Hawkfish Experience?

[Munns!]

What’s your experience with Red, Longnose, Geometric, and other Hawfish? I want a bottom dwelling fish with a ton of personality and many have suggested that I get a hawfish. However, I have many ornamental shrimp. I also have some pretty peaceful fish that may be prone to getting bullied. Opinions?

 

[OrchidMiss]

I had a Falco hawkfish, which went back to the LFS after 3 years.
He devoured peppermint shrimp and bullied other fish to death. Hawks are off the table for any of my tanks in the future.

 

[JayM]

My flame hawk never bothered anything, including my skunk cleaner shrimp pair.

 

[fishywishy]

Mine is fine with my cleaner but it’s a big tank and i only have one. if you value your shrimp i definitely wouldn’t get one, the smaller the shrimp the bigger the chance they go for it.

 

[00W]

What’s your experience with Red, Longnose, Geometric, and other Hawfish? I want a bottom dwelling fish with a ton of personality and many have suggested that I get a hawfish. However, I have many ornamental shrimp. I also have some pretty peaceful fish that may be prone to getting bullied. Opinions?

One of the coolest fish I've ever had.
Will/can/does eat any and every shrimp.

 

[Red_Beard]

I currently have a falco, and shrimp are a no-go. Luckily my bristletooth keeps him in check when he is feeling rowdy. They do have some very big personalities for sure and are fun to watch, but they wake up and choose violence most days.

 

[Munns!]

One of the coolest fish I've ever had.
Will/can/does eat any and every shrimp.

Love the longnose, and beautiful tank by the way!

 

[Munns!]

I currently have a falco, and shrimp are a no-go. Luckily my bristletooth keeps him in check when he is feeling rowdy. They do have some very big personalities for sure and are fun to watch, but they wake up and choose violence most days.

Regarding the violence, are they most violent towards inverts? What about other fish?

 

[OrchidMiss]

Regarding the violence, are they most violent towards inverts? What about other fish?

My falco chased and killed a lineatus wrasse within hours of adding it to the tank.

 

[Munns!]

My falco chased and killed a lineatus wrasse within hours of adding it to the tank.

Wow! Although I would love to have a hawfish for their personality, it seems that it may not be the best fish for me or my tank. Thanks everyone for your input and help!

 

[00W]

Regarding the violence, are they most violent towards inverts? What about other fish?

Snail falls over it's gone immediately.
Strictly carnivores.
Mines in with a large female clown so no worries there.
Couple squabbles.
Definitely one of the most aggressive fish I've ever had.

 

[Imrahilwjz]

I have a flame hawkfish. He gets along with my Kleini butterfly fish, and doesn't bother the two juvenile goldline rabbitfish I recently acquired.
Haven't tried shrimp yet.

 

[Red_Beard]

Regarding the violence, are they most violent towards inverts? What about other fish?

My falco chased and killed a lineatus wrasse within hours of adding it to the tank.

That sucks! Mine isnt that bad, once stuff settles down. But the first few days can be a knock down drag out everytime they make eye contact. It still actively bullies my firefish when it can, i was worried it was going to get starved out, but this has been almost a year now and it figured out how to cope luckily. I see it every day out swimming mostly at feeding time, but close to its cave. I have a ton of hiding spots and some other territorial fish that kind of help keep things balanced out. IF you do decide you want one, definitely add very last and get it young.

 

[ChiCity]

My flame hawk never bothered anything, including my skunk cleaner shrimp pair.

I have a flame hawkfish. He gets along with my Kleini butterfly fish, and doesn't bother the two juvenile goldline rabbitfish I recently acquired.
Haven't tried shrimp yet.

same…
flames are kosher.
the rest can be iffy, esp with shrimp and shyer fish

 

[sck90]

I have a small Flame hawkfish (2") and a medium Longnose hawkfish (3.5") in my 60 gal display tank. Longnose is a model citizen and the flame is also very well behaved, but a little more territorial. They both completely ignore my blood shrimp, crabs, and snails. I really enjoy them, great fish IMO. The Longnose was added before the red and they get along very well.

 

[Thalasstronaut]

I have a flame hawk.

I was going to get a long nose because of their distinct look and pattern, but I read about the personality of the flames and cottoned to the idea of getting one.

He might be my favorite fish. I have him with a pair of clowns, lantern bass, starry blenny, YWG, and a dragonet. Never any issues. Had a coral beauty in there but pulled him for being a jerk. Hawk was uninvolved.

I haven’t kept tiny tiny shrimp or anything. But I haven’t had any issues with my pistol shrimp, porcelain crab, or ruby crabs. I had a pithos that did fine as well, too.

One thing is that I wouldn’t call my flame a bottom dweller. They lack a swim bladder so he’s either actively swimming or perching but he’s all over. On the magnetic cleaner, powerhead, heater, all over the rocks.

 

[Daz_1978]

What’s your experience with Red, Longnose, Geometric, and other Hawfish? I want a bottom dwelling fish with a ton of personality and many have suggested that I get a hawfish. However, I have many ornamental shrimp. I also have some pretty peaceful fish that may be prone to getting bullied. Opinions?

I love my Longnose!

He doesn't spend any time at the bottom of the tank though...
Half of his time is spent sitting on a wavemaker or upside down under the overflow box. The other half is spent swimming like a humming bird.
He gets along with everyone and doesn't even acknowledge my Blood Red Fire Shrimp's existence... at least for now. The shrimp might be gone when i get home, but up till now it's all good.
I'm not entirely sure he knows the other fish exist... All of my fish have some kind of interaction, whether it's "get out of my space" or "get back in your hole" or whatever. Peppermint just doesn't seem to interact with them at all.

 

[edsbeaker]

I’ve had a few flame hawkfish and have never had an aggression issue to other fish. The shrimp did not last long, though.

Agree with above, though. None of my flame hawkfish have been bottom dwellers. All perched on rocks on every level of the tank.

 

[McPuff]

I have had a couple of Caribbean spotted hawkfish. They are generally quite docile and I've never had a problem with picking on ANY other fish or inverts. Also very fun to watch and they follow you around (true for most of my hawkfish actually). This would get a thumbs up from me. I love having these and will probably get another. The one I had until about a month ago was with me at least 12 years.

Right now I have an arc eye and a gold Fiji hawkfish. They don't like each other much but after a few years of bickering they seem to have cooled off and tolerate each other. The arc eye has definitely chased newly-added wrasses or anything of a similar color. They also have big mouths and could eat very small fish. But they don't bother any inverts. If you already have an established fish population you could give them a try. The arc eye are fairly easy to find but the gold are very rare in the hobby.

 

[eja99]

I had an arc eye for years (maybe 5 total). It was a model citizen for ~3.5 and then turned into an absolute terror. It killed any new fish no matter the size. My other fish slowly perished and I wouldn’t be surprised if it terrorized them to death as well. My tank was packed with acro and lps colonies, no way reasonable way to get him out.

Cool looking fish and grew to be big in my 180 but I’d never add another again.