yellowhead jawfish behaving weirdly

[Kremis]

I just picked up a yellowhead jawfish 2 days ago. He went directly into my 28 gallon with my garden eels (deep sand bed) He has just been sitting in the corner of the tank, doing nothing. I thought he was going to die overnight, but he lived. He switched corners. Today when I fed though, he swam up and ate, then went back down to his corner, so I do not believe he is extremely stressed out. He is not breathing heavy either. He is just not burrowing. Anyone know what I should do/if I can do anything?

 

[farfromsea]

My guess is he is too scared of the eel to feel comfortable burrowing


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[enveetie]

i would agree. eel or not, he's not comfortable enough in the tank to venture towards the rock structures and find a place to burrow.

perhaps give the tank some more dark time. this has worked for me in the past with jawfish. or you can pile up a bunch of sand shells and rubble near his corner and hopes he burrows into that. if he does, it may help him transition to other burrows once he's comfortable.

 

[Kremis]

I dont think he is very scared of the eels, its more the other way around the corner he was sitting in was 1 inch away from an eel hole. I gave him a pile of rubble to build burrows with, I have kept yellowheads in the past

 

[farfromsea]

Did you have eels last time you had jawfish?


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[BlackTip]

Those guys are very shy and skittish. It takes time for them to get comfortable, and they will try to escape.

I had a Yellowhead that went to the overflow and made her way to the sump twice. I rescued her twice, but jumped again and fried under the light. Another Black Cap who never got comfortable in the QT. Once moved to the DT, he disappeared in the rocks to never be seen again.

Fascinating fishes but hard to keep, in my experience.

good luck,

 

[Kremis]

Last time I had one in my 180 gallon reef, which had tangs, butterflyfish, wrasses, etc. And he burrowed within 30 mins

 

[farfromsea]

Don't the wrasse, butterflyfish etc occupy a sort of higher area in the tank than eels? Just thinking maybe the other jawfish felt better without an eel in his sphere. Hopefully this one is fine by now though. Any progress?


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[Kremis]

Yeah he is fine, he made a burrow. He eats a lot too, im still debating on wether or not I like him with my eels, might move him into 180.

 

[taricha]

Yeah he is fine, he made a burrow. He eats a lot too, im still debating on wether or not I like him with my eels, might move him into 180.

I'd love to see pic or vids of garden eels + jawfish

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[enveetie]

Jawfish are so awesome. I would love to keep one again, but I know my sand bed isn't deep enough anymore.

I have compromised with goby and pistol pairs.

 

[farfromsea]

Yeah he is fine, he made a burrow. He eats a lot too, im still debating on wether or not I like him with my eels, might move him into 180.

Awesome! I'm always more cautious and tend to have bad luck so I would move him. But most people probably are more chill than me and would say to go for it.


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[Kremis]

Ill upload a vid tomorrow, lights are off right now. The jawfish has made a kind of burrow in one of the corners of the tank, the bottom front left one. It is kinda odd because I can see him when he is in it. He also buried the rubble i had in there for him with sand from the burrow, so I will put in more tomorrow. Gets along with the eels, no aggression what so ever.

 

[farfromsea]

That is really cool though! Rare opportunity to watch what happens inside the tunnel


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