New addition to the family - Coral (Pixy) Hawkfish

vic622 · #1 01-23-2010, 03:14 AM

Well, after removing the 3 bandits (4-line Humbugs/Damsels), I was hoping to get a little Flame hawkfish. Instead, I rescued this guy from a store a day before he was about to get a white porcelain relocation

He's a Coral (Pixy) Hawkfish Cirrhitichthys oxycepalus, and he's probably already close to full grown at about 3" long. He has the same kind of white bars on his eyes as a Six-line wrasse, and he can move his eyes independently!

When I introduced him, he did a beeline for the bottom. Unfortunately for him, he settled on the entrance to the Pistol Shrimp tunnel & before I could close the lid, I heard a loud splash & gurgle - I think the shrimp introduced himself. I looked everywhere around the tank, but he hadn't make the floor leap so I thought all was good. The next morning, I was looking for him in the tank & there he was, Lounging in the overflow

I retrieved him and put him back in the tank. He casually swam down to the bottom, with the "What. I meant to spend the night in the sump," look on his face.

Here he is:

blueyota · #2 01-23-2010, 03:55 AM

Nice !! that guy is cool .....Who would flush an awesome fish like that or any live fish for that matter any way nice score

vic622 · #3 01-23-2010, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blueyota

Nice !! that guy is cool .....Who would flush an awesome fish like that or any live fish for that matter any way nice score

I not sure, either. I have a hard enough time with noxious pests, let alone regular critters.

He seems to be very sensitive to the substrate color. He was pale, almost white in their tank & started to color up almost instantly in my tank. The red mottling in the picture is even more pronounced in pics I've seen when I look at book/Google Images - hopefully he'll develop that, too.

Moby da Goby · #4 01-23-2010, 02:50 PM

I used to have one of those in my old75g tank and they are the coolest! Full of character, perched on top of everything, didn't always hide on me. Was very easy to feed, would swim right up the glass to grab some food but I always made sure he got a chunk down on the sand. He loved to **** off my Clarkii clown by infringing in his territory and then just perching outside of the clown's favorite rock.

vic622 · #5 01-23-2010, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moby da Goby

I used to have one of those in my old75g tank and they are the coolest! Full of character, perched on top of everything, didn't always hide on me. Was very easy to feed, would swim right up the glass to grab some food but I always made sure he got a chunk down on the sand. He loved to **** off my Clarkii clown by infringing in his territory and then just perching outside of the clown's favorite rock.

As I understand it, he was a rescue from one of the stores customers (I don't know why), and it shows. He has no fear of me when I walk up to the tank. He's a bit like my Lawnmower Blennie, seems to like to watch me as I move around the room. We'll see how long before he finds someone (other than the Pistol Shrimp) to torment