worried about my new bsj

[reefersmoke]

Hi Everyone,

I've been reading about the bluespot here for a while and finally got myself one yesterday. After acclimating him he went right into a little tunnel between a rock and the sand bed and just hung out there for the 15 minutes or so. He did not take long to get to work and started excavating mouthfuls of sand expanding the tunnel under the rockwork. My clownfish (who has been aggressive in the past, but in a smaller tank) swam up to him a few times but the bsj opened his jaw wide and chased him off. I then put a few mysis and the he darted up from his tunnel and ate readily. After he was done eating I turned off the lights and watched him continue to work on his tunnel a little longer. Anyway, I went to bed very happy has the jawfish seemed to be doing great and acclimating to his new surroundings very quickly.

So this morning I woke up and found the jaw just laying in the sand curled up outside his tunnel. After watching him for a few minutes my clown swam up to him and nipped his fin well the jaw just sat there . I do not know what happened over night because he seemed great yesterday... So i removed the clownfish from the tank and will leave him out until the jawfish is a little more established. The only other fish in the tank right now is a tailspot blenny, which the clown has never bothered. About 20 min after I took the clown out, jawfish went back to another tunnel entrance on the other side of the rock, and is in there now just sticking his head out. I tried adding some mysis and he is still eating which is good.

So anyway, should i be worried about the bluespot at this point? I looked at his fin and it doesnt look the clown really did any damage, I'm just concerned that the jaw was away from his tunnel and not attempting to defend himself.

Thanks!

[Dentoid]

Welcome!

I would not be too worried at this point. Your BS is most likely exhausted from the move, the acclimation and excavating all night long. You must provide the BS with rubble, shells and small rocks which it will use to fortify the walls of its burrow. Without this building material, it will be constantly be working to keep its burrow from caving in. Try putting in a handful of rubble just outside of its burrow. You will be amazed at how much it will use and how big of pieces it can move. When it has used it all, put some more in.

The fact that it is eating is a very good sign. All the best.

[cstamper]

Reefsmoke-
welcome.
I completely agree with Dentoid, I've crushed up alot of live rock to provide rubble and it has all dissapeared within the house of my BS.
You'll love your new addition.

[Dentoid]

Here are some pictures from today. I just added this rubble about an hour ago and My BSJF is already arranging it. Just to give you an idea of what they can handle.

[cstamper]

Scott-
Your BSJ is awesome.
Those rubble chunks are huge. I need to try that size with my fish.
reefersmoke..in my short experiance, the more rubble the better.

[reefersmoke]

Thanks for the advice, I crushed some live rock up with a hammer and added it to the tank. He has not gone for it yet but hopefully just needs some more time. He's still loving the msyis so that is good.

[lcstorc]

Congrats on the new blue.
Just give him some time and rubble like everyone said.
When mine didn't have big enough rubble, he went on a hunger strike.
It seems I smash up a rock every week or two for mine. I have no idea where much of it goes. It just disappears.

[reefersmoke]

Ok, its been about 60 hours since I added the bluespot and he still is not constructing his burrow. He spends most of his time sitting on the sand bed or swimming in place in the front corner of the tank. Yesterday afternoon he spent about 10 minutes scanning the surface looking for a place to jump. He did seem to move a few pieces of rubble to surround his spot in the sand. My temp is a little high (78 night/79.5 day), sandbed is about 3in.

On the plus side he still looks healthy and loves to eat.

[lcstorc]

Eating is good. I have had them dig a bit of a depression in the sand and stay there for a bit. Perhaps that is what he is going for.
Are there any predators in the rocks that could be scaring him?

[reefersmoke]

Originally Posted by lcstorc

Are there any predators in the rocks that could be scaring him?

Nope, my ocellaris clown seemed to be bothering him, but the clown is quarantined until bluespot settles in. Only other fish is a little tailspot blenny. The skunk cleaner has tried to approach him a few times but I don't think he was too stressed about that.

[Dentoid]

I've seen them do this too! They dig a wide, shallow depression because they don't have the building blocks to support the burrow. They dig and dig and the sand keeps falling in causing the depression. Once they start moving rock and such into the depression, that combined with spitting sand on the rocks eventually supports the walls and they narrow it down.

In the second picture above, you can see my BS forming the coral rubble into a circle using his body to determine the diameter. He will then excavate sand from inside the burrow and spit it onto the circle of rocks filling in the small voids until eventually you can no longer see the rocks. They keep doing this until, in many cases, they have a mound. I have also seen them take pieces of rock down into the burrow to shore-up the walls.

[reefersmoke]

Bad news, my bsj is currently no where to be found I have a completely enclosed hood, so there is no way for him to jump out, I checked the back compartments to see if he somehow squeezed back there, but nope. He seemed completely healthy last night and began working on his tunnel again and ate a big meal.

I'm hoping he's just hiding but I tried feeding the tank and no sign of him so it seems unlikely

[Dentoid]

Don't give up hope! He is probably still in there, just hasn't made an appearance yet this morning.

Mine does this all the time. Sometimes, it's hours before I see him pop up.

[lcstorc]

It's amazing where they can hide.
If he ate last night it is definitely not panic time.

[reefersmoke]

Good news! I came home from work today and saw him through the smoked glass which separates the display tank from the rear chambers in my red sea max. He was in the return pump chamber swimming vertically, I don't know how he made it in there, not much space behind the pumps. This was the only chamber I did not completely tear apart this morning looking for him. I did shine a flashlight down there though, so he must have been wedged between a carbon bag and the glass at the bottom of the chamber.

It was not easy getting him out, theres no room to work so I had to bend a net to get it to fit and then blindly coax him up to the top of the chamber where he eventually jumped back in to the display. Right now he's laying in the sand obviously confused and stressed. He looks fine physically except for a small white splotch on his body near his tail fin, hopefully this is just from stress and not serious. Anyway I'm just really glad I still have him, thanks for the support everyone. Now I need to find a way to block this gap and prevent it from happening again...

Here is a pic of my yet to be named troublemaker.