Jawfish Habitat

[rdnyva]

I'd like to keep a few pearly jawfish in the 125 I'm setting up. I will be using sugar size sand and we all know that Jawfish need larger grains plus shells, etc and a deeper sandbed (the rest of the tank will be approx 2 inches deep) to construct their burrows. Has anyone built a separate area to keep the 2 grain size sands from mixing over time. Could rockwork, pvc, acrylic work. How would I do this. Please give me any experiences or guidance you may have had with this. If I can make a small habitat for them, not only can I add them to my setup, but an added benefit would be that I can select thier location in the tank, instead ofthem settling behind a rock and outo f sight.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Brandon's Reef]

I had a pearly jawfish in my sand bed and the grains there were sugar sized.

 

[rdnyva]

Really, I thought they needed a larger size grain. Maybe I'll give it a shot and just give them some shells or something. Also I'd need something to keep a small deeper sandbed in place. Thanks BR.

BTW any good LFS I should be investigating over by you. Not much here in Ocala. Oops, just read you Occupation. More info please.

 

[keeperofthefish]

I've heard of people putting pieces of PVC in the sand to provide additional structural support. Jawfish will be drawn to those "natural" burrows before constructing their own. It's worth a shot, anyway. I think they also secrete something that helps support their tunnels. Gross but effective.

 

[dominick33]

Have two Pearly Jaws in a 130. They have constructed two "caves" under live rock in sugar size sand on either side of the tank. One area has 5inches the other probably 3. They appear perfectly happy but are skiddish of the other inhabitants but are still quite comical and fun to watch

 

[rdnyva]

Thanks all, your advice is appreciated. I was thinking about constructing a square out of pvc, filling it with sand to build a deeper bed and put LR around the it. Whaddaya think?

 

[dominick33]

You could but I think that they will go to a location that pleases them and that may offer some protection if they are frightened by anything. That maynot be the area you hope for

 

[Valab]

I've seen very large ones in the wild that have their burrow out in the middle of a sand plain (i.e., no rocks). If you're talking about small pearlys, your pvc idea might work, but you really don't need it. If you have some rock and maybe some small rubble, the pearly will burrow under the rock - it will make a cave with the rock as the roof of the cave, and sand at the bottom.

I found the pearlys very skittish as stated above. They show themselves pretty well, but at feeding time they stayed hidden because other fish were darting around grabbing pieces of food. Trying to make sure they got food was difficult.

 

[skylsdale]

As observed by Valab, jawfish prefer and actually find safety in wide open spaces--it allows them to keep an eye out for predators. Rockwork (like in our tanks) can actually stress them because it obscures part of the view and increases the chance that a predator can sneak up on them. So, if you really want to create the best habitat for them, keep the rock out of the tank.

Also, in the wild their burrows are constructed vertically...not angled or underneath rock piles like in our tanks. Considering that most jaws get around 4" long and they need to be able to retreat completely back into the burrow and then a bit more, I would suggest a sandbed depth of no less than 6" in depth.

For flow I would suggest a few powerheads on one end, toward the surface, and directed toward the opposite side of teh tank. This will create a laminar flow across the top, which will then curve downward along the opposite side panel, and then a nice stead flow over the surface of the substrate for the jaws to hang out in and keep things moving.