Small-Medium Sized Schooling Fish

[spencerguy1]

50-60+ is good enough. I love the jawfish, but have never kept one. It needs lots of substrate to burrow into. At least the depth of it's length (4-5 inches). This takes up too much water volumn and swimming space, makeing the tank too shallow.

JUST my opinion, but, why not set up a "29gal tall" species tank with the Jawfish?? Even with 7" of gravel, you will still have about 20gals of water.

I thought about a species setup, then remembered that I was going to use it as my sump.

How do you think I could keep the sand from building up detritus since
it's so deep? Undergravel filter? I don't want to ruin the jawfish burrows and possibly hurt one of them every time I clean the sand.

 

[TL1000RSquid]

Are there any other cardinals that would group that are Caribbean fish? I'm going to try and keep to Caribbean fish, because of a reef snorkeling trip I took in the Bahamas. I've realized there aren't many Caribbean species as there are Asian species, but I'm going to try. This isn't set in stone, however. I really like the Redtails, so I might just use those.

The only Caribbean cardinals I'm aware of won't tolerate more then a mated pair, might be some out there that are uncommon but uncommon + saltwater + group = $$$

 

[TL1000RSquid]

I've never done a DSB, I imagine you want to have a strong burrowing element in your CUC conch, nassirus and other burrowing snails, bristle worms, sifting goby or blenny, pistol shrimp would all help in turning it over. Do avoid sifting stars, horseshoe crabs and others that would deplete the fauna in your sandbed and eventually starve though.

 

[tanker]

How do you think I could keep the sand from building up detritus since
it's so deep? Undergravel filter? I don't want to ruin the jawfish burrows and possibly hurt one of them every time I clean the sand.

If it is going to be a "fish" tank, then an UG filter is OK to add. I do not like UG filters==too much nitrates. You can just let it be. The burrowing of the Jawfish will keep the sand loose enough.