Jawfish?

[TomD]

What does everybody think of them? I am going to have a DSB in my new setup. Other fish are 2 O Clowns(Might trade for true percs), six line, Scooter blenny, Lawnmower Blenny, Royal Gramma, and probably a clown goby and I would eventually like a yellow tang.

I want one like this: http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=188&N=0



Besides a good lid and a DSB anything else to know to care for these guys?

 

[SaltyDog]

I just got one of these two weeks ago, and I love him. The guy at the LFS warned me that he's seen paired clowns chase them out of his tanks before. My pair of occelaris clowns have pretty much ignored him, though.

He was a very shy eater at first but within a week he was swimming out into the water column at feeding time and eagerly eating the frozen mysis. When he first got in the tank, he spent a lot of time hunting pods...

He also is somewhat shy -- especially at first, he'd pick spots in the back of the tank behind rocks and rarely show himself. After a week or so he moved up front into his great spot and dug a great cave. This weekend, I had a little unwanted excitement and he's now moved into the back again.

He has all sorts of interesting behaviors -- spitting sand, carrying around little rocks and shells, hovering just out of his hole... I once saw him swimming little figure eights just inside his burrow, I think he was using his fin to shape the floor into a smooth curve to minimize sand slides. And when the clowns come too close, he opens his mouth *ridiculously* wide to look threatening, it's pretty impressive.

Good luck

 

[TomD]

Sounds awesome. How deep is your SB?

 

[TheFishGuy]

The only thing i have seen not get along with Pearly Jawfish is other Pearly jawfish.
You don't need a real deep sand bed.
The fish will live under a rock even with no sand.
I think they are a great addition to any tank.

-TheFishGuy

 

[fanaglethebagle]

Be carefull, they are jumpers

 

[SaltyDog]

My sand is about 4-6", depending on where you measure it. He seems to follow the countour of the rock when digging, using it as a roof, and doesn't give himself a lot of headroom, so, with appropriately shaped rocks, I agree that you wouldn't need a whole lot of sand. On the other hand, it's really cool and looks really natural with the deep sand, because he doesn't hit glass.