Fish are unpredictable to say the least

[Fanof49ASU]

I finally got a Yellowhead (Pearly) Jawfish, got it acclimated and into the burrow that I had built when setting up my new tank. I thought all was going well, until my new resident kinda had a surprise anxiety attack......swimming at an alarming speed around the tank......btw....they can be extremely fast swimmers.

Anways, he settled down in the Red Zone .......in my maroon clowns area. (My maroon is the perfect fish unless you step into her territory.) Much to my surprise, she allowed the jawfish to remain in her area and even runs off the pesky Blue Chromi that is constantly trying to show her dominance by hovering above the jawfish. The clown is actually accepting this new fish! Or at least allowing it some time to acclimate to its new surroundings.

As of this morning, the jawfish is still in the Red Zone but is still stressing a bit......very active, swimming up and down the glass.

I'll get pics once he calms down.....I can't wait!!!

 

[dagermain]

I have a mated pair. My favorite fish...

 

[rcmike]

I just got a blue sided fairy wrass the other day and it hangs out near my tomato clown. Usually it will chase off other fish but he leaves this one alone for some reason. Must not see it as a threat.

 

[NicoleC]

Clowns and bottom dwellers seem to get along. Who knows, maybe the clowns use the superior eyesight and skittishness of them as a warning system.

 

[Fanof49ASU]

Well.....I couldn't wait......
I took this (literally) from across the room....trying not to spook her.

 

[waynesworld]

That is a great pic.

 

[rcmike]

That is a good picture. Did you get him recently? There was one at the Critter I was eying last weekend.

 

[Fanof49ASU]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14206020#post14206020 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rcmike
That is a good picture. Did you get him recently? There was one at the Critter I was eying last weekend.

Thanks guys.

Yeah, that's from the Critter and I got her/him on Monday. I know they have at least one more (as of my purchase on Monday).

She has now started to burrow in the front left corner of the tank......into the corner without any rock, and probably the most shallow part of the tank at 2 1/2" (sand)......oh well........I guess she has forgotten about her 5-star accommodations, that I painstakingly built on the other side of the tank.....I knew it would happen.

 

[dagermain]

There are few guarantees with fish, but here is one: Sh will make at least three burrows before she picks a final one redesigning the tank floor in the process.

I had a large flat rock on the sand I was going to use to put some coral on, but the jawfish have dug out almost all the sand from under it (except what is supporting its weight and have an two entrances, one at the back of the rock/tank and one at the front. This was of course the second borrow the male built, but he made a couple more before finally returning to "his favorite". The female liked one of the other burrows better and they stayed separated for a while, but she finally caved and moved in.

I have had one in every FOWLR I have owned, and they leave the coral alone completely in this tank (other than spitting sand on them when digging).

PS. I may be wrong on this, but I believe the Pearly and Yellowheaded Jawfish are different...

 

[Fanof49ASU]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14207612#post14207612 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dagermain
PS. I may be wrong on this, but I believe the Pearly and Yellowheaded Jawfish are different...

I was looking through my fish I.D. book last night, and noticed the Yellowhead jawfish with pearly in parenthesis.

As for rearranging.....I believe you. She is really digging out a huge spot right now....about the size of our Governors underground bunker. Considering this is probably the most shallow spot in the tank, I took a good sized clam shell, drilled a hole in the middle (extremely hard stuff to drill) and covered the area she had dug out. I wonder I had messed her up and if she'd ever return to that spot, but she jumped on it immediately. Now, she'll dig a bit, and then pop up out of the hole and look around.....kinda like that Whack a Mole game.

I'm also missing a very small zoa frag. It had 2-3 polyps on a very small rock....my last few remaining polyps of Zombie Eyes......and I suspect it is now lining the wall of that bunker. Since then, I added a pile of rubble and shells close by.

This is by far the most interesting fish I've been around. It's constantly watching me.