reef safe "with caution"

FYI, this "with caution" means you wont notice it eating your reef, as long as you have a smorgus board of polyps to nibble on. haha

i got a long nose hawk fish about a month back, its an absolutely stunning fish, fat happy and healthy. BUT in about 2-3 weeks, completely destroyed my Aussie frog spawn

Before:




After:




culprit:

 

Ouch. This makes me rethink the blue jaw trigger im planning on getting.

 

id love to have one of those too, now that my tank is pretty much a FOWLR i might consider it strongly, haha.

tell ya what, get one, and if he starts nippin at your reef, send him my way!

 

Was he perching on the corals or eating it, because I find that very strange.

Typically with Hawk fish the reef safe is in relation to shrimp and crabs not corals.

 

it might have been the perching. when i come into th room he always swims and hides, unless its feeding time. i see him near it when i come in but hes gone before i get too close. my clown fish hosted in the frog spawn for ever with no ill effects and as soon as i add this guy, it started going down hill.

prams great, so i don't think its a chemistry thing that killed it.

 

They eat inverts not corals
The coral may be stressed having the fish perch on it.
Billie- Blue jaw triggers eat plankton and shrimp/crabs, corals shouldn't be bothered by it.

 

+1 to these, I've never heard heard of a hawk eating coral, and idk if its just the picture, but the coral doesn't look too healthy to begin with.

 

It looks like it has been moved, is this true?

 

its was in full bloom and healthy for the fisrt two months it was in there, started to degrade when i added the hawk.

idk if its related to the hawkfish or something else, i just assumed.

but it looks like its beyond repair. which sucks.

 

I had a hawk fish in my reef for almost a year ( until he decided to jump) and he was a model citizen, wouldn't mess with anyone he just perched all day long until it was time to eat. I never heard of them eating corals, I find it doubtful he was the culprit...