Experiences with Golden head sleeper gobies

[Paganinisrvnge]

I have seen a few of these at my LFS and they seem great for stirring up the sand bed and keeping it nice and clean but I read that they can starve easily and spray sand everywhere. I wanted to get some opinions on whether they would be alright for a reef tank and what to feed them. Also, how deep a sandbed do they require?

 

[Jeremy Blaze]

Avoid them. They will starve to death after destroying any useful life in your sand bed.

 

[zachk]

Just like a lot of other questionable fishes, make sure it's eating a variety of decent food before you buy it. I had a pair in a 75g for about 2 years before 1 jumped. The remaining one eats all frozen and NLS pellets and is not 5+" long. He sifts a lot of sand so anything that is sitting on the bottom could be in danger of getting covered at any moment.

Mine likes to have rock rubble and shells to go under so as long as you have 2+" of sand you should be good.

 

[SecretiveFish]

We had one for ~1 month, one of the most skittish fish I have seen. We actually only saw him once and that was craning our heads in a weird way to see him.

We got a pair of orange spotted sleeper gobies after that, and I will say that we will never get sleeper gobies again. They caused multiple rock collapses from digging out the sand from under the rock, often made the tank cloudy from their endeavors in the sand, killed a couple corals from the sand they threw around and make lovely sand dunes. One jumped and we still have the other. Really close to getting rid of it. I actually caught it running off with a hermit crab shell (with hermit crab was still inside!). We have had the remaining one ~3 months, and I hate him. I really do. It gets beyond old to have to shake off the corals and pick up the ones he as knocked over.

 

[Jeremy Blaze]

I love gobies.

But, I would never recommend sleepers.

Shrimp/prawn gobies are awsome. As are most others.

 

[ruvtfan]

I have had mine for about 8 months in my 75 gal and he is doing well. He does tend to cover some of the corals on the bottom. Every once in a while he makes a sand storm.
A bit of trial and error I found areas to move my coral where it is less likely to be covered. Occasionally I have to dig out a coral but not too much of a fuss. I find most of the corals inflate at night to knock off some the excess sand.

Mine eats flake, pellet, and frozen but I made sure he was eating before I got him. Now he is a fat little piggie.

I might be the excepetion and if so lucky for me.

 

[Jeremy Blaze]

Do you have a live sand bed?

 

[snorvich]

Avoid them. They will starve to death after destroying any useful life in your sand bed.

Exactly. Also they will dump sand all over your rock and aquascape.

 

[snorvich]

I love gobies.

But, I would never recommend sleepers.

Shrimp/prawn gobies are awsome. As are most others.

I agree.

 

[michael_cb_125]

I know that this may be the rare case, but I have a Yellow Head Sleeper Goby that I have had for over two years. He started in a 90 gallon corner tank with the following fishes:
5 Royal Grammas
4 Chalk Basslets
Red Tail Triggerfish
Yellow Tang
Longnose Hawkfish

and was transferred about 9 months ago to a new 120 gallon tank with the following fishes:

5 Royal Grammas
Redtail Triggerfish
Declivis Butterflyfish
Yellow Tang
Zebra Eel
Longnose hawkfish

I purchased him from the Live Aquaria Divers Den over two years ago and he has been one of the toughest fish I've had. He eats from my hand and is super chubby. The only issue I have with him is the fact that he spits sand all over the rockwork. I know this is not typical, but at least it shows some success. I will get pictures this Sunday.

~Michael

 

[albano]

They caused multiple rock collapses from digging out the sand from under the rock...

Exactly why, the base rock should be placed in the tank (and stabilized) BEFORE the sand is added

 

[SecretiveFish]

Exactly why, the base rock should be placed in the tank (and stabilized) BEFORE the sand is added

Thank you Captain Hindsight! What would we ever do without you!!!

 

[albano]

Thank you Captain Hindsight! What would we ever do without you!!!

Sorry...you're the one that said that the gobies "caused multiple rock collapses"...when if fact, it was 'human error'...right?

 

[NYCBOB]

no good. they spray sand everywhere and any corals u have near the bottom will get covered.

 

[ruvtfan]

Do you have a live sand bed?

I do have a live sand bed. He makes a mess at the base of everything but seems to be keeping the sand bed healthy.

It maybe you have to chose the lesser of two evils?

 

[Paganinisrvnge]

Hmm, it seems I made 2 threads for the same thing. Oops. Lol. I didn't realize this one had ever posted since there had been some error. Anyway, thanks for the replies. The general consensus is that they are too messy and eat all the beneficial microfauna in the sandbed and once that is gone they starve unless you have them very willingly accepting prepared food. I think I will just get a Diamond Watchman goby.

 

[davelin315]

I would disagree to a certain extent. I have a large 300 gallon display and had a pair of them in my tank for a couple of years. I lost the female at some point after a couple of years to what I believe was a tunnel collapse as she was excavating and holing herself up. The male lived on for about a year as I tried to replace his mate but never took to any of them.

They did dump a lot of sand in my tank which was a problem for the first few months, but after the bed matured it sank down to the bottom. For me, it was no worse than the large tangs I have that feed off the food settled to the bottom and then later on poop it out as they swim in the water column. The sand from the gobies was isolated to the bottom 6-8" of the tank as they rarely if ever went above the bottom 1' of the water column, more often than not sticking to the bottom 6".

As for life in my sand bed, they kept it super white and there was some life in there. It wasn't what I have now that they're gone, but my sand bed also does not look as nice as it did before. I've got a 2-4" bed throughout the tank and plenty of life in other areas of the tank. Right now, though, my sand has multiple worm chimneys and looks a bit dingy. I've been on the lookout for a good pair for the past couple of years to replace them and clean up my sand again.