Compatible?

[poesraven]

Does anyone have experience with a flame hawkfish and serpant stars? I would like to get a serpant star but I'm not sure if my hawkfish would mess with it. He "tastes" my crabs every once in awhile. By that I mean he swims up & touches his mouth to their shell and takes off but that's about it. He's never caused a problem.
I am also considering an urchin but so far I know nothing about them and need to research it first. Any opinions on them or anything I should consider?
Thanks in advance.

 

[hewetton]

Hawkfishes usually feed on mobile crustaceans. It wouldn't bother your serpent starfish. IMO, they are most reef-safe among predatory fishes.

 

[reefer44]

the only thing a flame hawk is going to touch is your shrimp...
Brad

 

[ophiura]

Agreed on the hawk, but do watch out for the green brittlestar/serpentstar (they are biologically the same and most LFS seem to call them all different things!). This guy is a known predator in the wild and is a threat to your smaller fish and shrimp.
As for uchins, are you keeping a reef? There are a few things to consider. The primary one is that urchins bulldoze things. So any rocks or corals or stuff can be knocked over. Some, like the long spined urchin are poisonous so you don't want to knock your hand into them. Others, like the slate pencil uchin are a little more "cosmopolitan" in their diets: they will eat polyps in addition to algae.
The best choices appear to by the rock boring uchin (a common hitch hiker in florida rock) and the tuxedo uchin (which has lovely coloration). I would probably go with the tuxedo for looks...but sometimes a little tough to find.

 

[poesraven]

Thanks for all the info! I will check out the tuxedo urchin. I don't plan on adding to my tank for awhile, it's only a few months old and I'm new at this. So, I just like to check out my options & research for future purchases.
It was a very tough choice for me to make between having shrimp or the hawkfish. I wanted a blood red shrimp. But I couldn't walk away from the hawk. He's awesome.

 

[sula]

What kind of shrimp will a hawkfish bother?

 

[hewetton]

pretty much any shrimp small eonugh to fit into its mouth...or even if they were big, hawkfish would try to tear it apart piece by piece...small cleaner shrimps are one of their favourites in captivity....they also feed on crabs...bottom line....no crustaceans at all cost!

 

[sula]

What kind of food will a hawkfish eat once your crustaceans are gone?:notsure:
You're telling me that I can't successfully keep a cleaner shrimp with a hawkfish, and Ill have to fear for the life of my favorite emerald crab? What if I wait until my crab gets bigger? Is there a size limit to the hawkfish's food requirements?
This is bumming me out......

 

[poesraven]

Everything I have read has said that a hawkfish will eat ornamental shrimp so I take that as rule of thumb. But I have a couple of tiny dwarf blug leg crabs, a scarlett crab, red tip crabs, astrea snails & a bumble bee snail. Occasionally an astrea snail will fall off a rock and my crabs will go after it but not my hawk. I wouldn't count on him never munching on a flipped over snail though, eventually he might. But he doesn't bother my hermit crabs.
He eats flake, pellet and frozen brine shrimp plus foods.