yellow head sleeper goby not reef safe?

[darky00]

I'm thinking about putting a yellow head sleeper goby (Valenciennea strigata) into my 23 gal reef, but I was told by another reefer that they are not "reef safe". Not because they will eat corals or inverts, but because they would decimate the life in my sand bed. Is this true? Would one of these fish kill my DSB?

Thanks

Dan

[ReefCrazed]

I do not know about the destroying the sand bed but I do know that the dig in the sand bed to the point of insanity! We had one the little guy was just as cute as ever but anything in the sand was subject to being covered with sand on a daily basis. If you have any corals or clams in or on the sand bed they are consistently subject to this problem. He went back to the LFS. I would steer clear of them for that reason beyond any, although it keeps the sand "Sifted" hence the name sand sifter they are not worth it.

JMO,
Amy

[suekey1]

We have one in our fish only, not in any of our reef tanks. Specifically because we were told they will dust everything with sand...and that's what he does. It doesn't matter where cause he swims all over. He scoops up the sand and disperses it all over the place, even on top of passers by...his fellow tank mates. Also, after buying a pair of them, my husband found through reading many of these boards that you should buy them in pairs and they are destined to die of starvation if you can't get them to eat regular food besides what's in the sand. One of them did die shortly after we got them for no apparent reason. The other is doing very well but he eats everything as did the other. In fact, they would rip off a piece of seaweed out of the clip and play tug of war with it until one got it and gobbled it up!!!!
Sue

[JustPhish]

Yep, they often do better in pairs and are very difficult to get onto prepared foods. They will very quickly eat all the life in your sand bed and once that happens they'll starve unless you are lucky enough to get them to feed. And like everyone else said, they will cover everything in a dusting of substrate. This may/may not irritate your corals. I would imagine after constantly happening they won't be the happiest of critters.

HTH

[golfish]

If memory serves me, they get kind of big too.......I had a pair in a reef tank for about 2 days. They would grab a mouth full of sand and spit it all over the LR......all day long.

[thezookeeper]

Ditto to the above. Very neat fish, but dust everything with sand! I wouldn't get one for a reef.


Joanne