Hawkfishes

These fishes belong in the "Order Perciformes" and "Suborder Percoidei" as members of the "Family Cirrhitidae" (Hawkfishes) consisting of 9 genera, and 35 species.

They are another small, fairly peaceful, hardy, colorful, but not inexpensive resident for the aquarium. All have stocky bodies with prominent heads and fairly large eyes for their size. They all have "cirrhi" in their names, which refers to small hairy tuffs on the tips of their dorsal fins. Their strong pelvic fins are used as supports when perching and will defend its feeding territory and area around its favorite perching spot.

They mostly perch on or among the living rock/coral between their quick, short movements because they lack a swim bladder. Prefer systems with plenty of hiding places and places to sit and watch the traffic go by. They are undemanding when it comes to water quality, tankmates and food, however, do like meaty foodstuffs, e.g., mysis shrimp and krill. Can not be completely trusted with very small fish like Neon Gobies and small shrimp because they could wind up as a Hawkfish meal.

They begin life as females with the largest and more dominant becoming a male. They live and spawn in harems, with one male having several females. Unless you can sex them, its one hawkfish per tank unless it's a very large tank. May pick on hermit crabs