Jawfish stocking question

Timbor

Timbor

New member
Hey everybody,

If all goes according to plan, I should have water in my tank by the end of next week.
I want my tank to centre around a yellow-headed jawfish. The tank is 35 gallons, 36"*12"*18"

My question is, would it be possible to keep more than one specimen of this species in the tank. I know that they are more social than the blue spotted jawfish, but I am still not certain if I could have more than one in my sized tank.

Any suggestions?

Tim
 
How deep are you planning to make the sandbed? I think you could have 2 or 3 if you have a deep bed. What other fish/inhabitants are you planning to stock?
 
Well, the bed will be made probably at least 3" deep, deeper if needed.

I wouldnt mind having some sort of basslet, like a royal gramma or a blackcap. I was also thinking of perhaps some sort of small fairy or flasher wrasse. It won't be a tank with very active/aggressive fish.

My main concern for them is intra-specific aggression. I would hate to get a small group and end up it just one in the end...

Tim
 
I've had jawfish for about a year. anytime i've had more than one in the tank at a time, one "goes missing" in a short period of time.

good luck
 
I think 6 inches is supposed to be the minimum depth for a jawfish. I've seen some references suggest 10 inches or more. 3 might be a little shallow for them.

They are also supposed to have different sized pebbles and shells available to help keep their tunnels from collapsing. If you can get a small bag of crushed coral, you can offer them "piles" of building materials. Just restock the pile as they incorporate pieces into their construction.

The best thing to do is add them first and all together. Let them stake out their tunnel spots and settle in before adding another fish.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7998870#post7998870 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Capt_Cully
I've had jawfish for about a year. anytime i've had more than one in the tank at a time, one "goes missing" in a short period of time.

good luck
Click to expand...

What kind of jaws are these? Are they yellow-headed jawfish (Opistognathus aurifrons)?

Tim
 
Cool, I will take a look at it. Hopefully there are some people out there with some good experience with these guys.

Tim
 
Scott W. Michael says that O. aurifrons densities can be pretty high in the wild, as I recall from the book as close as 6" for burrow spacing. He says stocking densities may be even higher in a tank. I'm basing my stocking density for the aurifrons jawfish tank I'm building on this, and plan to try 8 aurifrons in a 4' X 2' (no rock) tank. It would be disappointing if the fish kill each other off. But I'm going to stay with my plan for 1 aurifrons per square foot.

The jawfish I had before was not O. aurifrons. It was meek fish, regardless. The problem I had with it was that it could not construct a stable burrow in the uniformly fine sand of my current tank.
 
Michael talks about the need for the substrate to be heterogeneous, not homogenous. The pictures I've seen of wild aurifrons typically show them over bottoms that have a lot of small rubble. I've been collected wave-polished shell fragments off the beach for a rubble component. I'm currently planning to blend about 7 gallons of shell fragments with a heterogeneous sand/gravel aragonite substrate to make a 4' X 2' X 1/2' bed. Caribsea sells a heterogeneous substrate called "Grand Bahama Biome" for the purpose of keeping burrowing fish. I may use that, or I may just mix my own.
 
Thanks piercho, thats some great info.

So, do you think I would be fine putting 3 aurifrons in my tank if the base is 3'X1' ?

Tim
 
They tend to really enjoy burrowing under the LR in my tank...if you have lots of rock for them to burrow under then 3" sand bed will be fine...I have given my little guy everything, from shells to different grades of sand...what he tends to like most is the "rock" that most people put into their fresh water tanks, you can buy earth toned colors, that way it is a little more natural, he loves this stuff...

Also keep in mind they tend to be jumpers...once they have found a good place to live and build their burrow and nobody bothers them, this tends not to be that relevant any longer, but still something to keep in mind.

You have more then one, just add them at the same time and they will, in most, cases hang out together.
 
According to Michael, yes. I have not kept colonies of yellowhead jawfish, yet. I'd like to hear from other people who have kept multiples of these particular fish, as well.
 
I would think if you buy multiple mated pairs from the same vendor and introduce in the tank at the same time you stand a better chance since they were caught from the same region. Just my .02
 
Hmm, I wonder if it matters if you get an odd or an even number... I remember hearing that green chromis do better in an odd-numbered school.

Tim
 
I purchased my gf a jawfish once because that was the fish she really wanted the most (for her tank). I went home for christmas, and when I came back I found out it had dug out a big hole in the substrate that caused the rocks to collapse over it. If you are going to get a jawfish, I really recommend you have pvc pipes hold up your rockwork, and the sand go inbetween them. That way when they start digging like mad it won't cause an avalanche.
 
I plan on stacking my rock first before I add the sand, that way the sand will not be supporting the rocks.

Should work to prevent avalanches I would assume.

Tim
 
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