Blue-spot jawfish keepers, please post

I've had mine for about a month now! I paid $100 plus tax. He eats like a pig in my 265. There are 2 tomato clowns and 7 green chromis in the tank with him. Competition for food isn't a feeding frenzy. He likes to stay close to his hole but will venture almost anywhere along the bottom to get the food.
One of the new online reef magazines had an article about the Blue Spot Jawfish. I believe it was last month. Talks about having a 10 inch sandbed for these guys, so far he seems to like my 4 inch sand bed.

Here is a picture of mine. I call him spot for obvious reasons.

Thanks
Bigreef
 
Those are beautiful fish!
I know I already said this, but please post feedback as to how they fair.
MtnDew, Physh, BigReef, Indy - from the day I got him, my fish was breathing what I would call kinda heavy, you could see his gill area expand rather largely with each breath ... is that normal jawfish stuff? Have you observed this in your fish? Have you noticed any areas where it looks like the color is missing?

I'd really like to figure out what went wrong with this fish, if possible. Thanks.
 
My understanding on availability is that the original collecting location for the BlueSpot Jawfish was closed to collecting and the fish became almost impossible to find in the hobby. Recently a new location has been discovered where collecting is once again permitted. Prices are coming down as the supply goes up, not due to the fish being delicate. LFS prices seem to range from $79 to $99 where I am.

I have had mine for about 2 months and it seems very hardy. When first introduced into the tank, it appeared to be breathing very hard, but that subsided within a day or two. I think it is natural for them to appear to gulp water and flair their gills more than most fish, perhaps due to their sand sifting ways.

Mine has been very hardy so far. It lives in a 225 with about a 3" sandbed. It seems to be happy making horizontal burrows, so I don't think the 10" sand bed is a real requirement. My LFS has had one in their 225 for years with about a 3" sand bed as well.

Mine gets fed once a day. It is not shy to dart out of its burrow a foot or so to snag bits of food that it sees. It takes any of the meaty foods that I feed including mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, bloodworms and Formula One. I make sure that it gets enough food that it's belly becomes noticeably rounded. I feed my tank only once a day, but it gets quite a bit of food when I do feed it, so everything gets a chance to eat and one bully fish can't hog the food. I was all prepared to do the turkey baster trick, but it has turned out to be unnecessary in my case.

Here is a pic of mine, happily burrowing under a large Derasa clam.

BlueSpotJawfish9.jpg


--- Ken
ReefCorner.Com
 
a friend of mine had that same issue, white flakey skin off etc.


we discussed the possiblity its the burrow, he was feeding a bit heavy on mysis, brine etc - i suspect a lot went into the burrow - attracting a lot of bristleworms and fireworms going in, and the blue spotted jawfish trying to stay in and is getting hit by em ?

will these work with a pistol shrimp ? will the pistol shrimp clran the burrow better I wonder.

i could be wrong, but hey who says I m wrong :) (yet)
 
That's the most phallic fish I've seen! :lmao:

Makes one wonder what attracts people to these fish...

I wonder how many Jawfish owners also drive Corvettes and smoke large cigars! :lmao:
 
LOL TheJ
That's the most phallic fish I've seen!
No Corvette or Cigar however, I do think my 85 gallon is a little small! How I long for a 225+. Not to mention an increase from a 4" to 6" DSB

BTW My new Blue spot is doing great so far. No discoloration, breathing normally and eating like a pig.
 
I think it is natural for them to appear to gulp water and flair their gills more than most fish,
Ken, that's what I was thinking, but mine's heavy breathing never really seemed to subside - It's starting to look like a big part of the problem was that instead of heeding the signs of trouble, I kept telling myself they didn't mean anything...I mean how many times have you seen a funny place on a fish that just turned out to be something stuck to him for a while?
BTW- your fish looks very healthy! Pretty too- nice picture>
attracting a lot of bristleworms and fireworms going in
I have quite a few bristle worms...please don't tell me I missed vital info about jaws & bristles don't mix!:(
 
TheJ,
I don't know about Corvettes and cigars, but I do drive a Dodge Viper, so you might be on to something there.

mantisagogo,
If yours appears to be constantly 'panting', that might be a sign of problems and this is what mine did for a day or two when I first got it. The healthy ones I have seen occasionally do something I would describe as 'gulping' water, but it looks natural for the fish to do this and it doesn't look labored as the panting does. Some fish will pant if there is ammonia present in the water, but I doubt that is your problem if the other fish are not showing signs of distress.

I'm not a big believer in the bristle worm theory either. Other than some of the rare types, most are strictly scavengers and aren't really a threat to healthy fish IMO. I had one over a foot long that used to live next to one of my large Derasas and it never caused a problem.

I have seen quite a few bluespots which have come in from the collectors looking kind of ragged with torn fins and poor colors, so collection/transport methods might be a factor in the quick demise of some of these fish. Perhaps they are catching a fungal infection during this period.

Here is a pic of the one that lives at one of my LFS. It has been going strong for around 2 years or so.
UPSBlueSpotGoby512.jpg


--- Ken
ReefCorner.Com
 
Perhaps they are catching a fungal infection during this period.
I have not said much about my suspicion in regards to this because a lot of books and advisors espouse the idea that fungal infections are practically non-existent & I certainly don't have the experience /knowledge to argue the point, but if I had to bet money on it, I would bet that this fish died of some sort of fungus. It was after I gave him one dose of oral antibiotic that he began his very quick decline.:( I kept telling myself that the books say it almost can't be a fungus.

Do you know how to recognize a fungus if I can find some photos?
For some reason my fish usually turned his good side to the camera, but I think if I reload that disc I may be able to find some that show the early stages some.

I'm thinking these blue-spots may not be as hardy as the general group of jaws is touted to be...if I had treated him as a more delicate type, he would not have gone into the tank he went into and I would not have fed him so much as I did - the nitrates got up to ~7-10 -- which I never imagined would be a problem for a "hardy" fish...thought he'd like eating lots better than pristine water. Also his tank was maintained at 82 F to avoid fluctuations..could that have been a stress for him? BTW, he ate the yellow clown goby (more fish book advice- said they tasted bad - no fish will eat them:confused: )
Oh well , I'm running late...
 
Here is my blue dot that came out last night after the lights went out. He is now 4 days old in my tank, and is taking prepared foods now. That took a few days but I think he seems to be doing quite well so far. Time will tell, but so far so good.

blue_dot_jawfish_2_4-21-02.jpg
 
True, most of the literature states that fungal infections are none existent or at least not well understood in marine fish, but not much else besides a fungal or bacterial infection seems to fit the bill from what I understand of the description. I could imagine how perhaps abrasions occuring during capture could result in an infection that manifested itself as white patches, or sloughing of the skin. Before I bought mine, I observed about 8 specimens over time which had come into a couple of the LFS where I live. Some looked very healthy (like the one I bought) and others just didn't look very good. Hard to put my finger on it, but the unhealthy acting ones besides having frayed fins, also seemed to look more pale in color and perhaps a little blotchy.

If you have any pictures which show the condition better, post them and maybe someone will be able to come up with a better diagnosis.

--- Ken
www.ReefCorner.com
 
I'll pipe in here. I had a blue spot for about 2 1/2 months until 2 weeks ago. :(

Even though I heard it a thousand times I had a few inch opening in the back of my tank, and as you guessed it he jumped. My wife found him coofed on top of the tank directly under 2 250 watt Iwasaki's.

He burrowed all over the tank and loved Cockle sp? from Gamma foods. He would eat it right out of my hand. He always stayed near the bottom of the tank but he slowly started swimming closer to the top. Learn from me and a ton of others. Cover every opening of your tank no matter how slim it looks that the fish will make it out!

Brian
 
Sorry about your fish, djheywood...I wonder why this jawfish tendency to jump - if one goes to their native habitat, do you look out onto the water and say, "Look guys, the jawfish are really jumpin' today!"????

Ken, I couldn't find any pictures that showed the worst "bad places" that he had when I got him, they were on the lower half of his body and on the side he usually turned away from the camera. In one, you can see his tummy with some white stuff and in another I circled a couple of areas where the color seemed to be starting to come off (or skin beginning to shed?). At the end, he was flaky all over except on his head which was covered by teeny pointy bumps, but not discolored.

I doubt that once this had taken over that his demise was only at that point only a fungus, bacteria, amyloodinium etc. - which makes it even harder. His entire body became somewhat swollen and his eyes had clouded a bit. IME, most fish with a bacteria show some positive response to antibiotic - and with this poor little guy, it almost seemed to be what finally did him in - I really hate this ..

MntDew - tell that fish to go back to bed! No telling who he might run into after curfew!! Gorgeous fish! I'm assuming that sort of pale coloration around his tummy is just due to the way many fish sort of "pale" at night:)

Here's the "best" pictures I had:
 
You can see the white areas on tummy plus a general splotching where the color began to disappear all over.
This next one shows sort of the next step as a splotch gets bigger. Before he died all the splotched areas were white.
 
They jump because in nature when they are scared they swim up really fast. They try to do that in the aquaium, but there is no water there to swim up to. Then they jump out.

Or maybe they just love jumping. Kinda an extreme sport for fish.
 
May have spoke too soon. The Jawfish is still eating like crazy and very active however, I have noticed he has gotten a few white dotted areas on him.
This is how the other that died started out. I have had this one for about 4 weeks now.
Water parameters are fine. He gets selcon and garlic elixer added to his food. 2 gold stripped Maroons, spot tail Wrasse and Blue Assessor are great.
Whatever this is seems to only effect the blue spotted jawfish.
Here's a pic. I hope you can make out the areas.
I really wish I knew what was going on. These fish are really neat. If this one does not make it then it will have to be my last.
Fingers crossed.
 
Sorry to hear about everyones problems, I'll definitely keep a close eye on mine. Sure looks like there is a common thread to the look of the fish before they die. If it was a fungal infection, I would expect to see a cottony appearance to it and I don't see that from the pics. I went back and scanned my books and even went down to the bookstore, but I couldn't come up with any good guesses. Marine Velvet keeps coming to mind, but I have never seen it cause small isolated patches like that nor sloughing of skin.

I have a specimen sheet on the Bluespot on my website at http://www.reefcorner.com/SpecimenSheets/bluespottedJawfish.htm . If anyone gets any good pics of the malady or finds a resolution, I'd like to add it to the page for future reference.

--- Ken
www.ReefCorner.Com
 
Indy, those photos look very similar to what my fish had... :(
If it was a fungal infection, I would expect to see a cottony appearance to it and I don't see that from the pics.
On my poor fish, once it had advanced, it was very white/cottony, if by that you mean kind of fuzzy and then towards the last -flaky. I know that there was a stage where he was trying to scratch it. I'm still wondering about the odd pointy miniscule bumps on his head - their heads are supposed to be scaleless. If it was a combination of 2 things I would have to say that I think amyloodinium was one of them.
And to Indy.. the antibiotic seemed to make it worse or at least have no effect..could have been wrong antibiotic. Antibiotics would be very likely culprits in making a fungal infection worse - as you probably know. I treated with copper - but I think it was just too late by then. I hope those spots on your fish are false alarms, but it sure looks a lot like how it started on mine. I wish you the best of luck and hope you don't need it.
Ken, do you know how the other 7 at your LFS are doing? Since they had so many, if they had any problems, maybe they treated them successfully?
BTW, your fish looked completely healthy to me in the photos!:thumbsup: Thanks for the link to your website, I'll go check that out right now.
 
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