goby or jawfish?

[palmer373]

ive been looking at both the Gobies and the Jawfish as possible fish to live/clean up the sandbed. i had a goby in the past (undy ate him) so i was thinking of a jawfish to add, specifically the yellow headed (or pearly) jawfish. i was thinking of a 2 or more so i can stir up mroe sand. i was thinking recently that gobies filter throught the sand while jawfish just live in it right? so then if i wanted to go with a sturing-up-the-sand fish i should go with a goby or two?

which one would you choice, a goby (either a watchman or orange spotted goby) or a jawfish (yellowhead/pearly)? would multiple conspecifics work in a 75?

 

[SushiGirl]

I have 2 gobies in a 55. It works, mostly. The orange-spotted does not sift sand, it's a shrimp goby. The 6-spot does sift sand. The orange-spotted defends its territory (that the 6-spot built) from everyone, including emerald crabs, so his area is dirtier than the rest of the tank. The 6-spot requires a lot of feeding (there's not enough in the sand for him). The 6-spot is just like my Diamond Watchman was years ago. Unless your tank is old (more than a year), you're going to have to feed a lot for a sand-sifter, my 6-spot is very active.

Never had a jawfish, so can't help you there.

 

[Enyo]

I hear engineer gobies move copious amounts of sand, however, stirring the sand bed might be a bad idea depending on your situation. Most sand sifting organisms such as sand sifting stars are frowned upon for a DSB as they eat the beneficial fauna.

I just got a Blue Spotted Jawfish last week, he keeps his quadrant of the tank moving for sure Just biting my lip and hoping he doesn't get the infamous blue spot protozoan attack.

 

[Moort82]

Assuming the trigger isn't still in there i'd go for the gobies. The jawfish is a more interesting species but they need a much deeper sand bed to be happy, so unless you have 4-6" of mixed grain sand, then it isn't the best fish for you.

 

[palmer373]

sushi- hmm ok so if i was to get a goby id look at the watchmans. had a YWG and he was amazing! sifting sand and eating pellets!

enyo- i wont get an engineer goby, rocks too unstable.

moort- lol the undy is long gone and i have a 6+" sandbed.

is it possible to go with say 2 gobies and 2 jawfish (or would 1 goby and 1 jawfish be better)? i really like the watchman gobies but i really want a yellowheaded jawfish.

 

[Enyo]

If it's a smaller tank, I would do one or the other. Since you have a 6" sand bed I'm assuming it's a large tank. Go for it man, just know that if they cross paths it wont be pretty

 

[palmer373]

its a 75g so its not large but its not small. i guess i wont know whatll happen till i try.