Blue Spotted Jawfish Experts, sound off

[Squirrel_reefer]

So a certain website that is very popular for marine fish has Blue Spotted Jawfish on sale. There is not much out there as far as information on how hardy and tolerant they are in the home aquarium. Just looking for opinions on how hardy they are on a scale from six line wrasse- to - Dragonet

 

[Cgschulz]

I'm no expert but when I had mine I had no problems at all with him until he jumped out while I was at work.

 

[Squirrel_reefer]

I'm no expert but when I had mine I had no problems at all with him until he jumped out while I was at work.

I have an established 40g that I could put him in but I am about 14 days into cycling a new 55g tank I bought. I want him in the 55 but i realize that it may not be ready (duh) but the rock work in my 40 is established and has corals so I can already imagine trying to get him out of the rock work and into the 55 would be a pain. If they're bullet proof I'd toss him in the 55 but I can't think of any bullet proof fish that are 80 bucks haha

 

[Breakthecycle2]

I have an established 40g that I could put him in but I am about 14 days into cycling a new 55g tank I bought. I want him in the 55 but i realize that it may not be ready (duh) but the rock work in my 40 is established and has corals so I can already imagine trying to get him out of the rock work and into the 55 would be a pain. If they're bullet proof I'd toss him in the 55 but I can't think of any bullet proof fish that are 80 bucks haha

If you are talking about the site I think you are talking about, the $80 is not including shipping. So you are really looking at an additional $45. Think hard. lol

 

[Cgschulz]

I have an established 40g that I could put him in but I am about 14 days into cycling a new 55g tank I bought. I want him in the 55 but i realize that it may not be ready (duh) but the rock work in my 40 is established and has corals so I can already imagine trying to get him out of the rock work and into the 55 would be a pain. If they're bullet proof I'd toss him in the 55 but I can't think of any bullet proof fish that are 80 bucks haha

Yes that would be vary hard because he will burrow under rock work also keep in mind any loss frags in tank will most likely be moved around by this guy. When I had mine he wold try to drag my small clam across the tank

 

[sc50964]

This specific kind of jawfish isn't easy to keep at all for a number of reasons. No 1, you absolutely need the entire tank top to be covered. Egg crates won't be enough as they can easily fit through the 0.25" spacing. No 2, a lot of them don't acclimate well and will suffer and die from blue spot jawfish disease, which is whites patches on its body. It's a weird disease and that's why it has its own name. No. 3,!it is very skittish compared to other kinds of jawfish and cannot compete for food with active fishes like tang and Angels. No. 4, it prefers to live among a mixture of coarse and fine sand plus other small shells and rocks. Such landscape is hard to come by therefore its long term fate in a reef isn't good. It also spits out sand at fish and at corals and is constantly moving and making new homes and underground tunnels, thus potentially making a messy for your nice aquascape.

I love this fish, don't get me wrong as its not only colorful but comical. I just think it is better off living in its own FOWLR tank.

 

[bmac16]

When I had my 40B I had the tiger jawfish after researching the blue spot and how it was very susceptible to disease. Also I made a burrow out of pvc and a barnacle glued to the opening to keep the fish in one place

 

[bmac16]

 

[Breakthecycle2]

That is pretty awesome.

 

[bmac16]

That is pretty awesome.

Thanks! That is probably one of the coolest fish available in this hobby. It is nonstop entertainment.....and sometimes a pain in the butt, but def worth it. He would spend all day cleaning the burrow and adding rubble and sand to build up near the burrow

 

[Breakthecycle2]

Thanks! That is probably one of the coolest fish available in this hobby. It is nonstop entertainment.....and sometimes a pain in the butt, but def worth it. He would spend all day cleaning the burrow and adding rubble and sand to build up near the burrow

Never had any luck with the tiger or Bluespots. Tigers ended up in my power heads and the bluedots would get BSJ disease or find a way out. The only ones I could keep were the yellowheads.

 

[20LogR]

I’m surprised that nobody has mentioned that they like cooler water yet. That’s usually the first thing that gets brought up. Along with being amazing jumpers.

I just tried one myself a few weeks back. It didn’t make it through QT. I had it in a QT tank down at 72 degrees and still lost it to Blue Dot Disease in about two weeks. It took a few days to get it to eat (live brine) and then he would start eating LRS in QT. Then about a week later, it stopped eating and started developing blotches all over its body. They go downhill fast after that.

I’ve heard at higher tank temps it’s more likely to happen than not. By far one of my most favorite fish, but I think I’ll try pearly next time. I even bought a barnacle cluster off of ebay to make one of those PVC houses above.

 

[Squirrel_reefer]

cool, so NVM! lol

 

[Goldenvue]

Try a sargassum trigger reef safe like blue spot not as skittish very cool also. Had one but he jumped, looking to get another now that top of tank is covered.

 

[Squirrel_reefer]

Try a sargassum trigger reef safe like blue spot not as skittish very cool also. Had one but he jumped, looking to get another now that top of tank is covered.

Cool, Ill do some research on him for sure, I really like the way the blue spot looks.

I have a tight fitting glass lid so the jumping wouldnt be a problem. however I had a bad experience with the ICH and I had no idea blue spots had their own disease... so sounds like more than I am willing to put up with at this time. 6 fish in a QT one time was enough for my taste

 

[alton]

I am not a pro when it comes to BSJF but I have learned a few things over the years.
The ones being imported today are much smaller compared to years ago. Which is a positive because just like other fish the younger the better.
Your substrate need to be around 3" with small rocks and broken coral, and if you have frags on plugs they will use that too.
They are not gobies, there house or borrow needs to be vertical not horizontal.
I like to keep my temp at or around 75.
Good luck they are beautiful and fun fish

 

[Elder1945 Verified Sponsor]

I keep a sexed pair of black cap (Tiger) jawfish in my reef and they are amazing. I was able to keep a blue spot for 6 months +/- only but black cap (Tiger) in my opinion seem to do better. I have 2 jawfish living in the same home and it is one thing that is just amazing to watch. This is also true when they decide to have a rock placement battle. They will spend a hour moving the same rock back and forth or spiting it at each other till one gives up .

I have also lost 1 blue spot in QT years ago. Never lost a black cap (Tiger) had to give my first one away after 2 years.

 

[Elder1945 Verified Sponsor]

Here is a pic of the sexed Black Cap Jawfish.

 

[Squirrel_reefer]

Since I'm realistically an intermediate level reefer (at best) I think I'll steer clear of the blue spots for now, some of the alternatives are nice looking but i'll have to research them a little further. I havent had high level care requirements on any livestock thus far and my corals will never jump out of my tank

 

[Sshannon]

I acquired a blue spot around 2 weeks ago from my LFS. I did the same thing as bmac16 with the barnacle epoxied onto a PVC cave. Unfortunately, The barnacle portion exits about 6 inches off the bottom sand floor. I introduced my blue spot using a small piece of PVC as a shute/slide. The PVC was lodged into the mouth of the barnacle and my blue spot shot down into it. It worked great for a few days. But during the night, when he left his cave, he couldn't find the entrance since it was so far off the sand bed. So now he just burrows under my rocks /: