Flamehawk Fish Behaviour

Fury96 · Apr 3, 2026

Hey guys, so i recently bought a flamehawk fish and added it to my tank today, it's a pretty fresh tank about a month old since cycle finished, i have two clowns in there but the firehawk is presenting some odd behaviour, he will swim to the top of the tank multiple times then go back down to perch on a rock or sand. I have attached a video, he has been in the tank for a few hours now.

christinna77 · Apr 3, 2026

I think it's glass surfing, probably acclimation stress? I would turn off all the lights and cover the tank for a few hours, and see if that helps.

Fury96 · Apr 3, 2026

christinna77 said:
I think it's glass surfing, probably acclimation stress? I would turn off all the lights and cover the tank for a few hours, and see if that helps.

Thank you, i did turn off the lights about 20 mins ago, it looks like he's calmed down now. He's currently on the sandbed chilling. Looks like no lights are helping. Thanks again.

Waters · Apr 3, 2026

I think it is just a new fish in a new tank a bit stressed out. They do swim and perch like that normally (they lack swim bladders). I am guessing in a day or so he will stop the glass surfing.

Fury96 · Apr 3, 2026

Waters said:
I think it is just a new fish in a new tank a bit stressed out. They do swim and perch like that normally (they lack swim bladders). I am guessing in a day or so he will stop the glass surfing.

He's sitting on the top of my wavemaker now, i hope he doesnt make that his new home

Waters · Apr 3, 2026

Fury96 said:
He's sitting on the top of my wavemaker now, i hope he doesnt make that his new home

Lol he might.....their name is very fitting....they like to perch from high ground and look for prey

larrysaltisfun · Apr 3, 2026

make sure your tank is covered at all times they and long nosed hawks will make a home out of your power head and i’ve had to do Swan dives. They got a perfect 10.0 from the judges, but they landed on the floor.

visualneo · Apr 3, 2026

Fury96 said:
Hey guys, so i recently bought a flamehawk fish and added it to my tank today, it's a pretty fresh tank about a month old since cycle finished, i have two clowns in there but the firehawk is presenting some odd behaviour, he will swim to the top of the tank multiple times then go back down to perch on a rock or sand. I have attached a video, he has been in the tank for a few hours now.

I have one if these and my does it all the time but then goes abd rest on a power head

Fury96 · Apr 3, 2026

Waters said:
Lol he might.....their name is very fitting....they like to perch from high ground and look for prey

He's back on the sand this morning

and seems calm with the lights on so that's a plus, i kinda wish i had more rocks for him now for a higher perch

Fury96 · Apr 3, 2026

larrysaltisfun said:
make sure your tank is covered at all times they and long nosed hawks will make a home out of your power head and i’ve had to do Swan dives. They got a perfect 10.0 from the judges, but they landed on the floor.

Thank you, will do, i have a temp cover until my mesh lid comes next week, appreciate the comment, LFS first question was "do you have a lid" lol

Fury96 · Apr 3, 2026

visualneo said:
I have one if these and my does it all the time but then goes abd rest on a power head

He's not as skittish this morning, i havent seen him swim up, i think he's relaxed now and it was just stress acclimation with the lights on.

larrysaltisfun · Apr 3, 2026

The sad thing is, I had one jump out and he was perched right on top of the glass hood. He jumped out of the back, back in the day when I had hang on back filters . he jumped out the opening made for the filter.

Fury96 · Apr 3, 2026

larrysaltisfun said:
The sad thing is, I had one jump out and he was perched right on top of the glass hood. He jumped out of the back, back in the day when I had hang on back filters . he jumped out the opening made for the filter.

dang that sucks sorry man. It's not exactly a cheap fish but then again it'd be sad losing any fish. I've made sure theres no gaps for him to escape. He's no longer glass surfing to the top, he's just hiding around rocks now. He's such a cool fish!