Jawfish and Yellow Watchman Goby

[jellyfish4me]

I just placed an order with saltwaterfish.com and made a typical newbie mistake... didn't research! I SHOULD KNOW BETTER!

I bought 2 pearly jawfish and a few mushrooms that I PLANNED on buying. And then I threw in a yellow watchman goby because he was cute, peaceful and mostly because he was on sale.

Now that I'm reading more info about the goby, I am wondering if this is to many sand dwellers to keep together? I guess I didn't realize that the goby lives in a burrow. I just thought they hung out sitting on a rock or the sand. Will he be able to make a burrow without a pistol shrimp? (glad the pistol shrimp were out of stock, because I checked! lol!) Or will the goby try to invade the jawfish burrows.

These 3 fish will be the 1st 3 fish added to an 9 month established reef tank. The tank is doing well with a few soft corals in it. It is 120 gal with a 55 gal refugium and has a 6" sand bed. I'm hoping this is enough area to house everyone in the display tank. What do you think?

If things get to hairy, I also have a deep sand bed in the refugium, but what fun is that?

[Jerry W]

The tank is large enough for goby to have it's own space. The jaws would not tolerate the goby trying to muscle in on their territory. From keeping jawfish before, I think once they're settled, they will stick close to their own den and not go looking for trouble, so if the goby set's up shop far enough away, you might pull it off. The jawfish will appreciate the depth of the sand, and my sense is will share a single den after time, if not right away.

[spongebob281]

Arent pearly jawfish difficult to maintain? I could never keep one alive more than a month

[jellyfish4me]

Thank you for the input. Maybe I will put the goby in the refugium for the first week until the jawfish are settled. I have never had a watchman goby, but I am quite familar with jawfish.

Spongebob: Jawfish are my favorite fish. I have had a pair of them in the past and they are not difficult to keep as long as you provide them with the right home. The pair I had before each had their own den. And would get together every so often in the same den to breed. They would stay together in the same den until the fry are released. But after the fry were released, the "guest" fish would go back to his/her old den. VERY INTERESING to watch! They are mouth brooders, so you can literally see the little "alien eye babies" that daddy fish is holding is his mouth.

They need a deep sand bed. I have read 3" MINIMUM, but I would go deeper. Lots of rock rubble provided. Giving them more when there current supply gets low. I used a bag of crushed coral with my 1st pair. They also need a small flat shell (the door) that they will pull over the den opening at night before going to sleep. Stable rock work, because they will dig under the rocks. No Hyper-active or bully fish in the same tank. If you have more than one you need to have a larger tank as they don't much like each other when not having babies. I don't know what the minimum tank is for a pair of them, but my 120 gal is over that minimum. 1 single jawfish can be kept in a 20 gal, I think as long as you give them everything else they need.

They are famous for jumping. When I had them before, I covered the top of my tank for about 2 days, until they had dens started. Then I removed the cover with no issues. Once they have den built they don't wander far from it. Maybe I just got lucky? I had them for years until the tank was taken down for other reasons and all livestock was given away. They were housed with a false percula clownfish, a hippo tang, yellow tail damsel and a firefish. BUT the 2 jawfish were put in 1st.

I'm really hoping to get a male/female combo with my order, so that I can witness the breeding again.

FYI: Although I have never tried it, jawfish fry have been succesfully raised in captivity.