Blue Spotted Jawfish behavior!

[Stew18]

I've had a blue spotted Jawfish in my 40 gallon innovative marine for about 6 weeks now and just curious about some behaviors. Also in the tank is a small diamond goby, small starry Benny, small marine beta, and a blue chromis. Everyone seems to get along with everyone.

Occasionally the Jawfish will nip or try to scare away another fish when it gets to close to its burrow.

So it had a burrow for about a month. It moved rocks around and had a nice comfy spot under one of my reef rocks.

Lately he moves around quite a bit. Probably 10 times I just see him swimming along the front of the glass - I thought this was weird cause I thought they ALWAYS hide in their burrow?

Last night I saw him swimming at the top - weird? He can't jump cause I have a cover.

I've thought maybe he is sick or something but he continues to eat but maybe a tad less aggressive about it.

I don't know maybe I'm just nervous for no reason but my buddy said he had Jawfish that moved around all the time.

Any thoughts or personal experiences would be great!

 

[eatbreakfast]

Jawfish can move around looking for a 'better' burrow, but generally prefer to stay put if they are in a spot to their liking. They like to know what's going on around them, so will often settle where they can see the activity outside of the tank. They will also want a spot where food comes by. If there is a serpent or brittle star, they can take over a jawfish burrow causing the jawfish to move out. Also, if there is not enough rubble the burrow may collapse, so always provide rubble for it to use.

 

[mbemount]

It took mine a few weeks before he really felt comfortable in his 'spot'. Mine doesn't really hide as much anymore, he's out and about in the tank quite a bit but always comes back to his same home. Keep some rubble in there for him to build his area how he wants so he'll be more comfortable.

 

[Bad Company]

I've owned a two blue spots, the first went crazy every night like a cat tearing around your house. He'd skim the surface and was always out. The second just hangs in his burrow almost all the time, but I think it's because he shares a tank with a dotyback, and he doesn't want to lose his burrow.

they are fun fish!

 

[jeneratesomefun]

Mine will come out and wander around if he's dug too much in his burrow and collapse it. Takes him a little while to decide on a new spot. Eventually I have to resurrect the buried rubble into another concentrated area.

This guy has a thing for snail shells... Unfortunately shells WITH snails in them, or even crabs. Pulls them in, tries to stack... As they begin to crawl away he pulls them back into place. Must be frustrating!

 

[wpeterson]

This is normal Jawfish behavior, which makes them both one of my favorite fish but a bit of a handful for a reef keeper.

Our jawfish built several burrows and would stay in one for several months until he dug so much it collapsed or something else happened. He would often leave his burrow at night to hunt pods or explore, but often seemed to lose his burrow if it was totally dark. He would then dig tiny foxholes all over the whole tank and tear up the substrate. We ended up installing a small LED "night light" for him which prevented the nocturnal digging.

If you don't have PVC or other infrastructure supporting your rockwork in the substrate, you may have trouble with how much digging the jawfish can do. Secondly, they need a variety of different sized material to build solid cave burrows, so you probably want to add some coral rubble. If you can help them build a long term stable burrow, you'll see less of the eccentricity, but it does come with the territory.