When yellowhead jawfish are comfortable with their environment, they’ll hover just above their burrow.When trying to determine whether different species of marine fish will cohabit peacefully in the same aquarium, we usually ask ourselves whether the combination will result in one fish eating another or whether interspecific squabbling is likely to be an issue based on disparate levels of territorial aggression. If we can answer “no” to each of those questions, we may be inclined to assume the species in question are, indeed, compatible. In many cases that may be a safe conclusion to reach, but it overlooks another important (albeit more subtle) aspect of fish compatibility that is often underemphasized if not outright ignored—the natural differences in energy level that exist among various species.What do I mean by this? I’m referring to combining shy and retiring species with more boisterous and gregarious ones. In this situation, the former takes no interest whatsoever in the latter from the standpoint of predation or territorial rivalry. In fact, it may not even acknowledge the shyer tankmate’s presence.
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