Flame Hawkfish (Neocirrhites armatus)

The Flame Hawkfish (Neocirrhites armatus) is about as much personality as you can fit into three and a half inches. It is a blazing scarlet fish with a black margin running along the dorsal fin and a smoky mask around the eye, and unlike most reef fish it has no swim bladder, so it does not hover in open water. Instead it perches on the rockwork like its namesake, scanning the tank, then darts out and hops to the next lookout. Hardy, bold, easy to feed, and completely safe around corals, it is one of the best centerpiece fish a newer reefkeeper can buy. Browse the rest of our saltwater livestock and supplies to build the tank around it.

Care Guide

• Tank size: 30 gallons or larger. They are small fish, but a territorial one wants a defined patch of reef to call its own.
• Aquascape: this is the part that matters most. Give it open rockwork with ledges, overhangs, and branching structure at several heights. A hawkfish with good perches is a confident, constantly visible fish. One with nowhere to sit hides.
• Water parameters: 72 to 78°F, pH 8.1 to 8.4, salinity 1.020 to 1.026. Genuinely forgiving, which is a large part of why they are recommended to beginners.
• Feeding: carnivore. Meaty frozen foods are the staple, so build the diet around PE Mysis or SFBB Mysis, and round it out with a quality marine pellet. They learn feeding time fast and will beg from the rocks.
• Lid: required, not optional. Hawkfish jump, and a startled one will launch straight out of an open top tank.
• How many: one per tank is the safe answer. They are protogynous, meaning they start female and the dominant fish becomes male, so a pair only works if you add a clearly larger and a clearly smaller fish at the same time, or buy an established pair.

Specifications

Compatibility

Corals are completely safe. A Flame Hawkfish will perch on your SPS and sit inside a torch without ever taking a bite, so it earns its place in a full reef. The caution is about inverts, not corals.

What it will hunt. Ornamental shrimp are the real risk. Do not plan on keeping this fish with a Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, sexy shrimp, or a Tiger Pistol Shrimp pairing, and expect small hermits like the Mexican Red Leg to disappear over time. Snails and larger crabs are generally left alone. Very small or timid fish are also a bad bet, so skip the Firefish Goby and other nano gobies in the same tank.

Good tank mates. Anything with some size and confidence works well: the Purple Tang, Scopas Tang, Scribbled Rabbitfish, Ocellaris Clownfish, Naoko's Fairy Wrasse, Lyretail Anthias, Midas Blenny, and the Bicolor Dottyback. Add the hawkfish last if you can, so it is not the fish defending established turf.

Recommended Foods & Supplies

• Piscine Energetics PE Mysis frozen food, the staple
• SFBB Mysis Shrimp Cube
• Xtreme Marine PeeWee Slow-Sinking Pellets
• Xtreme Marine Krill Flakes
• Hikari Marine-S

FAQ

Is it reef safe?
Yes for corals and clams, no for small ornamental shrimp and crabs. That is the whole answer. If your cleanup crew is snails, hermits of decent size, and an urchin, you are fine. If you are attached to a cleaner shrimp, pick a different centerpiece.

Why does it sit on the rocks instead of swimming?
Because it has no swim bladder. Perching and hopping is exactly what a healthy hawkfish does, and it is the single most charming thing about the species. It is not a sign of illness.

Can I keep two together?
Usually not. A lone Flame Hawkfish will defend its territory against another one hard. Pairs are possible if a distinctly larger and smaller fish go in at the same time, since they change sex to sort out who is who, but in most home tanks one is the right number.

What size is this one?
It came in on a medium to large grade, and there is exactly one in stock. Give us a call or stop in before you drive out and we will tell you exactly how big the fish in the tank is right now.