Red Headed Jawfish
- Thread starter Dizzle63
- Start date
philter4
New member
I have never kept solorensis, are you sure of the identification? As far as I know (and I don't know much) this fish is found in the South China Sea and has only rarely been photographed let alone been collected for the pet trade. They are very similar to several more common species, banded jawfish can have a red head and there are at least 2 other Atlantic species that have the same look and color pattern, especially as juviniles.
With that said, it could be solorensis, just because I don't know about collections does not mean they are not collected commonly and I would guess that they are like most of the other Opistognathus species which live in colonies and would do fine if you have the room for a group. They need at least 10 inches of space for each burrow. I don't know the footprint of your tank, or the amount of area covered by live rock, but if you have the open space and a deep enough sand bed you should be able to keep a small group in your tank. Jawfish can and will be aggressive to each other if they are too close together, and they will eat anything they can, including other fish, crabs and shrimp so you have to be careful about tank mates.
Since there is little to no information on some of the more rare jawfish, I took a stab at the scientific name based on other posts I have seen here and elsewhere. Mine is only 2" or so and the store has two more currently. I have plenty of room, but not sure about spacing, since any reading I have done indicates that each species is different in terms of social interaction. Any idea how they pair up? Would I be asking for trouble if I accidentally got two males? Just so little information on these "new" jawfish species.
