sand sifting fish suggestions?

darky00 · 10-31-2001, 04:14 PM

I recently posted a question about a yellow head sleeper goby. I'm doing as much research on this fish as possible, and one thing that is deterring me from buying it is the fact that they seem to like "bombing" liverock and corals with the sand that they pick up. Is there any other gobies I might get instead for my 23 gal reef? I've read a little about diamond gobies, are they good sand sifters that won't bomb my tank?

Thanks

Dan

chromis · 10-31-2001, 04:37 PM

Sand sifting gobies are generally frowned in reef tanks. For one thing, they love to eat infauna, which feed our corals when they breed. They also will destroy a DSB pretty quickly by tunneling around in it, releasing nutrients. This can also lead to rockwork falling over, crushing corals and fish. Lastly, they just aren't good sand sifters, a healthy population of mini brittle stars, britleworms, amphipods and copepods are better many times over.

HTH, IME

Andrew

**kevinpo** · 10-31-2001, 05:21 PM

I have a pink spotted goby and he is very well behaved. He sifts down maybe 1-1.5" max. and always stays on the bottom. His range is small staying in about a 12" X 24" area. I haven't owned other sand sifting gobies so this behavior could be just this individual.

Kevin

alf3482 · 11-01-2001, 10:54 AM

Quote:

I've read a little about diamond gobies, are they good sand sifters that won't bomb my tank?

They tend to dig up the whole tank.
If you want a good sand sifting goby get the dragon goby. They just sift the top 1" of sand with out depleting the sand bed infunia. HTH

**scubadude** · 11-01-2001, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by alf3482

If you want a good sand sifting goby get the dragon goby. They just sift the top 1" of sand with out depleting the sand bed infunia. HTH

I have heard good things about these too. I have a yellow watchman goby and he was in my 20g tank forever and there was never near as much SB fauna in there as my 90g. (he seemed to eat alot of the pods) But i think you can sustain a goby or two as long as you have

1. A mature tank with LOTS of pods

2. A refugium to replenish pods and worms that get depleted by the goby.

Good Luck HTH

SamiLynne · 11-01-2001, 05:36 PM

The only thing I can really recommend on this is to stay away from engineer gobies. Paljets and I had a gold head goby in our reef and we thought he was great. He seemed to have a lot of personalty and only sifted the top like 1 inch of sand and he only got some sand on the plate corals along the bottom, never bothered the liverock or any other corals. He was a good little fish...again I must express my mourning for having to sell our fish at the last minute before we moved....

(

10-31-2001, 04:14 PM	#1
darky00 Just Moved In Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 9	sand sifting fish suggestions? I recently posted a question about a yellow head sleeper goby. I'm doing as much research on this fish as possible, and one thing that is deterring me from buying it is the fact that they seem to like "bombing" liverock and corals with the sand that they pick up. Is there any other gobies I might get instead for my 23 gal reef? I've read a little about diamond gobies, are they good sand sifters that won't bomb my tank? Thanks Dan __________________ seriously, you don't wanna know how much the "pretty fish tank" cost!

10-31-2001, 05:21 PM	#3
kevinpo Moderator Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Spokane Valley WA Posts: 2,409	I have a pink spotted goby and he is very well behaved. He sifts down maybe 1-1.5" max. and always stays on the bottom. His range is small staying in about a 12" X 24" area. I haven't owned other sand sifting gobies so this behavior could be just this individual. Kevin __________________ SPSguy On - On

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10-31-2001, 04:37 PM	#2
chromis Mayor Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Lynchburg, Virginia Posts: 518	Sand sifting gobies are generally frowned in reef tanks. For one thing, they love to eat infauna, which feed our corals when they breed. They also will destroy a DSB pretty quickly by tunneling around in it, releasing nutrients. This can also lead to rockwork falling over, crushing corals and fish. Lastly, they just aren't good sand sifters, a healthy population of mini brittle stars, britleworms, amphipods and copepods are better many times over. HTH, IME Andrew

11-01-2001, 05:36 PM	#6
SamiLynne Just Moved In Join Date: May 2001 Location: Farmington, MN Posts: 20	The only thing I can really recommend on this is to stay away from engineer gobies. Paljets and I had a gold head goby in our reef and we thought he was great. He seemed to have a lot of personalty and only sifted the top like 1 inch of sand and he only got some sand on the plate corals along the bottom, never bothered the liverock or any other corals. He was a good little fish...again I must express my mourning for having to sell our fish at the last minute before we moved.... (

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