diamond back goby

[Vince272992]

hi
i have a 65 gallon reef tank with one clown fish and 2 firefish currently. My sand bed is getting very dirty and i would like to get a diomnd back goby by the time my tank is 2.5 mounths old so i was wondering if i can get one with out it dieing on me or should i wait longer????
THANKS

 

[cdc84]

I have had one of these most recently in a 100g tank. I have never been able to keep one longer than a few months. Mine died from starvation I could never keep up with feeding it.

 

[OTOWN78]

I had one in a well established tank and Its the only fish that never survived. I went with a sand sifting star and 2 brittle stars and the bed has never been cleaner.

 

[sandwi54]

I have never had lucky with the diamond goby. I consider myself a decent aquarist and I know what I'm doing, but none of my 5 diamond gobies made it more than a few months.

Also, even though it's a popular and accepted practice, buying animals to take care of "problems" is not the right thing to do. New tanks will go through several phases of algae bloom while it establishes its biological and chemical balances. Buying an animal to eat these algae (often not the right type either) sometimes makes the issue worse. The animal eats the food, poops it out, and generates more load which fuels more algae growth. These algae blooms will naturally go away as the tank is on its way to maturity, often after 6-9 months of establishment.

A 2.5 month-old tank is really new and you will go through more algae blooms. Nothing will really help other than patiently waiting.

 

[Vince272992]

Ok then how long should I wait to get a sand sifter star and are there any other sand sifter fish that will do the job and will be hardy