Lost my Yellow Headed Jawfish (warning, long post!)

[shinosuke]

Hello,
I bought a pair of yellow headed jawfish to be the main focus of my 12g nano. Long story short, one of them jumped into the back of the tank and dried up. It was a beautiful, charming fish, and I'm very sad to lose it.
I still have one jawfish, though, and the tank seems empty with just the one. I want to buy another fish to go in the tank with it, but I want to be sure that they will get along.
I am looking for a fish that will hang out higher up in the rockwork or swim in the water column... the jawfish mostly stays in its burrow on the bottom unless I'm feeding the tank, and I'd like more activity throughout the tank. Also, I do not want one that will try to live in the remaining jawfishs burrow in the sand.. I do not want competition for territory!
Currently the tank holds:

roughly 2.5 inch jawfish
various snails
2 blue legged hermits
tiger serpent star
"spiny" red star
green ric
hairy mushroom
short tentacled plate coral
2 different kinds of zoanthids
rusty gorgonian
trumpet coral
green star polyps
peppermint shrimp (I'm trying to catch this one and move it to a different tank.. I've seen it picking on the plate coral)

Most of the corals are very small / frags, and the starfish aren't too large, either. Everything is very healthy and growing, and I'd like to keep it that way.

I was thinking of getting one of these:
Mated pair of Rusty Gobies
Mated pair of Neon blue cleaner Gobies
3 or 4 masked Gobies
Bicolor Blenny
Lawnmower Blenny
Flame Hawkfish

Any other suggestions? Any comments on the list? I'm also interested in Wrasses, but I don't know enough about them to know which kind may work well in my tank.

I'm not really interested in clownfish or any kind of damsel / chromis for this tank.


As a little something for those who actually read this ENTIRE question, here are 2 pic.s I took of the tank earlier today.. Please excuse the white rock where I've done some remodeling recently.. Also you can't get a feel for the colors of the plate coral or the beautiful pink zoas in the upper left.. but not bad for the little digital camera I have.
FTS w/ flash
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c334/dotsey123/100_1262.jpg
FTS w/o flash
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c334/dotsey123/100_1261.jpg
Thank you for your help,
~Adam D.

[shinosuke]

bump!

[reefman13]

I would go with some type of clown;)

They always have a lot of character. If you need any help on choosing one, check out the Anemones and Clownfish forum here on RC.

[shinosuke]

Hello,
Thank you for the opinion. I already have a tank in the works that is centered around a pair of clownfish. Also, I'm afraid a clownfish would get too aggressive for my shy little jawfish.
Thanks again,
~Adam D.

[InLimbo87]

If you're afraid of aggression, I'd skip the blennies/hawkfish. The gobies would probably be your best bet. Or you could go with a less aggressive blenny such as the tailspot blenny. I love mine :D

A possum wrasse would be cool also, if you can find one. Or maybe a purple firefish (or a helfrichi if you've got the dough)

[goalieman92]

tail spot bleenies are pretty awesome. will not dissapoint

[shinosuke]

Thank you both for your advice!
Where is a good spot to get a tailspot blenny? I've never heard of them before and neither of my (rather shoddy imho) LFS carry them or have even heard of them. I googled them and saw that they are really cool looking, I would love to have one!
After talking to one LFS, the owner recommended a rainford goby to go with a jawfish. They look pretty cool, but from what I understand they are a shrimp goby.. and therefore would not get along well with a sleeper goby (like the jawfish), and may also try to steal its burrow. Does that sound right, or am I looking too much into it?
Thank you again,
~Adam D.

[reef3r]

I vote for firefish. :)

[shinosuke]

I used to love firefish, until I had one in my old 55g.. He hid underneath the rocks half the time =P
That is a good idea, though. I'm definitely going to consider one as a candidate for the tank.. ahh, if only I had the money for a helfrichs!
Thanks for the vote,
~Adam D.

[InLimbo87]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10945275#post10945275 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shinosuke
Thank you both for your advice!
Where is a good spot to get a tailspot blenny? I've never heard of them before and neither of my (rather shoddy imho) LFS carry them or have even heard of them. I googled them and saw that they are really cool looking, I would love to have one!
After talking to one LFS, the owner recommended a rainford goby to go with a jawfish. They look pretty cool, but from what I understand they are a shrimp goby.. and therefore would not get along well with a sleeper goby (like the jawfish), and may also try to steal its burrow. Does that sound right, or am I looking too much into it?
Thank you again,
~Adam D.

I have a pretty reputable LFS locally that I bought mine from. If you keep an eye out, they get them on liveaquaria.com every once in a while. Only issue there is shipping, of course.

[goalieman92]

between my place of work and another lfs, I got my choice of pretty much anything I want. both have good access to tons of hard to find fish. I got one of them for my mom's tank and we both love it. Just keep an eye out and you will find one.

[Sigmund]

I'd suggest either a Possum Wrasse or some other small wrasse, or maybe even better how about a Geometric Hawkfish. They are small, nice coloring, and will not outcompete the jawfish for food. Plus you should not have any aggression problems.