What is the best sand for jawfish?

[mandarin417]

I am working on a tank that will have several blackcap or yellow headed jawfish in it. It is recommended to have a sandbed of 4-5 inches for these species. What sand mix would you recommend and can I still be successfully breaking the 1" sand rule? I am planning to include narcissus snails and maybe a couple of sand sleeping wrasses. Any other compatible sand sifters recommended?

 

[JohnGP]

I have used the Caribsea special grade and it worked fine for Yellow Head Jawfish. I currently have a mix of the Caribsea, Tropic Eden and sand I bring from the coast and it too works just fine. As long as you have some different sized rubble for them to use in constructing their burrow you should be good to go with most good quality sand.

 

[ThRoewer]

I use a mix of fine, medium, and coarse coral sand with a heavy addition of coral rubble (the stuff often used for Ca-reactors). I also mix in some smaller branch rock and whatever I have on clam shells.

 

[ThRoewer]

I am working on a tank that will have several blackcap or yellow headed jawfish ...

The blackcap or gold spec jawfish (Opistognathus randalli) is one of the few, if not the only jawfish that can easily sexed by coloration:

Top: male - no black spot at front of dorsal fin
Bottom: female - black spot at front of dorsal fin

Make sure to only have one male in your tank as they will fight. Multiple females are okay.

 

[JohnGP]

Thanks for that info ThRoewer. I had a nice Blackcap but he never would settle down, always swimming up in corners and so on, he finally went carpet surfing. When I got him he was pretty big, probably 4-5", I've always had better luck starting with smaller fish, seems every time I get a full sized adult they don't adapt as well as the Juveniles.

 

[ThRoewer]

Thanks for that info ThRoewer. I had a nice Blackcap but he never would settle down, always swimming up in corners and so on, he finally went carpet surfing. When I got him he was pretty big, probably 4-5", I've always had better luck starting with smaller fish, seems every time I get a full sized adult they don't adapt as well as the Juveniles.

I got a pair of them right now. They are still small but will need a larger and taller tank soon. This is a species that gets quite large. Back in Germany I had a fully grown, spawning pair and the male could swallow large shrimp whole.
For jawfish a tight cover is a must. Even well established individuals may go on exploration runs to look for greener pastures and will end up on the carpet if there is a way out of the tank. Also, they easily panic if not inside their burrow and then their default escape route is up...

 

[JohnGP]

Yeah I should've had the lids on the tank but got lazy and it cost me. Also lost a Blue Spot the same way, had actually been keeping the lids on the tank but one night just forgot to put them back on after feeding, found him the next morning.

 

[Zionas]

I have considered Jawfish before but then I thought about my tank only being 22” tall and I don’t want almost 1/4 to be sand. I plan 1.5”-2” of sand for YWG and Tiger Pistol combo. Would love to keep Jawfish someday though.