andythorntonjr
New member
So about 9 days ago I added two pearly jawfish to my tank (otherwise holding 2 firefish and an assortment of Nassarius & Astrea snails). One jawfish (the female) set about finding a burrow, moved a few times and has settled in a nice spot at the side of the tank. Very active, eating well, the works. The other (the male) is in hiding. He immediately hid after being introduced and has been there since. I spotted him briefly around day 3 or 4, but he relocated immediately and I've seen no sign of him since. The tank has a glass top with mesh around the holes up top (so chances of him jumping out are nill). Haven't spotted him in the sump or any drains either.
So the question becomes... any good methods of finding him (other than picking up rocks) or just wait him out? I have noticed a nitrate spike recently:
I was running less than 5ppm nitrate and now its up to 10-20ppm. This could be due to a little extra feeding I've been doing recently (to try luring him out of hiding & feeding the other one, luring it out), from the dying hair algae I have (Mg increase definitely working there! GHA is almost all white; pulling it out as I can. The only other source I could think of is if perhaps the male died and the nitrates are from his corpse; though I'd expect a bigger jump than 20ppm if that were the case.
So any tricks on finding the reluctant fish? Move rock the only way? Or should I just sit back and wait him out and/or let the snails pick him clean if he did take the final gulp?
Thanks!
So the question becomes... any good methods of finding him (other than picking up rocks) or just wait him out? I have noticed a nitrate spike recently:
I was running less than 5ppm nitrate and now its up to 10-20ppm. This could be due to a little extra feeding I've been doing recently (to try luring him out of hiding & feeding the other one, luring it out), from the dying hair algae I have (Mg increase definitely working there! GHA is almost all white; pulling it out as I can. The only other source I could think of is if perhaps the male died and the nitrates are from his corpse; though I'd expect a bigger jump than 20ppm if that were the case.
So any tricks on finding the reluctant fish? Move rock the only way? Or should I just sit back and wait him out and/or let the snails pick him clean if he did take the final gulp?
Thanks!
