So as I'm sure many are well aware I have and adore my flame hawkfish (Neocirrhites armatus) and that I recently restarted the tank and am back at only having three fish in the tank. One thing I've always adored is the look of a pair of hawkfish (espcially longnose hawks!), combine this with the need to buy new fish and create a little bit of busyness in the tank I decided that I'm going down the route of getting my flame hawk a partner
Flame hawkfish are sequential hermaphrodites, meaning that they all start life as females and the largest and most dominant become the males. Given that my flame hawk is now two years old (at least in my tank) and fairly fat and happy I'm rather certain that he's male. So I started chatting to Dave at Deer Park about it and pairing them up, he didn't have much experience with it nor seen anyone but said he'd get me in a cute little hawk (who is tiny lol), that little beauty arrived last night and I have picked her up this morning! (I may have bought an acro as well though :rolleyes) so a big thanks to Dave for getting me one so promptly and so healthy :worship
Now comes the tricky part lol, the pairing of the hawks!
My plan is to keep the new female in a small seperation container for the next week in the tank for Hawk Hawkins (my flame hawk named after the smart casual song lol) to adjust to the presence of a new flame hawkfish and hopefully I will be able to tell during this time how he will go with her in the tank Once that week is up and I'm satisfied then I'll be opening the container but not removing it so she still has it to retreat to and for an easy catch lol.
With any luck I will be able to have these two pair up for life over the coming months as they do pair for life in singular pairs and sometimes harems If anyone has any experience with this please chime in!! I'm not aiming to breed but simply to get them to become a mated pair and hopefully even mate too
Flame hawkfish are sequential hermaphrodites, meaning that they all start life as females and the largest and most dominant become the males. Given that my flame hawk is now two years old (at least in my tank) and fairly fat and happy I'm rather certain that he's male. So I started chatting to Dave at Deer Park about it and pairing them up, he didn't have much experience with it nor seen anyone but said he'd get me in a cute little hawk (who is tiny lol), that little beauty arrived last night and I have picked her up this morning! (I may have bought an acro as well though :rolleyes) so a big thanks to Dave for getting me one so promptly and so healthy :worship
Now comes the tricky part lol, the pairing of the hawks!
My plan is to keep the new female in a small seperation container for the next week in the tank for Hawk Hawkins (my flame hawk named after the smart casual song lol) to adjust to the presence of a new flame hawkfish and hopefully I will be able to tell during this time how he will go with her in the tank Once that week is up and I'm satisfied then I'll be opening the container but not removing it so she still has it to retreat to and for an easy catch lol.
With any luck I will be able to have these two pair up for life over the coming months as they do pair for life in singular pairs and sometimes harems If anyone has any experience with this please chime in!! I'm not aiming to breed but simply to get them to become a mated pair and hopefully even mate too