Yellowheaded Jawfish Behavior

[mloebl]

I posted recently about a couple of Yellowheaded Jawfish I got last Thursday that were pretty much buried. Well today they decided to come out and are feeding. While watching the Webcam I could see one basically hanging outside the entrance all day today (normal looking behavior), with the second one holding back in the hole with just it's head showing. I should note that these were NOT a known pair when I got them; I actually ordered three but one came DOA. However in the process of adding them, both dug out and are currently inhabiting the same burrow.

My question is about their behavior "living" together and an early cause for concern. I've read jawfish can be very territorial unless they've paired up. These two (maybe out of necessity) both dug out a burrow together under some very large live rock pieces. I have seen them both working on it, but have noticed that one of them is far more dominent which is where the concern comes in. I haven't seen them attack each other, and in the hole when open I can see them hanging out next to each other if they are near the top of the burrow. However the more dominent of the two is hanging out outside the hole and feeding quite happily, while the second one is slowly trying to come out and feed a bit. It seems that the dominent one discourages the second one from coming out of the hole (moving backwards if the other one tries to come out, and obviously, though passively blocking it) Is this normal behavior if two "pair" up? I know they are territorial, but find it strange that they would then inhabit the same hole in relative peace unless again it's out of necessity.

Thanks,

-Mike

 

[~Flighty~]

They are territorial, but it mostly consists of having burrows about 10" apart and spitting sand at each other. It is pretty funny to watch. When they are little it seems common for a few to share a burrow while they settle in.

 

[mloebl]

Cindy,

Thanks for the reply. Should I be worried about the second one? What's considered little? The dominant one is a good 3.5" and the passive one is about 4" long. Gorgeous fish, I think my new favorite.

Thanks!

-Mike

 

[~Flighty~]

I wouldn't worry about them unless they are chasing and biting. Jumping is the #1 cause of death I would worry about. If you look at the skin under the neck and one has a bunch of pleats in the skin where the other doesn't there is a good chance you have a male female pair. The males have a bunch of extra skin to pouch out their mouth and hold eggs.

Even if you have 2 males or 2 females, when you see them in the wild they all live close and constantly make faces and throw stuff at each other. It is hilarious to watch. Just keep the tank covered or put a net around the rim or something.

 

[Greg Hiller]

I have three. My experience was when they were initially added they made burrows in various places, but they moved around a lot. On several occasions I found all of them in the same burrow. As time wore on one ended up on the left side of the tank (many feet away) from the other two which were about 6 inches away from each other. The two that were close to each other would posture a lot, in a semi-agressive way. They would open their mouths and kind of try to spook each other. They would also try and steal small rocks from eachothers pile continuously. After a few more weeks these two eventually started inhabiting the same hole. A few weeks after than one of them had an egg ball in it's mouth. It did not hold it to term however, and their have been no other egg balls that I have detected. They seem to be living together in peace now though.

If one of your fish is not coming out that much I think the main concern is making sure it gets enough food. I would direct food right down on top of them and watch to make sure the less dominant fish is getting some food. As they become more comfortable, they will be more aggressive about coming out for the food.

 

[mloebl]

Thanks for the replies!

Later on last night the second one had enough, and popped a hole a few inches away and was hanging out outside and getting some food. Been watching on the camera today and only see the one outside, but the rock is big enough with the burrow under a lot of it that it could be out of range of the camera. Some of the most interactive fish I've ever had. I have a couple pairs of differing clowns and they are responsive to me. However the jawfish actually will follow me around, and if I duck down or hide behind something, they'll move to check me out.

-Mike

 

[theLIQUIDzoo]

i have two jawfish as well.
they share a hole from time to time.

did you post a link to the feed for the webcam?
or would you rather not?

 

[mloebl]

I'm putting my new skimmer inline hopefully tonight on this tank so could be a lot of shots of my head , but I'll post a link when I'm done. Need to do a good water change on the tank tonight too because I've been over feeding the last three days (with no skimmer) to make sure they got food as they hadn't eaten in almost a week, and as it's my goo, so it sinks and gets stuck in all the nooks and crannies so now have an algae bloom.

-Mike

 

[theLIQUIDzoo]

you couldn't see into my tank until yesterday when someone else cleaned off the coraline algae...the fish don't care!

and i overfeed...fat fish = happy fish.
although my nitrates are rarely zero...although i can't remember the last time i tested...

do you have any nassarius snails? there isn't any leftovers with them around...or anice pom pom crab...or shrimp! i love those shrimp.

 

[mloebl]

It's been a few weeks now and the two are doing really well. They both eat like little pigs, and will even come to the surface to feed if I decide to vary a bit with flakes. They've moved a couple times, and settled on another borrow together on the opposite side of the tank. Smart little guys as they now can hover outside their burrow in the flow of the return from the sump, so food just blows right by them .

I've observed some neat behavior at night where I saw them strangely just sitting on the bottom. I watched for few minutes and noticed they were grabbing different pods and worms that were swimming around at night.

Definitely my favorite fish now

-Mike

 

[slclink]

Not to steal this thread but I have a question on the jawfish. I currently have aa diamond back goby who has sifted and burrowed the entire tank. I want to get a pair of jawfish but am not sure of the compatibility. anyone have experience with this. Will they live harmoniosly? Thanks.

 

[mloebl]

Not to steal this thread but I have a question on the jawfish. I currently have aa diamond back goby who has sifted and burrowed the entire tank. I want to get a pair of jawfish but am not sure of the compatibility. anyone have experience with this. Will they live harmoniosly? Thanks.

I could be wrong, but it was my understanding that unless you have a tank large enough, you don't want to mix sandsifting gobies and jawfish as they'd be seriously annoying each other. I've read in a few places that jawfish do well in a species only tank, or at least in a tank with peaceful non-competing neighbors.

-Mike

 

[slclink]

That what I was thinking but wasn't too sure. Thanks for the info