Best sand sifter

[ttam]

I am looking at either a tiger wardi goby or a diamond watchman goby. Anybody have any thoughts? The tank is a 29 biocube.

 

[Dmorty217]

Watchman gobys don't sift nearly as much sand as a orange diamond goby would, they are better suited with pistol shrimp

 

[RayL]

From past experience in smaller tanks, a diamond watchman goby won't have enough food to eat in a tank so small, he will be fine for a couple months and then probably die.
I have never owned a tiger wardi goby, but they are a little smaller then the DWG, so if you need to get one of the two, I would suggest the tiger wardi goby although you might be better off just mixing the sand yourself

 

[ilikefish34]

Watchman gobys don't sift nearly as much sand as a orange diamond goby would, they are better suited with pistol shrimp

I think you're both referring to the same fish with different, but similar, common names... Valenciennea Puellaris.

I really like this fish but will have to agree that they will want a larger sand bed to pick from. A 3-4" single fish kept the aragonite gleaming white in a 180gall for me. Even in that size aquarium, he needed regular feedings of pellets, bloodworms and mysis shrimp to keep up with his appetite. The Wardi is a larger version of the Diamond and would recommend even more space for them. All sifting gobies are quite susceptible to internal parasites and should be treated with Prazipro.

I would look towards Rainsford and Hector Gobies. They are very small and would need sand or oolite to sift (about .2-1.2mm in size as anything else would be too large) along with docile tankmates. They're not as effective, but they fit the bill for the tank size.

ps They are all going to be jumpers and e even though you have a BioCube, my BSJ routinely worked his way into the filtration until I covered it.

Good Luck!
Mike

 

[downbeach]

A good article on that genus here:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-09/hcs3/index.php