New Pearly Jawfish in 10g

[ChrisMan123]

I just got a Pearly Jawfish in my 10g nano reef

I added fine sand to a certain area of the tank for him to burrow but he moved his den again in the past 2 days to another section of the tank

my questions are what do they like to eat? cuz i hear they are pick eaters...

and do they burrow once and stay there for good once they are content with their den? or do they keep making new burrows over and over?

any other info you know i'll take

thanks

 

[Jens Kallmeyer]

HI Chris

Jawfishes cannot stabilize their burrows in fine sand only, please add a few pieces of coarse material, up to 1" size, like clam shells, or broken pieces of coral.
In the first week they mostly hide and don't eat at all, at least mine did so and several others I heard about. I would fed them frozen brine shrimp, Mysis, Krill etc. Mine do not take any pellets or flakes
I hope you have a good lid, these fishes are great jumpers

Good luck

Jens

 

[ChrisMan123]

yeah he already tried to jump from the container i had him in when i went to place him in the tank he jumped onto the counter and i scooped him up and threw him in... so he already did that and i have a custom made anti-fish jumping set up after a few incidents with fish jumping... so that has worked for awhile

and yes i have coarse material in my sandbed, my sand bed is very coarse and has tons of broken up material in it to begin with... I just ADDED some fine sand for him to mix in with the already coarse sandbed

and i have frozen brine shrimp that i feed every other day and then i feed flake on the off day so hopefully he'll take that and if not I'm going to try mysis.

thanks

 

[sandlot13]

keep me updated, im thinking about getting one for my 10 gallon........ how deep is your sand bed in your tank??? is the fish pretty interactive?

 

[ChrisMan123]

I've had him since sunday afternoon so like 2 days if that... so im still watching his activity and stuff... but my sand bed is only about 2 or 2 1/2 inches deep... maybe 3 in some spots.. and its pretty coarse and has coral fragments and shells in it already... but i added new very fine powdery sand on top of one spot so if he needed more he'd have a spot to dig and thats the first spot he chose and now he has a new den but maybe he'll connect the two?

but they are very jumpy fish... right after i took the cover off the container i was acclimating him in, he knew right away how to get out and he jumped out after me trying to get him back in he eventually landed on the counter and laid there motionless luckily he didnt flop around too much so i could slide him into the cup and submerge him into the water near the area i wanted him to dig his den

I placed him in the tank in the cup and let him swim out and then i removed the cup and he went and laid on the bottom, then he hid in the back of the tank, then he came out and perched on my mushrooms and then he went right for the area i released him into and added fresh fine sand to for extra material for him to burrow with so i was glad he liked the spot i chose for him... but then he dug a nice extensive burrown under the main rock in the front middle of my tank but then overnight he switched to another area in the backcorner so he's been very busy, i haven't seen him much at all until just now he finished another opening to his new den and i saw his head...

they say they dont eat at all for the first few days but im going to try and target feed near him whenever I do... and I also have a cover i made custom on top of my tank cuz i've had too many jumping incidents where i've had to save fish and throw them back in, so i'd make sure to have a hood or some sort of cover

my only worry about him is eating... and will he keep digging new burrows all over my tank?

 

[Jens Kallmeyer]

HI

I would not target feed the fish, rather keep your hands/pipette/tweezers out of the tanks and give him some rest. If the fish feels safe, he will come out by himself and take the food from the open water.
They only take floating food, as soon as it hits the bottom they ignore it.

Jens

 

[ChrisMan123]

yeah when i said "target feed" i didn't mean right in his den or in his face... just in his direction so it goes near his water flow outside his area

 

[mdcoblentz]

i just got a pearl jawfish too. I was so happy where he chose to burrow because I could see him really well peeking out of his hole. but Mine after just 3 days decided that he wanted another one and moved to another place and started another! grrr... all well. OH! and mine was eating the day after I got him so I would go ahead and try. I put some pellets in front of his den and he would come out and grab them. Good luck with yours!!! they are a fun fish to watch.

 

[ChrisMan123]

yeah mine has made a huge underground tunnel system... it has i think 4 holes and he goes in and out and can pop out from different sides of the rock structure and 3 of them are visible from the front so it's a pretty good spot(s). And yeah mine started eating about 3 days after I got him and now he eats everything i feed... Freeze Dried Plankton, Flake (mixed), Frozen Brine Shrimp, and the sinking pellets. My peppermint shrimp pulls food out of his gills sometimes, it's odd