Artificial Jawfish homes. Any one had luck?

D

Darby

Welp, despite my sandbed preperations before geting this 150 going, it seems that they were not enough. I had trouble finding sand with large enough particle siz, without being crushed coral, so the Jawfish I want would be able to dig without collapses. So, I mixed in a couple of bags of "pooka shells", which is really just mixed small shells, hoping they'd provide enough reinforcement.

No such luck.

I had ordered 4 Jawfish before Ike came along, 2 mated pairs, but the package was delayed over that weekend. When it arrived, 3 were loses. They're being raplaced, to arrive this Wed... The one that survived took a week or so to come out from the rocks, but now it's trying really hard to dig a tube, but the shells aren't large enough to hold the sides in. I had put some extra rubble in the, but not enough. So, now it's making a bunch of 3"-4" deep craters trying to dig.

Has anyone tried to sink PVC tubes into the sand a couple of inches? I'm hoping that I could make them 3" or 4" long, and make sure that they're full of sand so that Jawfish could find them and scoop them out, making their home. Think it would work?
 
local fish stores do this to give them somewhere to hide so i am sure you could do it in your tank. ive seen blues and yellow heads both stay right in the small pvc tunnel without trouble in several tanks, so they will adjust to it. id put it in there partially burried and just give it time. sorry for your loss, hope this guy makes it and your others are well.
 
when i was at true percula i noticed they have a tank with 4 bluespot you may want to ask them how they set it up, where can you order jawfish in pairs ?
 
Thanks Wes, I was hoping I wasn't having false recollections.

Ya Havuk, I've talked to Mark at the TP before about their Jawfish. His tank started out almost as sandy as mine, and he added tons of shells and rubble over time, in some cases shoving it into the sand. All of the Blue Spots in there chose to dig in at the base of rocks, which is pretty smart on their parts. Pearlys, though, tend to prefer more open areas, often between coralheads, rather than at their bases. I was hoping to replicate that. I might jsut have to bite the bullet and grind in more rubble and whatnot, possibly disturbing my DSB. ...sigh...

Thanks guys.
 
I made a tufa cave rock and burried it in the sand bed and he decorates the entrance and cleans out the cave daily .
 
That sounds pretty cool. I put 3 bits of PVC in lastnight, and he didn't check them out until this morning. I had to leave for work, so I don't know if he chose to try them out or not. I should have left one empty, rather than filled with sand...
 
I have had mine about two weeks and he won't dig at all. I also have a fear of this bluespot disease. I'm finding the cooler the water the less symptoms he's showing.

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SHane
 
Lol! Those guys are cool! They get mych larger than the Pearly/Yellowheads. The one that I have now is as large as they get, and he's about 4-1/2" long. I'm hoping that the 2 pairs coming in tomorrow will be a little smaller, maybe around 3".

Don't you just love how they can bend their necks? It cracks my daughter up.

OUt of curiousity Shane, why are you varying the water temp?
 
For the past week my Blue has been showing cloudy eyes and rough almost white scaling. I read almost all I can about Bluespot disease and some one lightly touched on temperature. Since they come from cooler waters makes sense to me. i have had my halide off all day and temp is around 79. No heavy breathing and the scale whiteness is fading. i hope thats the issue. A lot of people think it's a bacterial thing and doesn't show up for weeks after he's in the tank. Well I'm beginning to think its temp. Mine is improving with a lower water temp.

Shane

See the sign of white on his lower body?
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OMG!!!

Same fish same day but 6 hrs difference....WHAT the heck is going on?
Parameters are fine nitrates at 20 Its like he comes and goes. Times he's full of life, usually during the morning hours, and like now he's breathing heavy and pale. Larthic like.... :?

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:shock:

I increased my oxygen, Bubbles in the tank and he's moving around a little better. Maybe thats it? Wouldn't it be feesiable that the oxygen ger depleted from the water as the day goes by?

BTW....I'm sooo Sorry for hijacking this thread..this is like a snowball..please forgive me.

Shane
 
Naw, the hijack is ok.

I had an issue in my nano once when the temp got high the oxygen depleted. Turning off the lights and increasing surface aggitation worked for me there.

I've never head of BlueSpot disease. That second set of pictures certainly looks like he's stressed. If his scales are "puffing up" it might be a salinity issue. I housed a Royal Gramma for a while that came from a tank that was at 1.017, and mine was at 1.024. Even though I did a slow acclimation, he swelled up. It took about a week for it to go away.

You might want to ask the experts on WebWet, they might be able to help out some.
 
Man, sorry to hear about the difficulties there Shane, best of luck!

Darby, on the home/digging concern, I like the ideas mentioned above. I would personally try both. Perhaps a small pvc tunnel, and/or go to some of the lfs, and try to find a rock that has a cave like structure and bury it for them – it could be the roof of their den. Keep us posted!
 
The 4 new jawfish seem to have galvanized the loner! One pair dug a "burrow for 2" right next to the hall, where I can see them all the time, while the other pair... well, maybe it's a trio. One of them dug his own hole, and decorates it, while the other hangs out in the den of the loner deep in teh rocks... yet it comes out to cavort with its mate. Teh loner helps build both dens, and all 3 seem to be pretty close. We'll see how long it lasts, or if it's even the case.

Lastnight was pretty funny. I spent about an hour epoxying down some gorgonians, and a couple of the Jaefish kept coming over to see what was going on. Not TOO close, but it cracked me up to see their heads popping up over the sides. My big Royal Grama was fearless, coming over and picking at Mysis shrimp that were moving around where my hands were. I'm sure he'll be eating out of my hand soon...

So, in short, I guess I'm not needing artificial tunnels after all...
 
@v320 wrote:
Man said:
Update...Everything is fine now. It was a lack of Oxygen issue. He's built a home right upfront and his color is back....whew. I have had Gobies, mandarin for over 4 years with no Oxygen issues. As soon as I put in my Bluespot oxygen issues. Interesting,. Anyway, time to relax and enjoy him right?
I'll get some pics of his "new" home soon.

Thanks for the support guys,

Shane
Click to expand...
 
sweet, glad both of you are having some better luck. you two definately need the pics up! amazing fish, hope to have one in my new tank
 
Dang..Gues it's not a oxygen issue. he was fine today until this evening. I fed him some Marines flakes earlier today and he looks like a string of poop is comimg out of his bottom with a pink ball on the end. I believe he's consipated. Flakes hurt him, and the first week I had him, Frozen Brine made him sick. He was fine yesterday after he ate those hard sinking pellets. He ate 2 w/o them softening.

Very frustrating to watch him come and go from beautiful to almost dead... :cry:
 
Shane, are you sure he doesn't have some sort of external parasite? Do you see him scratching?

I would always QT a bluespot because they seem to get sick after they have been purchased. I have heard of the bluespot jawfish disease but don't know exactly what it is. I just know that I have bought three bluespots and each one broke out with something different. My most recent one I have had about 7 months now. I had him in QT with a fairy wrasse right after I bought him. They were both scratching and I noticed flukes on the fairy wrasse. I treated the Qt for that and they both healed up nicely. I have noticed that the jawfish does better with temps of 79 or lower. This jawfish will occassionally get these wierd clumps on its head but they always heal up on its own. I think they might be temperature related. I hope yours does better. Bluespots are one of my favorite fish.


My second bluespot I had for about 2 years. My maroon clown tried to feed it to her anemone once. She carried it almost all the way to the anenome before it shot out of her mouth.
 
Well all seems well on the jawfish so far. Frozen brine compacts him...also so does flake food. Believe it or not he tolerates sinking pellets.

Shane
 
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