Yellow Head Jawfish

[JLH-l3ioCub3]

Just finished acclimating my jawfish and dropped him in. I'm so excited to watch him! Already it's got me laughing! First thing was my two false perculas went after him and still keep going back to check him out. He flares his gills and opens his mouth up wide and the clowns immediately leave! He's awesome! Id like some input from anyone who can give me some tips on this guy as far as feeding or anything else that you can give me or any stories or things to look out for. In my 29 BC my critters are: two false percula clowns(mated) male and female, green BTA,15 blue leg hermits, 13 misc. snails, and many various corals. Any experience will be appreciated!

 

[mr_X]

you can just drop a few flakes or whatever close to his burrow. he will make numerous burrows, but most importantly, he will try to jump out of the tank. if you grow to love this fish, get a mesh lid that covers the entire tank. people think if they leave parts open, it won't see them, but the fact is that they do see the holes and actually aim for them.
HTH, and take plenty of pics!

 

[redsea]

Congrats on your new fish! I like pictures!

 

[mr_X]

oh...one more thing- make sure the holes in the mesh you choose are smaller than the diameter of the fish!

 

[JLH-l3ioCub3]

Ok. Yea he is making a burrow now and extremely vigilant of both the front and back "doors" clowns stopped pestering him, mainly just making sure he doesn't go near the nem. I have the 29 biocube with hood but keep the lids open because otherwise I run high temps. I did read they jump like to jump out but figured just it would'nt aim for the door. Should I try covering that?

 

[mr_X]

again, i would put some kind of tight fitting mesh cover over any openings.

 

[JLH-l3ioCub3]

Will do... Trying to upload pics but I keep getting an error..." cannot allocate memory"

 

[JLH-l3ioCub3]

Best I could do for now, he's being shy!

 

[redsea]

Very nice fish! He is very cute! Looks like he has already found his home!

 

[JLH-l3ioCub3]

Here's a couple more...

 

[JLH-l3ioCub3]

Here's a couple more...

Thanks! We love him! I always like fish more for personality(which he has a lot of) more than looks. I read a forum today where a guy said when he puts his hand in the tank his blue spotted turns on his back so he can scratch his belly..lol! I guess they can be very tame!

 

[redsea]

Here's a couple more...

The tank looks great! I love the Purple Mushrooms!

 

[JLH-l3ioCub3]

In that first pic of the last 2.the one of the whole tank you can see the female clown guarding the nem and the male is staring the jawfish down.

 

[redsea]

The good thing is the Jawfish always has it's burrow to burrow in for coverage if the Clownfish ever really starts to annoy the Jawfish.

 

[JLH-l3ioCub3]

The tank looks great! I love the Purple Mushrooms!

Thanks! Yea I got those mushrooms 2 weeks ago and they were tiny! Smaller than a dime and now they're the size of a quarter! They grow like weeds! Same with the rics!

 

[redsea]

Thanks! Yea I got those mushrooms 2 weeks ago and they were tiny! Smaller than a dime and now they're the size of a quarter! They grow like weeds! Same with the rics!

That's great that they have grown! That is a good sign!

 

[Gregcoyote]

Amen MrX, long nose hawkfish are the same way.

 

[JLH-l3ioCub3]

The trick is going to be getting this guy to eat. I put pieces of mysis in his cave but he wants nothing to do with it. Just gets pissed at all the hermits being in there eating the mysis.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I had the same problem with jaw fish years ago. I tried a lot of different things. Shrimp pellets that sink and can be collected by sifting worked okay. But they were hard to keep fed and didn't live but a few years. My substrate wasn't fine enough for their tastes either.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Feeding Yellowhead Jawfish

The Yellowhead Jawfish feeds chiefly on zooplankton and detritus in the wild. Since it is primarily a carnivore, it needs to be provided with meaty foods in the aquarium. You can for instance give it brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, bloodworms and small pieces of clam flesh. It can be trained to accept fresh, frozen and dried food in addition to live food. To make sure it gets everything they need, it is recommended to feed it high-quality flake food (with vitamins) as well. Most specimens will start eating dry food eventually but it can take some time for the fish to realise that it is actually food.

The shy Yellowhead Jawfish doesn’t like to venture far from its burrow, especially not when newly introduced to a new aquarium, and it is therefore advisable to place the food near the opening of the burrow. When it feels safer in the aquarium it will dare to swim further and further away from its home to find food.