Habitat for Jawfish = Deep Mixed Substrate = Nitrates

[ezcompany]

Can you see the dillema? I would like to provide a nice home for my Blue Spotted Jawfish so he stops going crazy at night jumping. I don't see any possible way to make him content without having some problems. I know a minimum of 6 inches of substrate is recommended, but I am not willing to vacuum the sand everytime i clean the tank. Is there anyway around this?


Tank is a 12 gallon aquapod.
Livestock is true perc, various high end zoos, mushrooms, yumas, dendro.
Tank runs carbon and a AquaC Remora w/mj1200 with additional liverock in the chambers.


I don't know how much the jawfish will stir up the substrate matter. Will it only be around his "area" so the other parts of the substrate act with the DSB function?

 

[rockindacheeks]

you could try a LR rubble pile and see if he will make a home out of that... how much sand do you have in the tank now?

 

[ezcompany]

0 sand, only live rocks.

 

[rockindacheeks]

put like 1 or 2 inches and some rubble. LS doesnt always add nitrates unless you feed your tank a lot.

 

[slowECUdiver]

return that Jawfish ASAP, please

return that Jawfish ASAP, please

omg. jawfish by their very nature need sand of varying grain sizes from small to somewhat large (sugar sized to 2.5-3 mm or even greater) of at least 5-6" depth to construct their burrows. please return your Jawfish ASAP to the store/person you purchased it from. without a sufficient depth of sand in your tank, the fish will stress itself to death, or in your case, continually jump at night.

 

[Jordan55]

Totally agree with post above.

Jawfish really do need sand to survive and very rarely can live in happiness without sand.

Not to mention, even if you DID put in a 5-6 inch sand bed, that would take your actaull water volume very low which could in turn cause the percula to become stressed.

If I were you, I would take him back. If you are interested in sand burrowing fish, try some gobies, they only require a few inches.

 

[ezcompany]

ok a little background information for those telling me to return it:

the fish was living in a tupperware, around 4 inches in lenght floating around at my lfs for the past 4 months. the original buyer flaked out in the last minute, and noone wanted the poor guy as they could not justify the price. (ghetto neighbourhood)
while living in the tupperware it has been eating very well everytime i visited it, and has actually grown a good inch. i finally decided it was time to rescue the poor fish as it was just too beautiful to rot in a tupperware.

I have plenty of sand available, and am planning on hammering some lr to make some good rubble for him. i was worried about the possible effects of adding this much sand and rubble however.

 

[emerald chondro]

If you are extremely attatched to the fish i'd recommend taking him to a nicer store to hold or take permanantly until you can set up a proper home for the little guy.

 

[Kigs]

YH jawfish are often difficult to keep in a small system. In the long run, it probably will not be happy in your tank without substrate. Only ones I've seen flourish were the ones in huge reef aquariums (100+g). They really are beautiful creatures though. Hope you figure out a solution to your dillema.

 

[ezcompany]

I'm getting some rubble and sand ready. I should be slowly adding it over the next few days.

 

[victor_c3]

I'm sorry to hear that you are having such a rough time, but this is all great learning for me. I was planning on getting a jawfish for my tank, but I didn't realize they needed so much sand (I was planning on using a 3" sand bed).

Hope it all works out for you

 

[Snowsurfer]

I have 2 yellowhead jawfish in my main tank with 1 1/2" of sand and they are fine. Made thier holes next to pieces of rock and use the rock as the roof of their hole. Never had a problem with them.

Admittadly its in a 150g tank not a nano.

 

[ezcompany]

that last shot is great!

 

[AngeloM3]

not sure if someone already said this.... but you can get a Sand Sifting Star... he'll help remove nitrates out of the sand


And just for FYI... very RARELY will DSB's be catastrophic to the tank.

 

[laverda]

I have 2 yellow headed jaw fish in my 24 gallon Nano cube with about 2 inches of sand. I doubt you will have to worry about cleaning your sand, as not much is going to stay in it with a jaw fish in your nano tank. They are constantly moving the sand around. I would support you rock so it does not shift as it digs around and under it.
A sand sifting star is almost guaranteed to starve in a 12 gallon tank.

 

[Jordan55]

Not saying the above posts are wrong or "bad" but just because they have 1-2 inches of sand for their jawfish doesn't mean it is the best thing to do.

And again, not trying to call those people out because if it is working for you, then keep it up.... but realistically, you should have a good 4-5 inches of sand and 6 is even better. These fish in the wild have their holes perfectly veritcal and in the aquarium they are usually forced to make their home at an agle because of lack of sand.

They will sometimes build up a mound of sand in one place to make their burrow if sand is not sufficent in the tank.

If you do plan to keep him, just make sure you have atleast 3 inches and maybe build up one side to like 5 inches.

Glad you rescued him though!

 

[Snowsurfer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8968106#post8968106 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jordan55
Not saying the above posts are wrong or "bad" but just because they have 1-2 inches of sand for their jawfish doesn't mean it is the best thing to do.

I agree with what you have said it might not be the best thing to do.

But as with anything in aquariums, do you ever think we truley recreate the fish we keep natural habitat in little glass boxes compared to what they come from where they could me swimming great distances ? Some fish do spend a lot of time perched in the same place or living in the same hole. But most dont.

The way i see it if you can keep a fish you want, and keep it looking healthy then your doing pretty well. If you want to recreate thier natural habitat leave them in the sea.

 

[laverda]

Jordan55 Good Information. I think I will some more sand for mt Yellow headed Jaw fish.

 

[fishes2889]

I have a 33g Long and i have a DSB of 3-4 inches mixed with about 70% aragonite and 30% crushed coral. I have 2 Yellow headed Jawfish for the past 2 months and they are loving the tank. They actually have a burrow together. The DSB has always kept them happy but, i have to say the first night was frightening. Both of them jumped the first night just because i spooked them with a light and they didnt have a burrow to go into.

They are great and entertaining fish, but i would only house them in the "right" environment.

Keep in mind Snowsurfer has a 120g with lots of sand to go around. He only has 1-2inches but the Jawfish are creative enough to build thier burrow, instead of just digging a hole like in my tank....Just my 2 cents...

Steve