it finally happened...

TheReefDiary · Jan 7, 2023

introduced my longnose hawkfish a few days ago and everything had been going great. all the fish getting along with no issues. well today I woke up to find the hawkfish (which is a juvenile) ripping apart my sexy shrimp. I know they aren't shrimp safe fish but since it was a juvenile I figured he wouldn't try to eat the sexy shrimp (they were on the larger side). guess I was wrong. that little **** went to town on the shrimp. guess ya live and learn because that breakfast cost more than it does when I feed myself. I've never had a $15 shrimp and this guy got 2 enjoy 2 of them.

I will say I'm impressed he was able to break them down and eat them considering the fish isn't large at all.

SamsReef · Jan 7, 2023

Sorry about your loss. Hawkfish will eat any shrimp sooner or later.

Sam

TheReefDiary · Jan 7, 2023

SamsReef said:
Sorry about your loss. Hawkfish will eat any shrimp sooner or later.

Sam

yeah moreso sorry for the shrimp they were chilling. but that is the circle of life some are prey and others are the predators. just wish I wouldve rehomed them if I knew he'd be able to eat them at his size.

Sink_or_Swim · Jan 7, 2023

That's a bummer! My larger flame hawk never bothered any CUC in my tank, though I have a pretty big (2"+) fire shrimp and not smaller shrimp. I think if I added sexy shrimp he would possibly eat them. He likes the bigger chunks of frozen mysis. Hawkfish are some of my fav fish so I'll accept the tradeoff that they may eat shrimp - but it STILL sucks to have them make a meal of them. Sorry that happened!

TheReefDiary · Jan 7, 2023

Sink_or_Swim said:
That's a bummer! My larger flame hawk never bothered any CUC in my tank, though I have a pretty big (2"+) fire shrimp and not smaller shrimp. I think if I added sexy shrimp he would possibly eat them. He likes the bigger chunks of frozen mysis. Hawkfish are some of my fav fish so I'll accept the tradeoff that they may eat shrimp - but it STILL sucks to have them make a meal of them. Sorry that happened!

yeah I'm wondering if I introduce a larger cleaner shrimp if he'll leave it alone. that way after a while he's accustomed to it. but still not sure. luckily I'm a fish guy more than an invert so if I can't get away with shrimp it's alright.

olonmv · Jan 7, 2023

TheReefDiary said:
introduced my longnose hawkfish a few days ago and everything had been going great. all the fish getting along with no issues. well today I woke up to find the hawkfish (which is a juvenile) ripping apart my sexy shrimp. I know they aren't shrimp safe fish but since it was a juvenile I figured he wouldn't try to eat the sexy shrimp (they were on the larger side). guess I was wrong. that little **** went to town on the shrimp. guess ya live and learn because that breakfast cost more than it does when I feed myself. I've never had a $15 shrimp and this guy got 2 enjoy 2 of them.

I will say I'm impressed he was able to break them down and eat them considering the fish isn't large at all.

$15? Nice, Mine were 30 a piece and my neon dottyback had them both. Lesson learned here too.

TheReefDiary · Jan 7, 2023

olonmv said:
$15? Nice, Mine were 30 a piece and my neon dottyback had them both. Lesson learned here too.

yeah reefcleaners.org for the $15 sexy shrimp

Sink_or_Swim · Jan 7, 2023

TheReefDiary said:
yeah I'm wondering if I introduce a larger cleaner shrimp if he'll leave it alone. that way after a while he's accustomed to it. but still not sure. luckily I'm a fish guy more than an invert so if I can't get away with shrimp it's alright.

That's a possibility - how big is the hawk? My fire shrimp was already big and in the tank before I added my hawkfish - and it hardly ever ventures away from the rock it likes so it probably wasn't catching the fish's attention. I've read it's more likely hawks will leave shrimp alone if the shrimp is on the larger side AND introduced prior to adding the fish... if adding after the fish is established, put the shrimp in the tank after lights out. I can just imagine adding shrimp to the tank during the day and having a hawkfish swoop down and grab them as soon as it saw them. Even skunk cleaners are $40 each currently where I am, so that's a very expensive snack. I am more into fish as well, but I LOVED my skunk cleaners I used to have. They weren't shy like my fire shrimp, and they'd always come to my hand and eat from it and clean it, lol. Very cool inverts. (They passed in a tank crash from a dead anemone, not by being eaten by a fish).

ckuhny3 · Jan 7, 2023

TheReefDiary said:
introduced my longnose hawkfish a few days ago and everything had been going great. all the fish getting along with no issues. well today I woke up to find the hawkfish (which is a juvenile) ripping apart my sexy shrimp. I know they aren't shrimp safe fish but since it was a juvenile I figured he wouldn't try to eat the sexy shrimp (they were on the larger side). guess I was wrong. that little **** went to town on the shrimp. guess ya live and learn because that breakfast cost more than it does when I feed myself. I've never had a $15 shrimp and this guy got 2 enjoy 2 of them.

I will say I'm impressed he was able to break them down and eat them considering the fish isn't large at all.

They earn that name hawkfish!

Andreas' Reef · Jan 7, 2023

Sorry for your loss. It is basically guaranteed that they will eat any shrimp smaller than a peppermint or scarlet cleaner.

TheReefDiary · Jan 7, 2023

Andreas' Reef said:
Sorry for your loss. It is basically guaranteed that they will eat any shrimp smaller than a peppermint or scarlet cleaner.

I'm surprised. it was interesting to see how it ate the shrimp considering it couldn't even fit it in its mouth.

Andreas' Reef · Jan 7, 2023

TheReefDiary said:
I'm surprised. it was interesting to see how it ate the shrimp considering it couldn't even fit it in its mouth.

I know! They have such a small snout that you'd think that they wouldn't eat inverts but they do! I guess they are strong enough to rip it apart into pieces and slurp it up

TheReefDiary · Jan 7, 2023

Sink_or_Swim said:
That's a possibility - how big is the hawk? My fire shrimp was already big and in the tank before I added my hawkfish - and it hardly ever ventures away from the rock it likes so it probably wasn't catching the fish's attention. I've read it's more likely hawks will leave shrimp alone if the shrimp is on the larger side AND introduced prior to adding the fish... if adding after the fish is established, put the shrimp in the tank after lights out. I can just imagine adding shrimp to the tank during the day and having a hawkfish swoop down and grab them as soon as it saw them. Even skunk cleaners are $40 each currently where I am, so that's a very expensive snack. I am more into fish as well, but I LOVED my skunk cleaners I used to have. They weren't shy like my fire shrimp, and they'd always come to my hand and eat from it and clean it, lol. Very cool inverts. (They passed in a tank crash from a dead anemone, not by being eaten by a fish).

hawk is about 1.75 inches at the biggest. and yeah I guess I'll have to think about introducing another shrimp. I just love the the diversity of things in the tank, but I also don't want to just pay $40 for an expensive dinner haha.

TheReefDiary · Jan 7, 2023

Andreas' Reef said:
I know! They have such a small snout that you'd think that they wouldn't eat inverts but they do! I guess they are strong enough to rip it apart into pieces and slurp it up

he used the rock to push into and rio it into smaller pieces. I couldn't get a good video though because diatoms on the glass.

Andreas' Reef · Jan 7, 2023

TheReefDiary said:
he used the rock to push into and rio it into smaller pieces. I couldn't get a good video though because diatoms on the glass.

That is straight out of a horror movie

Tamberav · Jan 7, 2023

Oh my...

I had a dottyback kill two cleaner shrimp that were bigger then it. You can eat something bigger if you just tear it to pieces I suppose.

Andreas' Reef · Jan 7, 2023

Tamberav said:
Oh my...

I had a dottyback kill two cleaner shrimp that were bigger then it. You can eat something bigger if you just tear it to pieces I suppose.

It's how we eat cows and pigs and stuff, so I guess fish can do it too