I'd like you to meet Murdock the Murderer, as he has been affectionately dubbed by my husband.
He's a juvenile flame hawkfish who has a taste for the finer things in life, namely 4 huge cleaner shrimp, 1 fire shrimp, the claws off of another fire shrimp (he barely escaped!), a porcelain crab (who he didn't even eat - just murdered for fun), a barnacle blenny and a dragonette. He also attempted murder on a Randall go by, and get this - repeatedly striked a clownfish nearly double his size! I also think he's what spooked my blue spot jawfish to go carpet surfing - RIP little Kermit :-( That's impressive, since I have eggcrate covers. I'll be upgrading them to a finer mesh - it will be better for light as well.
This murdering spree took place all within a 2-week period after having added him to my tank...
The clownfish, however, was his downfall. His repeated attacks left him a bit tuckered and vulnerable, so we were able to scoop him out (thank God!)
You just never know... flame hawks usually aren't that bad, but it all comes down to individual personality, and he loved to kill.
He's currently in a 20g QT while I figure out where best to house him. He needs some tough tankmates...
The lemon peel Angelfish is next on my list of fish to pull - he's eaten several LPS and a few SPS colonies on me. My poor meat coral had a bottle over top of him right now since he had started targeting it, as of late....
Here's a pic of my darling hawkfish caught in the act...
He's a juvenile flame hawkfish who has a taste for the finer things in life, namely 4 huge cleaner shrimp, 1 fire shrimp, the claws off of another fire shrimp (he barely escaped!), a porcelain crab (who he didn't even eat - just murdered for fun), a barnacle blenny and a dragonette. He also attempted murder on a Randall go by, and get this - repeatedly striked a clownfish nearly double his size! I also think he's what spooked my blue spot jawfish to go carpet surfing - RIP little Kermit :-( That's impressive, since I have eggcrate covers. I'll be upgrading them to a finer mesh - it will be better for light as well.
This murdering spree took place all within a 2-week period after having added him to my tank...
The clownfish, however, was his downfall. His repeated attacks left him a bit tuckered and vulnerable, so we were able to scoop him out (thank God!)
You just never know... flame hawks usually aren't that bad, but it all comes down to individual personality, and he loved to kill.
He's currently in a 20g QT while I figure out where best to house him. He needs some tough tankmates...
The lemon peel Angelfish is next on my list of fish to pull - he's eaten several LPS and a few SPS colonies on me. My poor meat coral had a bottle over top of him right now since he had started targeting it, as of late....
Here's a pic of my darling hawkfish caught in the act...