Pearly Jawfish question

OK, I've had a few of these throughout the years only recently losing my last one for no apparent reason (was doing great for the last 2 years and then became ill and died suddenly - possibly old age??). Anyway, I decided to get a pair from my LFS a few days ago and they usually take a few days to acclimate and begin to make a burrow so Saturday morning I noticed one had made a burrow under a piece of LR (no biggie). I decided it was time to feed the fish and the next thing I know there were 2 heads sticking out of the same burrow picking food out of the water!?!?!?!? Now I know that it is possible to keep a few in a tank (depending on tank size) and they are somewhat of a territorial fish in general and I have yet to find any info about 2 living in the same burrow anywhere! From what I gather, even a male/female in the same tank will have their own burrow and only come together to mate so am I missing something here???? Even this morning when leaving to go to work I peeked in the tank and there they were both little heads sticking out of the burrow - no fighting or territoriality at all. I'm just wondering if anyone out there has had any similar experience with this fish because truthfully I think it is very cool they are hanging out like this and want to know if this is a normal behavior??

Thanks in advance!

 

Have not heard of this before but would make for an interesting Pic. "hint hint" Maybe you could be the first to document this type of behavior.

 

Not a bad idea - I will see what i can do

 

You never know, as with any animal they have their own personalities and behaviors. What works in one tank may not work in another tank...Would love to see pics....

 

I have two of them in my 90g, and they are doing the same thing! During the daytime they hover about 6 ~ 12 inches apart, at dusk/night they share the same burrow. This is also the first time I have seen this behavior in 20+ years of reef keeping.

 

maybe there's something your fish/tanks have in common

 

Well I have had great luck with Pearly Jawfish in the past, never had one jump out like others have had EXCEPT yesterday - came home from work to find one of the little guys on the floor in front of the tank - Talk about disappointed!! I have a screen that I lay on the top of the tank to prevent this BUT this little dude was able to squeeze through a VERY small opening next to my protein skimmer!!! I cant believe it - was gettin ready to get some pics for everyone too!! Guess I will have to seal that section a little better tonight! Now I do have a question, is it possible to add an additional jawfish or does anyone know if they need to be introduced at the same time??

 

OMG -- sorry to hear about that

I haved added jawfish to my tanks separately without problems, but I have only done that in tanks 75g and larger. I don't see it being an issue though.

 

This is going to sound like I am just a copy cat, but OMG x 10... one of my jawfishes was missing this morning, and I found him in the overflow... fishing him out was not an easy prospect since the overflow is 30" deep and crammed with pipework! Fortunately I was able to remove the stand pipe and recover him.

soooo.... as it stands two random people each with 2 jawfish both sharring the same borrow, and within hours we both had one jawfish go airborne.

I think we both need to set up webcams... some how these fish are communicating and we need to catch them in the act!

 

WOW thats some strange S#!&!!!!!!!!!!! Talk about coincidental - Later this afternoon I am going to fix my screen and pass by my LFS to see if they have anymore - definitely my favorite fish and I love having more than one!