Harlequin Shrimp vs Flame Hawkfish?

eraserhead187 · Jan 16, 2020

So I finally got a Harlequin shrimp on order to tackle my Asterina issue. It has gotten better through manual removal, but as the tank is in my office and I don't really have night-time access to it, I can't really gauge for sure how bad it truly is. My issue is that I have a flame hawkfish in the tank, and I believe he has a history of killing shrimp and crabs. As far as I can tell, he has killed two cleaner shrimp and an emerald crab in the past. Well, something did at least, and I had seen him getting tough with them at times. I need this asterina issue taken care of. I do have another aquarium that I can move ole boy to for a while if need be. My question is, do I need to get him out of there, do flame hawkfish have a strong predisposition to attacking inverts, or can I see what happens with them both in there? The harlequin at least LOOKS better armored than a skunk cleaner, but I don't know if that is actually true. These harlequins are too scarce, I paid too much for him, and I need his expertise to jeopardize him with the hawkfish if that truly is a concern. What do you think?

Thanks!

24/7ReeFTime · Jan 16, 2020

I have a hawkfish and am soon giving it away for it eats everything that moves. I bet that’s the problem

Bret Brinkmann · Jan 16, 2020

If you risk it and the hawkfish goes after the shrimp, then the shrimp dies before you can do anything about. I have heard of a lot of hawkfish eating shrimp. So I highly recommend moving it to another tank for the duration of the shrimp's stay.

Also bumblebee shrimp will also eat stars but that is not the only thing they eat. So after all the stars are gone they won't starve to death.

eraserhead187 · Jan 16, 2020

Bret Brinkmann said:
If you risk it and the hawkfish goes after the shrimp, then the shrimp dies before you can do anything about. I have heard of a lot of hawkfish eating shrimp. So I highly recommend moving it to another tank for the duration of the shrimp's stay.

Also bumblebee shrimp will also eat stars but that is not the only thing they eat. So after all the stars are gone they won't starve to death.

Thanks, sounds like he may need to be rehomed for a while. My other tank is another nano but it actually has a coral banded in it do that may be a no go. He was really cheap but I still don't think I want him dead. He's pretty big though, wonder if he's big enough that he wouldn't get messed with.

I did get two bumblebee shrimp awhile back, haven't seen them since the day I put them in. Either this flame ate them or they are still roaming in there. They were super tiny though, maybe a half inch long at best, and I could barely see them right when I put them in. So I guess they could be in there. I'll scour tomorrow and see if I can find any trace of thfm. That being said, the harlequin is incoming tomorrow so I've got to get this guy moved. I do have a buddy locally with a 120g that could probably babysit him.

Thanks!