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Sand Bed For Yellowhead Jawfish


Syn

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I am currently in the process of overhauling my scape and substrate to accommodate a yellowhead jawfish. All rocks are securely sitting on the bottom, and glued/puttied together.

 

Now for the sandbed. Half the tank will have a 2-2.5" substrate, the other half will be roughly 4". I do not have enough sand for that on hand, so I'm here for advice about which type of sand I should get. I have some caribsea tahitian moon (grains are ~1mm), and a still full bad of crushed coral. Should I go finer or coarser than the tahitian moon to complete my mix?

 

Thanks

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oh I'm using the crushed coral, no doubt there. I need more than the tahitian moon and crushed coral bags I currently have for my sandbed depth, though.

 

edit: forgot to ask...should I layer the different substrates, or is it fine to mix it up?

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I don't really think it'll like crushed coral at all. There is a huge misconception that reefs in nature have argonite sand, which just isn't true, but in the case of jawfish that's actually what they live in. Crushed coral will be way too sharp for it to live in and it'll probably have problems long term.

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I don't really think it'll like crushed coral at all. There is a huge misconception that reefs in nature have argonite sand, which just isn't true, but in the case of jawfish that's actually what they live in. Crushed coral will be way too sharp for it to live in and it'll probably have problems long term.

 

huh?

 

I've read in more places to count, been advised by more than one LFS, that the substrate needs to have crushed coral in it, because sand alone will not provide proper building materials for the jawfish to make his burrow. Not saying you're wrong or anything, just that this goes against all the knowledge I've gotten my hands on so far.

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The variance in sand is like that in nature. When you scuba and go down to the floor of the ocean there is variable sized grains of sand. The finer sand is okay in the mix, but the crushed coral will allow the jawifsh to construct a more solid enterance to its burrow. Both the crushed coral and arragonite mix would work well. They do not need to be mixed completely but a few larger pieces of crushed coral will definately please your new jawfish. They are pretty adaptable creatures so as long as they have differing grain sizes they will make the best of it. Plus they are a pleasure to watch while constructing their dens.

 

Cheers.

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I would still just go with argonite with the tahitian moon. I know jawfish need bigger chunks to make their dens properly but I would just throw in a few shells and live rock rubble (or larger peices of crushed coral just for the jawish) cause crushed coral as a substrate is terrible for any bottom dwellers. Have you ever actually felt how rough that stuff is? From what I can understand most people don't use it anymore cause it's a detritus trap anyways. Just my 2cents I don't want to sound vindictive or anything

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I don't begrudge any advice dtitus, no worries. It just went against everything I had learned up to this point, and surprised me.

 

As an aside - unrelated to my jawfish sandbed - crushed coral being so hated as a substrate in general...seems to me it should be a hell of a lot easier to clean (vacuum) than sand ever would be, so are the bad experiences with it mainly based around no cleaning whatsoever of the sand bed?

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I have two yellowhead jawfish in an aquarium with super fine sand. I heard, as you have, that crushed coral is necessary for these guys, so I wasn't sure how they would do. They've been in there two months and seem quite happy. Just my two cents.

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LOL cleaning of the sandbed is probably one of the most debated topics on here. All I'm gonna say on it is that if you have a good clean up crew (the jawfish will also help by stirring up the sandbed), flow, and fine sand so that stuff can't get trapped in the first place you can get by with squirting part of the top layer with a turkey baster during water changes. Any kind of sand burrowing clean up crew neccesary to keep a sandbed clean probably wouldn't like crushed coral either.

Although in theory you would be right about it being easier to vacuum. I just think having to vacuum would be more work.

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Like I said, this isnt related to the sandbed in my main tank. I wouldnt want to risk destroying a jawfish burrow with heavy vacuuming anyway.

 

As for the sandbed cleaning debate...eh. This noob reefer figures that if bare bottoms can be very successful, there's no valid argument against cleaning a sandbed (apart from the added work, mind you). The fluval spec 5 I'll be setting up (undecided what its going to be at this point) will either have a thin layer of crushed coral, or be bare bottom.

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For a pico I'd go barebottemed. Granted it's not exactly the same but I don't have substrate in my betta tanks cause its just a pain to clean in tanks that small.

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My jawfish loved having crushed coral mixed in with the sand. He used a lot of various sizes to make his burrow. Once in a while I would throw in another handful of crushed coral and he would go to work.

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