Oxycirrhites typus, commonly known as the Longnose hawkfish, is a small/medium hawkfish. Their white base colour is covered in red spots and lines which form squares/rectangles with spots in it. The first few dorsal fin spines have tiny hairs on them called 'cirri'. And the most characteristic feature of this fish is off course their long nose, which makes them a bit of an odd duck in the hawkfish family, but a very nice addition to most tanks. These fish usually pick one or a few spots on rocks or corals (gorgonians and black corals seems preferred) where they observe the aquarium. We recommend to only keep one hawkfish in a tank, unless a proven pair can be found, because they can be very aggressive towards other hawkfishes if not enough hiding spaces are available. Most other fishes are ignored, but do watch out with small docile species though. In nature their main diet consists of small crustaceans and zooplankton. They're not shy at all and will eat about any meaty food (preferable crustaceans like artemia, gammarus and copepods) you offer and have no problem accepting small pellets. They can even be hand-fed after a short while in the tank. Except for resting on a coral, which some corals can't handle, they're reef safe, but do watch out with fish, shrimps and crabs that fit their mouth!
