Blue Spot Jawfish

[camaroracer214]

I work at a LFS called Bay Area Aquarium, near the Houston area. Well, the owner of the store ordered 10 blue spot jawfish, but only got 2 of them. The price was $89.99 each (heck of a great deal). This little lfs has spectacular prices on everything...this is the cheapest place in the Houston area. Heck, the online retail of these fish ranges from $120-170, double what the place I work at charges.

I added this awesome fish to my tank yesterday, and he/she immediately bolted for the nearest hiding spot. I came come today to see that the little guy almost single handedly remodeled the entire front of my tank. He dug a huge hole into the sand, both under my large gsp colony and my fairly large platygyra maze brain. I don't think he stopped until he got to glass, which is under like 4-5 inches of sand. Good news is, this guy is a voracious eater. I'm afraid I'll have to feed him a few times a day from the looks of it.

Before:

After:

And Some Videos (the second video is better imo):

 

[mr_X]

yeah..they are sharp. they have them for 100 bucks at my lfs.
meanwhile i've heard they don't last long in captivity. i hope that is a myth. good luck with him!

 

[Anonymous]

Keep your temp in the 70's if you want to keep it for an extended period of time

 

[camaroracer214]

Keep your temp in the 70's if you want to keep it for an extended period of time

already do...a lot of the inverts i currently have are also from the sea of cortez and i've had them for a few years now. my tank stays around 76-78.

 

[ReneX]

Nice videos. What's with the gill flaring? Does it see it's reflection or is that directed at the camera, do you think?

 

[Anonymous]

Keep your temp in the 70's if you want to keep it for an extended period of time

already do...a lot of the inverts i currently have are also from the sea of cortez and i've had them for a few years now. my tank stays around 76-78.

What other items do you have?

 

[camaroracer214]

according to brian plankis of dibs breeders (he's local so we get to chat quite often) and a few articles here and there, the mexican turbo snails, margarita snails, and mexican cerith snails are all from the sea of cortez/eastern pacific that prefer cooler waters. the mexican turbo snails are told to require cooler temps and typically only last a year or less in the typical home aquarium setting. i've have all my snails for 3+ years without a single natural death (doesn't include predation by hermits). my tank stays between 76 and 78 degrees, and everything is very healthy. i haven't lost a fish or coral in god knows how long (knock on wood). i keep a daily log of all activities (temp/feeding times/water quality/etc.) that i update every few hours each and every single day. the water parameters are all stable.

 

[Anonymous]

So all the inverts from SoC you have are the snails? Have you tried any other stuff from there, gorgonians, hermits, zoanthids, palythoa, epizoanthids, starfish, etc? There's some mighty nice stuff exported from there

 

[camaroracer214]

So all the inverts from SoC you have are the snails? Have you tried any other stuff from there, gorgonians, hermits, zoanthids, palythoa, epizoanthids, starfish, etc? There's some mighty nice stuff exported from there

yeah, only snails...but they are the more sensitive (other than the gorgonian) of the animals you listed. it's hard to kill hermits and zoanthids/palythoas, at least for me anyways 8) . i'm sure i have a zoa frag or two from that area. i'm loaded down with zoas that i usually get from local reefers.

but enough about all that...let's talk more jawfish. he has settled in really well. his den is built and he apparently likes it. i had crushed up some rubble rock into a bunch of 5+/- mm sized pieces for him to use as building material. he quickly scooped them all up and added them to the pile. it's so much fun watching him build! he's also eating like a horse and doesn't seem to afraid to come out and enjoy the feeding frenzy. the jawfish is one of the larger fish in the tank.