Jawfish tank

[FuEl]

Hi guys, I'm contemplating of setting up a tank with a DSB (5-6 inches) dedicated to a group of yellow-headed jawfish. Just have a few questions though.

I've read somewhere that grade 0 sand would be too fine. I was thinking of a mixture of grade 1 and grade 2 sand with some coral rubble. Does this seem ok?

One more area of concern would be the floor area need for each individual. How many jawfish could I fit in a floor area of 4 ft X 2 ft if I intend to leave 90% of the floor area uncovered?

Another concern would be temperature. I understand that jawfish come from great depths. As such would they be more appreciative of cooler temperatures? Would an ambient water temperature of 27 degrees celcius be too high?

 

[sirbooks]

Yep, the sand plus rubble sounds good. Jawfish like to have a nice assortment of sizes to choose from, as they can pack the sand however they want and then use larger chunks to hold things together. Sometimes they even line the entrance(s) to their home with bits of rock.

The floor space thing is tricky, it depends on how many males you end up with. The only way I know of to sex jawfish is the larger mouth cavity, but comparing mouth sizes is best done with a group. That way it's easier to see the difference between males and females. I haven't tried this method myself though, so I don't know how obvious the difference is.
Regardless, I think you'd be fine with at least six or seven jawfish, provided you add them all at the same time. Males will probably bicker, but you've got a lot of space for them.

Yellow jaw can be found at relatively shallow depths as well as in deep locations. I feel that they should be okay in a tank with a temperature of between 75 and 82 degrees.

 

[catdoc]

We were at the Georgia Aquarium 2 weeks ago and they had a great tank with several pearly jawfish. I wish I'd counted, but there were many of them. Their burrows were 6-9" apart I would guess. You might check the website for the Georgia Aquarium to see if there's a pic of the tank there.

I had a pair of spawning jawfish when I first set up my 90 gal. Their burrows were even closer, only about 3 or 4 inches apart.

Speaking of jawfish, anyone know where they are?? I've been trying to get some myself but they seem very hard to come by right now.

 

[jayo]

I liked to give my jawfish extra rubble when he was working on his burrow. I'd just rinse some shells and pebbles and drop them in the water right over his burrow location. He'd dive inside for 5 seconds to escape the 'bombing', then pop back out and immediately start choosing which of the new magic 'rubble bits from the sky' would be the perfect fit for the spot he was working on.

jayo