arc eye hawkfish

[afss]

Does any one have experience with these fish. What are the pros and cons?
I read that hawkfish can be rough on shrimp. Is this the case with the arc eye, or just other hawks?
Thanks
Scott
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grapefruit plant

 

[Circa]

I believe all of the hawks can't really be trusted with shrimp. Although some people don't have problems, so I have heard...

 

[benneb1897201vw]

I've had 3 coral banded shrimp, all at separate times, all 3 were killed by my spotted hawkfish. The last one I had lived over 4 months before getting ate. As long as I kept him well fed he was ok, but I went out of town, and he ended up eating him while I was gone.

Ben

 

[kipreefer]

At my work we had a arc eye that was really cool. But he started beating up on a little lunar wrasse we out in his tank. I have heard they can become aggressive towards fish that look similar.

 

[afss]

did you have any problems with the arc eye and shrimp?
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Honda Nighthawk

 

[kipreefer]

I wouldnt trust them with shrimp unless it maybe was a real big cleaner or soemthing. I think shrimps of diffrent types are one of there natural foods. If you think about their body design it makes sense(they come down from above).

 

[icepick]

Currently I'm housing a small arc eye with a pepermint shrimp. They are in a 15g witha pair of percs. I have never noticed any aggressive actions towards the shrimp so far. They both hang out on the same side of the tank. The shrimp is mostly active at night, but will come out when tank is fed during the day. The arc eye seems to be more interested in what's going on the outside of the tank and the pair of percs. I have seen aggressive gestures towards the percs, simple stuff like mouth gaping and standing on his head and extending his dorsal fins. Even if he was bigger I wouldn't hesitate in getting a hawk, but I'm partial to hawks.

 

[Super Len]

I'm not a big fan of hawkfish

Cirrhitids are comical characters. But they've got two big things going against them:
1. They eat crustaceans. My N.armatus would gobble up all shrimps I tried adding to the tank. They also wreck benthic microfauna - especially amphipod populations.
2. They're aggressive. Smaller hawkfish do harrass larger fish, but usually without much damage inflicted. Cirrhitids seem intent on pestering tank inhabitants, usually having a designated fish to bully around. The larger hawkfish will eat small fish!

The arch eye (P.arcatus) gets pretty big - 5+ inches - and will probably eat any ornamental crustaceans you add. It's also likely to harass more docile fish.

 

[chris_h]

I have one. It does bully other fish. I have had it for 4 months with 2 shrimp that are equally long. So far no problems.

[ November 29, 2001: Message edited by: chris_h ]</p>

 

[Ben 4]

I've had an Arceye for @2 years. He has occasional skirmishes with my Hardwicke Wrasse and he seems tempted by the snails and hermits, but I have never seen him do any real damage. FWIW, he has grown @ 1" in 2 years.

 

[chris_h]

This picture shows my hawkfish and the tentacles of one of my shrimps.

[ November 29, 2001: Message edited by: chris_h ]</p>

 

[chris_h]

I just thought that I would mention that mine occasionaly kills flatworms.

 

[raye007]

HI,

although I dun have an Arc eye, I do have a flamehawk. Ever since I got him, I never add any shrimps. Yes, he can tear them up real fast. If u want to keep shrimps, then forget abt them.

The pro is of course they are really smart fish & alot more interesting than any shrimps. They also eat crabs but not hermits & acropora crabs in my experience. Only those small baby brown hairy crabs get eaten up before they can grow up to do any damage.

Ray

 

[afss]

Thanks for all your replies. For the moment I think I will stay away from them. I like having the srimp I have in my tank, and don't want to risk them as a meal. Maybe when i get another tank going I will get one
Thanks
Again
Scott
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Mercedes W125