Flame Hawkfish

Overview

• The flame hawkfish is a small, solid scarlet-red hawkfish marked with black rings around the eyes and a black band running along the base of the dorsal fin.
• At about 9 cm (3.5 in) it is one of the smaller hawkfish commonly kept, and it comes from western and central Pacific surge zones where it lives wedged inside heads of branching Pocillopora and Stylophora coral.

• Where the longnose hawkfish already on this site perches high and surveys the reef, the flame lives low, tucked into branches near the rock, and is noticeably more secretive for its first weeks.
• It is hardy and full of character once settled, and its bulldog face and pure red colour make it one of the most striking small marine fish.

• Most specimens are wild-caught from Fiji and nearby Pacific reefs, which keeps prices well above a clownfish.
• Captive-bred flame hawkfish exist but surface only occasionally, so ask your supplier and be prepared to wait if you want one.

Housing

• Provide a cycled reef of at least 115 litres (30 gallons) with dense branching rockwork or sturdy branching coral set low in the tank, because this hawkfish wedges into structure rather than perching in the open.
• Like all hawkfish it lacks a swim bladder, so it rests on its pectoral fins and moves in short hops instead of cruising.

• Keep salinity 1.024-1.026, temperature 24-27C (75-80F), pH 8.1-8.4, ammonia and nitrite at zero, and nitrate below 20 ppm.
• As a surge-zone native it appreciates strong flow and will happily sit in currents that would exhaust more delicate fish.

• A tight-fitting lid is non-negotiable, since startled hawkfish are explosive jumpers and jumping is the most common cause of loss.
• It will not nip corals, though it may irritate a small SPS colony by perching on the same spot day after day.

Diet

• Flame hawkfish are carnivores that ambush small crustaceans in the wild.
• Feed frozen mysis, enriched brine shrimp, krill, and finely chopped fresh seafood once or twice daily, and most individuals learn to take a marine carnivore pellet within a few weeks.

• New arrivals often hide and refuse food for the first several days, which is normal, but confirm the fish is eating at the shop before you buy, because shipping-stressed wild-caught specimens sometimes never start.
• Target-feeding near its favourite crevice helps a shy newcomer compete.

• Vary the menu rather than relying on one food, and remove anything uneaten.
• Remember that it will also feed itself on any tank crustacean small enough to crack, so do not count the cleanup crew as part of its diet plan.

Health

• This is one of the tougher marine fish, with good parasite resistance and a calm response to the minor parameter swings that would stress delicate species.
• Quarantining new arrivals for 3-4 weeks remains best practice all the same.

• Most flame hawkfish losses are not disease at all but jumping through an open lid or starvation in fish that were already failing at import.
• Choose an alert, actively feeding specimen with full body weight behind the head and no pinched belly.

• With stable water and a varied diet a flame hawkfish commonly lives 5-10 years, and well-kept individuals can go longer.
• Watch for the standard marine warning signs of scratching, white spots, or rapid breathing, and treat in a separate hospital tank rather than dosing the reef.

Temperament

• A settled flame hawkfish is bold, watchful, and quickly learns to recognise its keeper, but it is a genuine predator of small invertebrates.
• Ornamental shrimp, small hermit crabs, and small snails are at real risk, so build the cleanup crew from larger snails and skip cleaner and sexy shrimp and tiny hermits entirely.

• It defends its patch of rockwork and can bully small bottom-dwellers such as gobies, blennies, and firefish, especially in tanks under 200 litres (about 50 gallons).
• Add the hawkfish last, after peaceful fish have established, and give it its own branching territory.

• Keep one hawkfish per tank as a rule.
• Flame hawkfish are protogynous hermaphrodites, so a bonded male-female pair can live together, but only in a large system with plenty of rock; two unpaired fish will fight over the best perch until one is hurt.
• With medium-sized, confident tankmates a single hawkfish causes little trouble and spends its day hopping between lookout points.

Is your enclosure big enough?

Check your own enclosure against this

Is this urgent?

In a reef, stability matters more than any single target number. A parameter moving fast does more damage than a parameter sitting slightly off.

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Today

Quarantine every new animal, including corals and inverts. It is the single practice that separates a reef that lasts from a reef that restarts.

This is general guidance for a healthy adult, not a diagnosis. An exotics vet who knows your animal always overrides it — and the time to find one is before you need one.

What it really costs

Setup, monthly, first year and across a whole life, itemised and with the electricity worked out from the actual wattage. Published figures for the same animal disagree by a factor of four, so the calculator shows ranges rather than picking one.

Work out the cost of a flame hawkfish