Jawfish

[parrothead]

Can anybody give me some info or personal stories about jawfish? I would like to purchase one but my reading material seems to have conflicts on their ease of keeping!

 

[kass]

I have kept pearly or yellowhead jawfish (they are the same thing). I don't think they ship real well cuz it seems kinda hard to get a good one. I did have one for about 5 yrs in my 150 gal. Since it died(it developed a weird lump on it's jaw, no other fish were affected) I tried 2 more and they died within about 2 weeks. They need a sand or coral substrate that they can dig a hole in and they like to have shells or coral rubble to move around the entrance of the hole. They also are known to jump out of the tank so make sure it's covered. I had a dusky jawfish once for about 2 yrs until it jumped out. They are pretty shy so make sure they don't have any aggressive tank mates. They are a cool fish once they get settled. You should also only put 1 in a tank unless it's pretty big. I would say they are not real hardy at first but are once settled.

 

[tattooedlife]

I just lost my YellowHeaded Jawfish. It starved to death. They seem to do pretty good, but there really shy. Mine would stick his head out, but was just to shy to come for the food. They are really fun to watch build there holes.

 

[trigga]

I have had 4. 2 died (Royal Gramma killed one) nitrate the other. I bought 2 more and they are still living. They are very non-agressive feeders so if you get some make sure everything else in the tank is rather docile. BTW my last 2 are doing fine.