Blue Spot Jawfish - 3rd time the charm?

[ThRoewer]

I gave it another shot with Blue Spot Jawfish (LA had a killer 42% off deal on them)

My first 2 attempts failed:

First two from LFS: male died of BSJD, female jumped into the quarter sized opening of a EHEIM surface skimmer while in antibiotics treatment.

Second two from LiveAquaria: both died hours after I got them.

Third two from LiveAquaria: Looking good so far. They arrived without any visible symptoms of disease. Also, from the looks of it, it seems LA (QM actually) got it right with picking a male and a female by my instructions. So far no aggression.
Despite enough space in the QT and initially taking shelter in another prebuild burrow, the smaller one (female) decided to move and build her burrow underneath the (small) rock where the large one (male) made his burrow and seemingly he didn't mind it.

Now it's to hope that they don't get sick ... or would it be better to dose the tank with CP prophylactically?

 

[snorvich]

It has been my experience that:

+if they make it a month, you should be good going forward
+cooler temps are preferred
+passive tank mates are important

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Can you treat with CP with sand and rock in the tank? Do you plan on TT these guys? I saw the sale too and it got me wondering how to quarantine jaw fish when it seems like rock/sand is essential to even their short term comfort.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Personally I'd just observe them instead of going ahead and treating for something they might not have.

Beautiful pair! Good luck with them.

 

[ThRoewer]

It has been my experience that:

+if they make it a month, you should be good going forward
+cooler temps are preferred
+passive tank mates are important

I keep them alone for now and at room temperature, though where they are collected (La Paz) they see quite high temperatures (30°C) in the summer/early fall. It only gets really cold (19°C) in the winter. I think they are much more tolerant to temperature swings and extremes than many tropical reef fish, who are used to a narrower and more stable temperature range year round.
BSJ are definitely not true cold water fish like Catalina gobies or Garibaldis.

I haven't really decided where to put them later. I have a new pair of blue stipe pipefish that might be perfect tank mates.
They would probably also get along well with marine bettas.

Can you treat with CP with sand and rock in the tank? Do you plan on TT these guys? I saw the sale too and it got me wondering how to quarantine jaw fish when it seems like rock/sand is essential to even their short term comfort.

Nothing says you can't put rocks and sand in a QT (unless you plan to use copper). I do that all the time. I actually even added a cup of "Live Sand" for these two.
Sand and rock can be sterilized after use - I do it by boiling with no ill effects.

CP shouldn't affect the bacteria too negatively, if at all. Many used it in DTs and I didn't find any complaints about bacteria die offs - not that using CP in a DT is a good idea.


As for these two: after the lights went out the female tried to cozy up with the male in his burrow. That went then too far for him: he dragged her out and I had to direct her to her old burrow to keep her from doing more stupid things during the night.

Let's see how things are in the morning.

BTW, has anybody ever got some of the BSJ from Panama? They are classified as a different species (Opistognathus panamaensis), yet look almost identical to Opistognathus rosenblatti.
The Panama variety should definitely like tropical reef temperatures from 24°C to 27°C.

 

[d-man]

How can u sex them?

 

[snorvich]

It is my recollection that the collection area has a thermocline.

 

[Martini5788]

I hope it works out for the both of us! Mine seems to be doing better, we will see.

 

[ThRoewer]

How can u sex them?

Males have larger heads and longer jaws in relation to the total body length. Also, males are overall larger than females.

Here is an article about breeding them, but unfortunately the main article is only in Spanish:
Comportamiento reproductivo del pez Opistognathus rosenblatti en cautiverio
(Reproductive behavior of Opistognathus rosenblatti in captivity) (Full PDF article in Spanish)

Abstract: Reproductive behavior of Opistognathus rosenblatti (Perciformes: Opistognathidae) in captivity.
The Blue Spotted Jawfish O. rosenblatti, is an endemic species from the Gulf of California, included in the local
list of protected species. With few biological reports, this species is appreciated in the aquarium industry due to
its coloration and digging behaviour, and has a considerable value. With the aim to generate valuable biological
information, eight fishes were caught at Loreto Natural Marine Protected Area. Captured fishes were juveniles,
and just three of them were kept in an aquarium conditioned with gravel, pieces of shells and coral as substrata.
Temperature and photoperiod conditions were stable, and they were supplied with a variety of live and inert
feeds. Fishes reached maturity in eight months, according to literature reports, displaying mature male courtship
coloration and upward movements in the water column. Fishes spawned several times over more than two years
in captivity. Presences of egg masses, or some evidence of egg shell or larvae, were registered in 50 occasions.
Male took care of eggs in his shelter, but never in his mouth. Egg masses had an average of 3 592 eggs, with a
hatching rate close to 99%. Eggs were apparently rounded having three diameter measurements with significant
differences (1.17mm mean higher diameter, SD=0.054; 1.13mm mean lower diameter, 0.058; 0.99mm mean
height, 0.045; n=125). Most of corion eggs had four, rarely six filaments; with a single oil drop (0.30mm mean
diameter, 0.021, n=59). Incubation lasted 10.4 days (9-14), depending on water temperature (21.0-25.3°C). Egg
hatching occurred after darkness, emerging newly hatched larvae of 4.51mm mean notochord length (0.082,
n=30), with reserves exhausted, eyes pigmented and mouth opened, ready to eat. This study represents the first
report on this species courtship displaying, spawning and some basic characteristics of eggs masses and larvae
in captivity. Also, their flexibility and adaptability of individual behaviour to particular environment conditions,
lead to consider worth their commercial culture, as already occur with other species of this family. Rev. Biol.
Trop. 60 (3): 1303-1315. Epub 2012 Sep. 01.

Key words: Opistognathus rosenblatti, jaw fish, ornamental fish, courtship, reproduction, spawning.

It has some pictures of males and females, but unfortunately only in spawning coloration and with the female full of eggs - not much helpful for selection of a pair at a store.

This article is more specific on the differences between males and females, but for other Jawfish species of the region:

Four new species of eastern tropical Pacific jawfishes (Opistognathus: Opistognathidae) (Full article)

Abstract

Three of four new jawfishes described herein have sexually dimorphic jaws and dichromatic maxillary markings: O. smithvanizi, with a simple nasal cirrus, buccal pigmentation and other traits similar to members of the O. macrognathus group, is known only from Isla del Caño, a continental shelf island off southern Costa Rica; O. fossoris, with a multifid nasal cirrus, a broaddorsal membranous subopercular flap and a black spot on tips of first dorsal-fin spines lives in the Gulf of California and is a sister-species of O. galapagensis; the maxilla of O. walkeri terminates in a flexible scimitar-shaped lamina in adults of both sexes, but is longer in males, the species lacks nasal cirri and is also restricted to the Gulf of California. Opistognathus brochus is a small species with dark speckling on head and body, and several dark blotches along the dorsal fin and two bars on the tail; it is found in moderately deep water on the Costa Rican coast and Gulf of California. Opistognathus mexicanus is placed in the synonymy of O. punctatus. Opistognathus galapagensis, O. rhomaleus and O. fenmutis are recorded for the first time from Costa Rica and a description of the latter is given and an identification key and summary table are provided for all known eastern Pacific species of Opistognathus.

Key Words: New species, new records, jawfishes, Costa Rica, Gulf of California, Galapagos.

It is my recollection that the collection area has a thermocline.

From what I found they live in rather shallow waters from 5 m to 25 m.

 

[ThRoewer]

I hope it works out for the both of us! Mine seems to be doing better, we will see.

Did you already get the second one LA wanted to send you?

 

[alton]

Since they are now importing more juvenile BSJF than adults as in the past the survival record is much better. One thing I have learned in the past, when it comes to Jawfish it is better to have there own tank. My office tanks contains one BSJF and a pair of golden angels. The BSJF gets what food that floats by, and the Goldens get what goes into the rocks. The only way I could tell male from female was when the male was flashing, and females don't fight normally. Good luck to everyone, they are fun fish to watch. In closing I like to keep my tank below 76.

 

[Martini5788]

Did you already get the second one LA wanted to send you?

Nope, I'm gonna wait and see what happens with this one.

 

[ThRoewer]

Since they are now importing more juvenile BSJF than adults as in the past the survival record is much better. One thing I have learned in the past, when it comes to Jawfish it is better to have there own tank. My office tanks contains one BSJF and a pair of golden angels. The BSJF gets what food that floats by, and the Goldens get what goes into the rocks. The only way I could tell male from female was when the male was flashing, and females don't fight normally. Good luck to everyone, they are fun fish to watch. In closing I like to keep my tank below 76.

So far I've seen only adults, but never the all yellow juveniles. From what Steve Robinson told me the issue is that these guys grow very fast in the wild. From the larva settling down to adult coloring is only a few weeks. That's why the yellow juveniles rarely make it into the trade.

Also it seems the adults don't necessarily live very long in the wild, largely due to predation of predatory fish that regularly wipe out whole colonies.
It seems that in the wild they rarely get larger than 4 inch, but in captivity I have seen specimen of 5 inch or larger.

Are these yours? I would love to see a known male in normal coloration.

I'm starting to think my smaller one is actually the male and the larger the female. The notion that female won't fight is new to me. From what I've heard even females will fight each other in confined space.

The question I still haven't found an answer to is if Jawfish are capable of sex change or if they are male or female from birth.


As for Opistognathus panamaensis, it seems this species goes all the way up to coast of Southwest Mexico:

First record and range extension of the jawfish, Opistognathus panamaensis (Perciformes: Opistognathidae) from western Mexico

Numerous specimens of Ophistognathus panamaensis were observed along the coast of Oaxaca in western Mexico and one
specimen was collected by Hawaiian sling in the coral reef zones of Huatulco, Mexico in November 2012. Therefore, this paper
reports for the first time the occurrence of O. panamaensis in Mexico and extends its previous distribution by 1245 km north
of the Eastern Pacific equatorial zone.

 

[alton]

I added one which turned out to be a female who loved to build homes. Then I added three more, one was a female but the other two including the one pictured where males that got into one heck of a jaw fight. It was so severe that I reached in my tank and picked up the loser. He ended up living so I gave him to my nephew. My first female and the flashing male became a pair with the other female. An then I made the biggest mistake of my aquarium keeping life by moving a blue face angel from QT to my sump because he was not doing well and I lost 90% of my fish. And why every time anyone ask about QT I click yes. Although the ones coming into the us may not be exactly juveniles they are normally around 3" versus the ones I use to see years ago at 5"+

 

[ThRoewer]

Feeding time:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3ZFUWIHK5-c" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Eating good, but I'm no longer sure the big one is the male - it seems to be a bit afraid of the small one who is acting quite a bit strange.

 

[scuzy]

Damn i was going to order one but forgot.

 

[Martini5788]

Feeding time:



<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3ZFUWIHK5-c" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>



Eating good, but I'm no longer sure the big one is the male - it seems to be a bit afraid of the small one who is acting quite a bit strange.

Yeah yours look a lot better than mine. Mine is hiding all the time, I can barely even get a look at its head.

 

[alton]

Yeah yours look a lot better than mine. Mine is hiding all the time, I can barely even get a look at its head.

Like other fish they all have different personalities. The one I had two years ago thought he owned the place, mine in my office now only sticks his head out. FWIW I had MH lighting on this tank and one weekend the AC crapped out and the tank got to 80, the following week he developed white patches on his tail. I tried feeding medicated food but it did not work. Since my office tank is setup for jawfish with 80% of the tank with 4" of substrate and the massive tunnel system he built, there was no way of removing him. I now have LEDs but a much shyer BSJF

 

[alton]

Here is years of testimony from people who have kept BSJF and some who have tried to breed them
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forum/index.php?forums/bluespot-club.147/

 

[alton]

Here is a picture of my shy dude