Yellow-Headed Jawfish

[d9sccr]

Okay, so I'm looking at putting some yellow-headed jawfish in a 90g tank w/ a hawkfish, tang, and possible some type of dwarf angel. I was told that the jawfish would be a bad choice as they are highly territorial and predatory. They would just bother the other fish. Now this goes against everything that I have heard/read about jawfish, but I was wondering if anyone else can attest to this side of the jawfish.

 

[Rogger Castells]

IME they are not territorial nor aggressive, however, I would make sure that every little cranny of your tank is seal because they are master escapers, and will show up in your sump or in the back of your tank in no time.
I have never had any luck keeping one long term, this is a fish I stay away from now.

 

[TorryRx]

I've had mine for over a year, maybe I just got lucky. He was originally in my 36g with a barber-pole goby and a blue assessor. He is now in my 180 reef.

He absolutely never bothered anyone, although he would occasionally try to move in to the goby's burrow. He never won that fight, and the goby was less than half his size!

They will jump, however...especially when first introduced (before they get a chance to make their burrow). Once they've picked their spot, though, they tend to stay in one place.

I have never heard that they were aggressive and have never known anyone to experience that behavior. And it sounds like you'll have him with some tankmates that wouldn't put up with any shenanigans. They may squabble among themselves over territory, but I only have one so I'm not really sure about keeping them in groups.

You do have a reasonably deep sandbed (2-3 inches, at least) for them, right?

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

i just put one in three days abo in my 75, and he is nowere to be found havent seen him sice. as soon as i placed him in the tank he went into a hole in my rocks that that was the last of him.

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

Well i take that back, speaking of the little devil , i just caught him strolling around the SB. and decided to jet back to the rocks when he saw me, For some reason my fish are to shy

 

[d9sccr]

Okay, that's basically what I've heard about them..thanks everyone

 

[Young Frankenstein]

can someone post a pick of the fish, so we all know what kind of pescadito we are talking about ? ?

 

[Speckled Grouper]

Here is a picture of mine.
They are not aggressive or predatory at all. Jumpers - definitely.
Finicky eaters, and I was also told they don't live very long. I lost mine when my AC broke and the tank got to 90 degrees last year.

 

[roblack]

Jawfish often have interesting personalities. I used to have a bluespot (my avatar) that would spit sand at nosey fish coming too close to his little cave. Hilarious to watch, did it with real attitude. Never seemed to actually hurt anyone or chase after them, just spit in their face. My only complaint about jawfish is that they spit sand all over the place (kinda like Clint Eastwood in "Josey Wales: Outlaw"), move it around, changing the landscape substantially at times. Mine would spit sand on corals low in the tank, or stir it up so that sand became suspended briefly in the water column and spread throughout the tank. Still consider them worth keeping in a reeftank, need alot of sand or they won't be happy, need something to spit I guess.