tank can be stressful, and doesn’t really solve the issue. I find that a tank divider can allow isolation with zero stress. Then, the divider can be removed to “test” if there is still an isolation. Acclimation tanks are too small to use for this though.

R.Courtney · 2026-09-10T13:12:13-0400

Jay Hemdal said:
R.Courtney said:

Our flame hawkfish has some pretty significant damage to his tail fin. I think it’s actually worse than when this photo was taken this morning. We plan on trying to catch him and move him to give time to heal, but other than that we aren’t sure what to do with him. I’m not sure who the culprit is. Our Midas Benny doesn’t bother him. Our yellow tang pesters him but really only gets in his space and pushes him off his rock I’ve seen the hawk and our clown have one squabble and have seen the hawk in the clowns cave a couple times, so she would be my guess. But I haven’t seen any other issues besides the one time so can’t say for sure. Any advice?? We love both of them and would like to keep them.The hawk was the last edition because he was previously in a smaller tank with a different clown that was chasing and fighting with him.

Click to expand...

Tough to say who might have done this - even a large invertebrates could have at night. Clowns are the most likely fish to have caused this I suppose.

Moving the fish into an isolation tank can be stressful, and doesn’t really solve the issue. I find that a tank divider can allow isolation with zero stress. Then, the divider can be removed to “test” if there is still an isolation. Acclimation tanks are too small to use for this though.

Thanks for the insight. I had the same thought about moving him-it was pretty stressful when he had to be moved to the larger tank. Is this the concept you’re talking about? How long would you separate?

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R.Courtney · 2026-09-10T13:12:56-0400

mann1139 said:
How long has the hawk been in that tank? How big is the tank?

The tank is a 125 and about 6 ft long I think. He was added mid-July

R.Courtney · 2026-09-10T13:14:20-0400

Tahoe61 said:
That's a tough one. #fishmedics might have some suggestions.
It likely is aggression but by whom, my money is on the female clown.
You can try a mirror for distraction. My concern would be a secondary infection setting in.

Thanks! Would you suggest giving anything to help prevent that? Or is it more of a thing where you pay attention and treat if infection becomes an issue?