hey guys
This forum has gone very quiet lately so I wanted to share my experiences with my BSJ.
As some of you might remember I had a BSJ a year ago. The fish was never well, he was always stressed and sick, had ich, cloudy eyes, spots everywhere. It took a lot of effort to keep him in shape. However, one day I went away for a few days. I asked my wife to, in my absence, feed the jawfish. When I came back she said that the jawfish had stopped eating and no matter what she tried he wouldnt eat. He unfortunately died 4 days after me going on holidays.
So I decided to give up on BSJ, at least until I had a proper setup for him. In my opinion, the main reason why jawfish die is stress, I think (and this is just my opinion) the white round big spots they get are just a sign of stress reflected in their skin. I noticed this on my previous Jawfish as spots use to come on and off all the time.
Anyway, at my LFS they had a BSJ, he lived in a tiny plastic bucket 4" x 3" big. The first time I saw him I felt sorry for him but sure what could I do, I was hoping someone would take him soon. Months passed and the guy was still living in that box. One day I just couldnt resist it anymore and had to take him home with the promise from the LFS that they will never buy another BSJ (personally and I hate to say this, I think this species should be left alone in the wild).
So I took him home, I had to quickly improvise a lid and rearrange the rocks/sandbed. I added more rubble, crushed coral, etc to try to make his life as pleasant as possible. I knew my tank was not ready (I currently have a temporary 65 gallon bow tank and I am planning in building a 6ft tank before xmas). Ideally I wanted to wait adding jawfish (yellowheads not BSJ) until my new tank was ready but I just felt so sorry for this guy that I could resist anymore. Also, I thought that, if this guy has been leaving inside a small plastic box for 2-3 months he is definitively as hardy as it can get.
So I brought it home, rearrange the rocks, threw some PVC in and put him in the tank. I brought from the shop the same plastic box he had lived in so I threw him in, inside the same box (with the top closed).
I left him there for a few hours. Not a bother in him, after a few hours I opened the top of the box and left him there overnight (I put a small piece of PVC inside in case he wanted to look for shelter).
Here is a picture of him inside his box
and finished the cover (this will do for now)
So anyway, for the next couple of days he kept digging wholes around the plastic box, he is not the best burrow builder but he was trying. I thought to myself, well, he seems to be doing just great so I guess this is will be over soon..... well I was wrong
Your man did not seem to find the right spot, I tried making things as easy as possible for him, putting new PVC, giving him more rubble but nothing, the guy could built a proper burrow. In addition, the sailfin had developed some sort of fascination for this guy and was constantly stearing at him
So then I tried building one of those PVC houses that I have seen around on the internet
but although he was fine at first after a day or two he started messing around and in the end he ruined it
My main concern was that he was getting more and more stressed because he couldnt find a "proper" home... Then, the sailfin fascination started to develop in an obsession for his fins, which was obviously not a good sign. I had run out of ideas so I decided to observe his "digging" behavior for a while. Then I noticed that, compared to my previous jawfish (these guys always dag a long tunnel and then create some sort of hall around 4 " from the entrance) this guy would create this "hall" barely 1 inch from the entrance, which will cause the whole entrance to collapse. Because the entrance was so big, crabs and snails which also try to make it their new home. I tried putting egg crate to cover the top but his wholes were easily 20" wide so in the end the burrow will collapse.
I was running out of time, his fins were a bit torn so I have to act quickly. And then it clicked, what If I build him a new house with a big entrance/hall instead what I have been trying so far (which was basically just a long PVC tube), so I started working on it and this is what I came up with.
So I removed most of the rock and placed his new gaff in the middle of the aquarium (i noticed he liked to hang out around that area)
and covered with rocks
Now the tricky part, to catch the BSJ and to make it use his new home
Catching him was easy, and to force him to get inside the new burrow I used a gravel cleaner. Placed him in, then turn it around and slowly bring it down to the whole entrance.
He slowly reversed into the entrance without even noticing, a few minutes later I removed the gravel cleaner and voila!
Now all I could do is wait and hope for the best
The night passed and the next day, he was still in his little whole. And he has been there since. Since then, I have rearranged the rocks a bit and he has slowly built a better entrance. Some morning I can still find him on one of the sides of the aquarium digging some wholes but as soon as things become too active in the aquarium he goes back into the whole.
Since he is in his new home it is more difficult for the sailfin to pick on his fins, to stop this behavior (I thought rearranging the rocks would do that) I had to try to introduce a more aggressive tang (this was a risky move) so I introduced a purple tang.
For the first 2-3 days the sailfin tried to show the purple tang that he was the boss and kept picking at the BSJ dorsal fin (only during those periods where the BSJ was out of his burrow digging smaller wholes)
It wasn't too bad but it was a concern for me as again, in my experience, a stressed jawfish is a dead jawfish... however, this "picking" kind off forced the jawfish to stay in his newly built burrow so it did work a bit on my favour
But after 3 days the purple tang became the boss (very little fighting as the tangs are all babies), and since then, the Sailfin has stopped bulling the jawfish and his fins have started to grow back, it has fully recovered now
No signs of stress or spots/discoloration. Still eating like a pig (during feeding time he has to work hard for his food as the tangs are just raging pigs) but I found a way to make sure he gets fed.
But so far so good, it has been 3 months so far and he is still there
I know his setup is not perfect, ideally a BSJ should be kept in a quiet environment with very little fast moving fish such tangs, wrasses, etc. But I had no choice, I couldn't see him in that box anymore.
He has proven to be a hardy jawfish, I am sure that not many BSJ would have survived this far under such circumstances but he is tough fella. He is living with 1 hippo a sailfin and a purple tang (all very small less than 4"), a bicolor blenny, 2 snowflakes clowns, a black ray goby, a heilfrichi firefish, a long nose and a cleaning wrasse as well as a few crabs and so far so good. I also had to move the anemone to the top of the tank far from him as he was getting way to close to it. So yes, he is in an over-crowed tank so I apologize about that but I want to think that he is better than in the tiny box he was, and so far he is doing fine. I will be moving him to my new 250 gallons soon, hopefully within the next 3-6 months.
This forum has gone very quiet lately so I wanted to share my experiences with my BSJ.
As some of you might remember I had a BSJ a year ago. The fish was never well, he was always stressed and sick, had ich, cloudy eyes, spots everywhere. It took a lot of effort to keep him in shape. However, one day I went away for a few days. I asked my wife to, in my absence, feed the jawfish. When I came back she said that the jawfish had stopped eating and no matter what she tried he wouldnt eat. He unfortunately died 4 days after me going on holidays.
So I decided to give up on BSJ, at least until I had a proper setup for him. In my opinion, the main reason why jawfish die is stress, I think (and this is just my opinion) the white round big spots they get are just a sign of stress reflected in their skin. I noticed this on my previous Jawfish as spots use to come on and off all the time.
Anyway, at my LFS they had a BSJ, he lived in a tiny plastic bucket 4" x 3" big. The first time I saw him I felt sorry for him but sure what could I do, I was hoping someone would take him soon. Months passed and the guy was still living in that box. One day I just couldnt resist it anymore and had to take him home with the promise from the LFS that they will never buy another BSJ (personally and I hate to say this, I think this species should be left alone in the wild).
So I took him home, I had to quickly improvise a lid and rearrange the rocks/sandbed. I added more rubble, crushed coral, etc to try to make his life as pleasant as possible. I knew my tank was not ready (I currently have a temporary 65 gallon bow tank and I am planning in building a 6ft tank before xmas). Ideally I wanted to wait adding jawfish (yellowheads not BSJ) until my new tank was ready but I just felt so sorry for this guy that I could resist anymore. Also, I thought that, if this guy has been leaving inside a small plastic box for 2-3 months he is definitively as hardy as it can get.
So I brought it home, rearrange the rocks, threw some PVC in and put him in the tank. I brought from the shop the same plastic box he had lived in so I threw him in, inside the same box (with the top closed).
I left him there for a few hours. Not a bother in him, after a few hours I opened the top of the box and left him there overnight (I put a small piece of PVC inside in case he wanted to look for shelter).
Here is a picture of him inside his box
and finished the cover (this will do for now)
So anyway, for the next couple of days he kept digging wholes around the plastic box, he is not the best burrow builder but he was trying. I thought to myself, well, he seems to be doing just great so I guess this is will be over soon..... well I was wrong
Your man did not seem to find the right spot, I tried making things as easy as possible for him, putting new PVC, giving him more rubble but nothing, the guy could built a proper burrow. In addition, the sailfin had developed some sort of fascination for this guy and was constantly stearing at him
So then I tried building one of those PVC houses that I have seen around on the internet
but although he was fine at first after a day or two he started messing around and in the end he ruined it
My main concern was that he was getting more and more stressed because he couldnt find a "proper" home... Then, the sailfin fascination started to develop in an obsession for his fins, which was obviously not a good sign. I had run out of ideas so I decided to observe his "digging" behavior for a while. Then I noticed that, compared to my previous jawfish (these guys always dag a long tunnel and then create some sort of hall around 4 " from the entrance) this guy would create this "hall" barely 1 inch from the entrance, which will cause the whole entrance to collapse. Because the entrance was so big, crabs and snails which also try to make it their new home. I tried putting egg crate to cover the top but his wholes were easily 20" wide so in the end the burrow will collapse.
I was running out of time, his fins were a bit torn so I have to act quickly. And then it clicked, what If I build him a new house with a big entrance/hall instead what I have been trying so far (which was basically just a long PVC tube), so I started working on it and this is what I came up with.
So I removed most of the rock and placed his new gaff in the middle of the aquarium (i noticed he liked to hang out around that area)
and covered with rocks
Now the tricky part, to catch the BSJ and to make it use his new home
Catching him was easy, and to force him to get inside the new burrow I used a gravel cleaner. Placed him in, then turn it around and slowly bring it down to the whole entrance.
He slowly reversed into the entrance without even noticing, a few minutes later I removed the gravel cleaner and voila!
Now all I could do is wait and hope for the best
The night passed and the next day, he was still in his little whole. And he has been there since. Since then, I have rearranged the rocks a bit and he has slowly built a better entrance. Some morning I can still find him on one of the sides of the aquarium digging some wholes but as soon as things become too active in the aquarium he goes back into the whole.
Since he is in his new home it is more difficult for the sailfin to pick on his fins, to stop this behavior (I thought rearranging the rocks would do that) I had to try to introduce a more aggressive tang (this was a risky move) so I introduced a purple tang.
For the first 2-3 days the sailfin tried to show the purple tang that he was the boss and kept picking at the BSJ dorsal fin (only during those periods where the BSJ was out of his burrow digging smaller wholes)
It wasn't too bad but it was a concern for me as again, in my experience, a stressed jawfish is a dead jawfish... however, this "picking" kind off forced the jawfish to stay in his newly built burrow so it did work a bit on my favour
But after 3 days the purple tang became the boss (very little fighting as the tangs are all babies), and since then, the Sailfin has stopped bulling the jawfish and his fins have started to grow back, it has fully recovered now
No signs of stress or spots/discoloration. Still eating like a pig (during feeding time he has to work hard for his food as the tangs are just raging pigs) but I found a way to make sure he gets fed.
But so far so good, it has been 3 months so far and he is still there
I know his setup is not perfect, ideally a BSJ should be kept in a quiet environment with very little fast moving fish such tangs, wrasses, etc. But I had no choice, I couldn't see him in that box anymore.
He has proven to be a hardy jawfish, I am sure that not many BSJ would have survived this far under such circumstances but he is tough fella. He is living with 1 hippo a sailfin and a purple tang (all very small less than 4"), a bicolor blenny, 2 snowflakes clowns, a black ray goby, a heilfrichi firefish, a long nose and a cleaning wrasse as well as a few crabs and so far so good. I also had to move the anemone to the top of the tank far from him as he was getting way to close to it. So yes, he is in an over-crowed tank so I apologize about that but I want to think that he is better than in the tiny box he was, and so far he is doing fine. I will be moving him to my new 250 gallons soon, hopefully within the next 3-6 months.
