Blue-spot jawfish keepers, please post

Angel*Fish · #1 04/16/2002, 10:30 AM

I can't seem to find much information on this specific species of jawfish.... Always seems to be general jawfish info and then a couple of words about blue-spots.

I found posts in the fish disease forum about fish who succumbed to the same thing mine is dying from...would like to hear from folks out there who have been successful with these fish...or anyone who has had one for any length of time at all for that matter.

Thanks

Physh1 · #2 04/16/2002, 11:29 AM

I just got one and he has been doing fine for the first few days except for his excursion outside on the carpet....

The Marine Fishes book by Scott Michael has them on pg 131. The hardiness value given is 4 (10 being hardiest) and the minumum tank size is 20 gallons.

I know they like meaty foods and can eat shrimp. There isn't very much info on them due to the fact they are not widely availible. Books recommends feeding 3 times a day. Unsure as to why the hardiness level is 4 and gives no real reason...

Cameron

TheJ · #3 04/16/2002, 11:47 AM

Physh1- having read your other thread, sounds like they deserve an 11! Must have been a relief!

Boogiechillin · #4 04/16/2002, 11:57 AM

"Marine Fishes" scores on a scale of 1-5, 5 being the highest. The rating of '4' for the jawfish just reflects their unique needs, like a deep substrate, well-covered tank, etc.

I wasn't aware of anything that specifically made bluespots less hardy than other jaws, but I'm interested now...

AugustWest · #5 04/16/2002, 12:12 PM

Wow , I've seen quite a few posts about these Blue-Spotted Jawfish on the boards lately. They must be showing up at alot of the LFS's.... I saw a couple for sale at my LFS 99$$$ on sale!

If they are anything like my Yellow-head Jawfish ,look out or your Hundred dollar fish might end up on the carpet.
Very cool looking fish though

Good Luck with it.

Boogiechillin · #6 04/16/2002, 03:44 PM

Anybody seen one for a good price online recently?

Angel*Fish · #7 04/16/2002, 04:48 PM

Physh1, I hope yours does a whole lot better than mine...after I posted this thread, I checked the tank and he had died

I'm not used to having fish die of disease and with no apparent stress that I can find.
I just read an old post by BrianD from 1999 where he said that he thought they may be hard to keep...don't know if that's still his thought on them. I don't plan on trying one again, but if I did, I think it would be as the only fish in a coral tank or something.
The nitrate level in the tank I was holding him in got up about 7-10 , but I thought that was not a problem for fish.
He was breathing hard from the first day, but eating very well...I feel terrible about it...I had "bonded" with him already, partly due to the fact that jawfish make a lot of eye contact . He was such a neat little fish. I feel like if I had treated him as an extra delicate fish, this might not have happened. And he took so many pretty pictures for me.

lalmatia · #8 04/16/2002, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Anybody seen one for a good price online recently?

www.ffexpress.com has them for $79 in their collector's corner. That's the best price I have seen so far for Blue Spot.

IndyReefer · #9 04/16/2002, 08:06 PM

I am on my second blue spotted jawfish. Here's the thread describing the condition in which the first succumbed
Problem with Blue Spotted Jawfish
I believe he had Amyloodinium.
The one thing I am doing different with this one is direct feeding him via a turkey baster.
They like to stay near sand level and if there is heavy competition for food he may not get enough. They will feed on food that is in the water column with a quick strike and back to their hole. This indeed limits their food intake. I think he knows the food from the baster is his and just hovers instead of striking.
He knows now turkey baster=food. He comes up to meet it, hovers and sucks down the food like a hungry calf.
No, I am not a farmer. Just the closest analogy I could come up with.
FF Express for $79 is a pretty good deal plus they are an excellent company. Great packing job on all my orders.

Pepito · #10 04/16/2002, 08:32 PM

It's only $40 now at FFE

Physh1 · #11 04/16/2002, 10:38 PM

Mine is still happy and eating.....kinda really worried about him though.....

Sorry to hear about the passing of your jawfish mantisagogo

Cameron

Project Reef · #12 04/16/2002, 11:58 PM

Sorry to hear about your fish Marie.

myreef · #13 04/17/2002, 12:07 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Pepito
It's only $40 now at FFE

It's still $79....$40 off the regular price of $119.

Angel*Fish · #14 04/17/2002, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Basically, the "spots" appeared to have spread out whereas the lower 2 thirds of his body were mostly white flaked.

When I first got him, he had some "uncolored" areas that also began to increase the last couple of days. The last morning, the first areas had turned white, his head skin was sort of rough looking (no scales on the head) And his scaled areas looked almost like he was molting or something - covered with white flakes.
Thanks for the condolences...
Physh - Please keep us updated on how yours does..

I doubt that it was the problem, but I never fed mine any food with algae in it...maybe he was vitamin deprived - probably not...but I've been racking my brain trying to figure this out.
I was very much leaning towards the amyloodinium, but I'm starting to wonder if it wasn't a fungus of some sort

Angel*Fish · #15 04/17/2002, 08:33 AM

Oh, BTW to all the folks noticing prices for these fish coming down...I hope it is due to increased availability & increased competition rather than the suppliers noticing a lack of hardiness and want to dump them while they are still sellable

MtnDewMan · #16 04/17/2002, 08:42 PM

I am expecting my blue spot jawfish in the morning ... ordered it from http://www.fishsupply.com/ for $59

AugustWest · #17 04/17/2002, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mantisagogo
Oh, BTW to all the folks noticing prices for these fish coming down...I hope it is due to increased availability & increased competition rather than the suppliers noticing a lack of hardiness and want to dump them while they are still sellable

Yeah, why such an increased availability in the first place?

MtnDewMan · #18 04/19/2002, 01:40 AM

Received the jawfish today from fishsupply.com. Seems to be in good health. It didn't take him long to make his first tunnel today. Will see how he does over the coming days and weeks.

Angel*Fish · #19 04/19/2002, 08:46 AM

MtnDew, hope your fish does well...keep us posted

MtnDewMan · #20 04/19/2002, 06:12 PM

Here's a picture of him, best I could get so far ... he/she is still a bit shy. Notice the sand dandruff from his hard work at creating his tunnel.

BigReef · #21 04/19/2002, 08:54 PM

I've had mine for about a month now! I paid $100 plus tax. He eats like a pig in my 265. There are 2 tomato clowns and 7 green chromis in the tank with him. Competition for food isn't a feeding frenzy. He likes to stay close to his hole but will venture almost anywhere along the bottom to get the food.
One of the new online reef magazines had an article about the Blue Spot Jawfish. I believe it was last month. Talks about having a 10 inch sandbed for these guys, so far he seems to like my 4 inch sand bed.

Here is a picture of mine. I call him spot for obvious reasons.

Thanks
Bigreef

RooFish · #22 04/19/2002, 09:00 PM

I'd have named him stripe or something like that.

Angel*Fish · #23 04/22/2002, 01:36 PM

Those are beautiful fish!
I know I already said this, but please post feedback as to how they fair.
MtnDew, Physh, BigReef, Indy - from the day I got him, my fish was breathing what I would call kinda heavy, you could see his gill area expand rather largely with each breath ... is that normal jawfish stuff? Have you observed this in your fish? Have you noticed any areas where it looks like the color is missing?

I'd really like to figure out what went wrong with this fish, if possible. Thanks.

Ken Hahn · #24 04/22/2002, 02:47 PM

My understanding on availability is that the original collecting location for the BlueSpot Jawfish was closed to collecting and the fish became almost impossible to find in the hobby. Recently a new location has been discovered where collecting is once again permitted. Prices are coming down as the supply goes up, not due to the fish being delicate. LFS prices seem to range from $79 to $99 where I am.

I have had mine for about 2 months and it seems very hardy. When first introduced into the tank, it appeared to be breathing very hard, but that subsided within a day or two. I think it is natural for them to appear to gulp water and flair their gills more than most fish, perhaps due to their sand sifting ways.

Mine has been very hardy so far. It lives in a 225 with about a 3" sandbed. It seems to be happy making horizontal burrows, so I don't think the 10" sand bed is a real requirement. My LFS has had one in their 225 for years with about a 3" sand bed as well.

Mine gets fed once a day. It is not shy to dart out of its burrow a foot or so to snag bits of food that it sees. It takes any of the meaty foods that I feed including mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, bloodworms and Formula One. I make sure that it gets enough food that it's belly becomes noticeably rounded. I feed my tank only once a day, but it gets quite a bit of food when I do feed it, so everything gets a chance to eat and one bully fish can't hog the food. I was all prepared to do the turkey baster trick, but it has turned out to be unnecessary in my case.

Here is a pic of mine, happily burrowing under a large Derasa clam.

--- Ken
ReefCorner.Com

Clyde · #25 04/22/2002, 03:21 PM

a friend of mine had that same issue, white flakey skin off etc.

we discussed the possiblity its the burrow, he was feeding a bit heavy on mysis, brine etc - i suspect a lot went into the burrow - attracting a lot of bristleworms and fireworms going in, and the blue spotted jawfish trying to stay in and is getting hit by em ?

will these work with a pistol shrimp ? will the pistol shrimp clran the burrow better I wonder.

i could be wrong, but hey who says I m wrong

(yet)