I just found the most freaky/amazing fish in the entire world the Dusky Jawfish. I cant seem to find it in any of the aquarium literature I have on hand, so I dont even have a scientific name for it. Has anyone ever kept these guys? Are they reef safe? Can I have more than one? )

David Mohr

I don't have my references with me but from what I remember the Scientific names is Opistognathus whitehursti . Yes they can be kept in pairs as long as you have enough room for their burrows and sand bed of at least 4" with rock rubble. The only drawback is they *might* eat ornamental shrimp.

Donna Stimetz

According to Marine Fishes by Scott Michael it says

Max Length 3.9 inches
Range Tropical Western Atlantic
Min. tank size 20 gal
Foods & feeding Meaty foods, including chopped marine fish and crustacean flesh, mysid shrimp, or frozen preparations for carnivores. Feed 3 times a day
Reef compatibility Excellent. Possible threat to small shrimps.
Captive Care Like the other jawfishes, this unusual species makes for an engaging display in a tank with a deep bed of sand, where it will actively burrow, spitting substrate and hovering above it's lair. Provide at least 3.1 in of mixed substrate, including sand of varying grades and small pieces of shell and/or rubble for construction of a burrow. A flat rock laid on the bottom can also provide a roof for a potential burrow. Aquarium must be covered to prevent jumping. Keep with docile tankmates. Can be kept in pairs or colonies, but they must have enough room to spread out and establish their own territories. Will spawn in captivity.

Michael Gerdes

Yes they are reef safe. They will want to build a burrow- so a deep sand bed is needed to keep them happy- preferably with a mixture of grain sizes. They remind me of golem from the hobbit with their big ol bug eyes... really cool fish. I think they will form a symbiotic relationship with pistol shrimp as well, similar to some of the gobies.

Mark Lanett

I think my single favorite fish picture is in Roger Lubbock's "good mood", a photo of O. latibunda . It's a facial closeup of a dusky brown/gray jawfish just sitting with its mouth open, showing all its little pointy teeth. Very cute. Fishes for the Invertebrate Aquarium, H. Debelius, p. 168.

Alas I can't keep any they'd be octopus dinner in a second.

Kevin McDonald

I've got some Golden Headed Sleeper Gobies/Pearly Jawfish, whatever you want to call them, I've ID'd them as Opistognathus aurifrons from Burgess' Marine Atlas (3rd ed.). Up until a few weeks ago, I had 4 of them in my modified 55 Gal Sump with a Puffer and 2 Firefish. They seemed to do fine, but a few observations

Very shy fish, with a social structure. They were all introduced to the tank at the same time, but for some reason, the group always shunned one of the jaws. He would get chased away every time he tried to build a burrow in the main tank area, and eventually gave up and made a home in one of the baffles... The other 3 got along fine. Long story short - the outcast died (totally MIA, no carcass, no Nitrogen spike, nothing), and a few weeks after that, I was in the sump cleaning things up, and knocked over some of the rocks that made their burrows. I tried setting them back up in a similar fashion, but i must have really pissed one of them off, as he went over into the baffle that night. Spent a week there, was MIA one day, and the following day, the third one was found carpet surfing. Now I only have 1 Jaw left, and am afraid to introduce any more, as I have heard they have a rigorous social structure, and do not suffer new tankmates (Conspecifics specifically - now there's a tounge twister) happily.

Personally I have a feeling all 3 went Carpet surfing, and my Dog got a treat one morning while I was sleeping, but that's another story. Fact remains they're dead. What I can tell you about these, is that they did all accept frozen food and flake fairly readily. They also seemed to enjoy Vibra-gro pellets (Larger sized ones) very much. Very docile - never bugged another tankmate, unless it got too close to it's burrow. But you will need a fair sized tank, and at least 3 inches of sand; Coarse and smaller sizes. They are very shy and quiet, and do spend the majority of their time on the bottom. I did however notice that at Dusk, Dawn, and overnight, I would occasionally see one of them swimming along the surface checking things out. I think this is when they do most of their 'Jumping'.

Addendum:

One of the Jawfish never went surfing, (s)he just decided to hide for a month and a half. No idea what was going on, it was the smaller, and less colorful of the two (I had left at the time). Was MIA for a month and a half, two months maybe. I counted him as a "puppy treat", and figured it was gone. Then out of the blue when I was feeding one day, the bugger showed up in his usual hole. I don't know if anything was going on (mating, breeding, whatnot) during that sebatacle he took, but happy to report of the four I put in there, two are still kicking.

James Wiseman

I've had one for about a year. I started out w/ two, but one "chased" the other out of the tank...-( Mine is about 3" long, w/ enormous blue/green eyes. It eats all manner of prepared foods.

I keep it in a small tank by itself. As for Michael's comment about them being commensal w/ pistol shrimp...that may be the case, however, I added a Pistol, and it became jawfish food within about 1 second. It would have been sad if it wasn't so funny. There was the shrimp, and then the next second, there was the jawfish chewing and spitting out shrimp claws. Dusky jawfish can move incredibly fast...rocketing out of their burrow to grab food.