help me deside the best type of goby or jawfish and your experiences with them?

[lottie_pufferfi]

i have a 40 gallon tank with live rock and a good population of critters such as cocpods, worms, 1 flatworm, 2 snails, ect. i love watching all of them, but have no fish yet. i have a 4 inch deep sand bed for the burrower type fish i will have. i like the fact that it can become a part of the intricat sea floor i have created. im looking at all of my options. i dont want a fish that has to be feed 3 times a day, thats just too much, and i heard some need a connected refuguim, i cant suport this need. but i do work at a fish store so i can catch cocopod thingys in the live rock bin or reef line and add them to the tank if he eats a bunch of the population. i also want to get a manderine mabye too. which is better?
some of the options ive selected are:

Green Mandarinfish
Spotted Mandarinfish

Blackfinned Shrimp Goby
Blue Gudgeon Goby
Brownbarred Goby
Catalina Goby-aka- blue banded goby
Citron Goby-aka-clown goby
Fire Goby-aka-firefish
Green Clown Goby
Orangespotted Sleeper Goby
Pinkbar Goby
Pinkspotted Shrimp Goby
Randall's Shrimp Goby
Yellow Clown Goby
Yellow Prow Goby
Yellow Watchman Goby
Yellowheaded Sleeper Goby
Yellownose Goby

Bluespotted Jawfish
Dusky Jawfish
Moustache Jawfish
Yellowhead Jawfish

Scissortail Dartfish

any experience with any of them will help a little too probaly.

 

[jus10kase]

I am planning on getting a pair of Highfin shrimp gobies w/a shrimp as the first fish for my tank. Probably what you have listed as Blackfinned.

 

[blface]

Bluespot jaw is my vote. Awesome fish w/ alot of personality!!!

 

[snorvich]

blface, how much sand do they really require? Will they eat cleaner shrimp. They appeal to me too.

 

[jdieck]

Blue spoted do not eat cleaner shrimps but they will need a minimum of 4 inches of sand and must have your rock placed above a PVC rack or PVC poles of some sort (this is true of most diggers), They need to dig under the rock.
I would not recommend mandarins in such a small tak.

By the way 99% of gobies and jawfish are excellent jumpers so you need to tightly cover your aquarium. I lost two blue spoted that way. The first jumped trough the holes on the eggcrate I was using to cover the aquarium, I switched to an acrylic cover and the second one jumped trough the hole I used to pass the powerhead wires thru.

 

[snorvich]

Yes, I know about the jumping as I collect fairy wrasses. Thanks for the info and the structural requirements but unfortunately I cannot meet them despite having nearly enough sand.

 

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7765814#post7765814 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by snorvich
Yes, I know about the jumping as I collect fairy wrasses. Thanks for the info and the structural requirements but unfortunately I cannot meet them despite having nearly enough sand.

If your rock is placed on the tank bottom rather than on the sand you may still be OK

 

[snorvich]

All of my rock is on the tank bottom rather than on sand. What is the difference? I have heard such great things about blue spotted that I was hoping that I could add one in one of my tanks. Any information woud be appreciated. TIA

 

[lottie_pufferfi]

if i put a top on my tank , ( because it has nothing right now) and cant use egg crate( which i thuoght was good enuogh)..... then what do i use? i dont want to buy a ugly glass top. and what about all the gas exchange??? there wont be any and all the bad air will get stuck in between the water and tank top. what about a screen, but it would rust fast probaly and salt creep would clog it up and plus the light will not go thuogh it well even when clean. guess i just made screen out of the question, or is there somthen out there like this?

 

[lottie_pufferfi]

"will need a minimum of 4 inches of sand and must have your rock placed above a PVC rack or PVC poles of some sort (this is true of most diggers), They need to dig under the rock."
what is pvc rack?

 

[Pico Keeper]

If its on the sand, and the fish burrows under it, it will be SQUISHED. If its on the floor with sand around it, they'll be ok!

Blue-Dots are awesome, I think one would be a great addition to your aquarium. Just remember though, that of all the Jawfishes, the Blue Dot will not tolerate other jawfishes or small goby's in its territory, so be careful when adding other small fish as the blue-dot may chase it.

I've seen a bluedot chase and attack a mysteri wrasse for an entire week, until the wrasse got tired of taking the abuse and went on the counter-offensive and killed the bluedot 2 weeks later.

Yellow-heads (aka pearlys) are also very beautiful and offer great personality. They also allow you to keep other gobys in the tank.

 

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7766845#post7766845 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lottie_pufferfi
if i put a top on my tank , ( because it has nothing right now) and cant use egg crate( which i thuoght was good enuogh)..... then what do i use? i dont want to buy a ugly glass top. and what about all the gas exchange??? there wont be any and all the bad air will get stuck in between the water and tank top. what about a screen, but it would rust fast probaly and salt creep would clog it up and plus the light will not go thuogh it well even when clean. guess i just made screen out of the question, or is there somthen out there like this?

I use an acrylic top that covers the aquarium cut to the proper size. The gas exchange is done basically at the sump, refugium and or skimmer. I clean the cover once a week with fresh water and a towel.

 

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7766852#post7766852 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lottie_pufferfi
"will need a minimum of 4 inches of sand and must have your rock placed above a PVC rack or PVC poles of some sort (this is true of most diggers), They need to dig under the rock."
what is pvc rack?

It is a structure to support the rock above the bottom, distribute the weight, prevent sharp point loads on the glass or acrylic bottom and to reduce thearea of live rock covered by sand from dying. Instead of a Structure I use PVC couples (3 per rock) as stands then place the sand and use a powerhead to drive it under the rock. The sand completely covers the PVC poles. They are drilled to allow water movement and sand getting in and minimize stagnant pockets

 

[lottie_pufferfi]

i found a really great white plastic really thin netting, for gardens. but i now dont now how im going to make a frame for it.
i kind of makes sence, i need to do this pvc idea/project. but have no idea what to do.
my dad has tools, as he works construction.he said you did it with a hole saw and he has one. buttttttttttttttt... i need an explanation on how to do this pvc set-up? then i might be able to do it myself. my tank is 36 inches long and 12 inches wide, so what size pvc should i buy. {and we'v got a couple down in the arena for crapy jumps i could mabey use if there the size i need.}

 

[fishsoldseprtly]

bluespotted jawfish, very active and great character

 

[wwildcats04]

i have a bluespot jawfish andn I love him, right now he is sick but hes on the recovery so i think he'll be alright... anyway he is awesome loads of personality and just loves to watch whats going on in the tank and outside of it. I have al so had pearly jawfish and they also are way cool in the aspect that you can have a group of them and be alright. I have not tried to add a goby w/ the blue spot but I eventually am going to shoot for it I think... dont know for sure yet though. I hate yellow watchmen gobies because mine turned a grey color and got real ugly and real mean as it got older. thats just my experiences as of now

 

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7768395#post7768395 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lottie_pufferfi
i found a really great white plastic really thin netting, for gardens. but i now dont now how im going to make a frame for it.
i kind of makes sence, i need to do this pvc idea/project. but have no idea what to do.
my dad has tools, as he works construction.he said you did it with a hole saw and he has one. buttttttttttttttt... i need an explanation on how to do this pvc set-up? then i might be able to do it myself. my tank is 36 inches long and 12 inches wide, so what size pvc should i buy. {and we'v got a couple down in the arena for crapy jumps i could mabey use if there the size i need.}

If your tank is already setup and cycled with rock and sand I do not think you want to remove it all and start all over. If you still do not have fish or corals then you can just push the sand aside and try setting the rock as close to the bottom as you can , the reason I ask about fish or corals is that by messing iwth the sand and the rock you may start another minicycle.

Now if this is a new setup and you can take everything out,
The PVC I use is 11/4" or 11/2" PVC Couples (The ones you use to join two stright pipes together) then I use a hole saw to cut the side holes. I install three under each rcok at the points where the rock is to be touching a flat surface (Note that all rocks will only touch a flat surface in three points) be careful the rock does not fall while you are setting it up or you may brake the bottom.
Once all the bottom rock is set on poles you add the sand before putting all the other rock on top, this will give the rock more stability. To add the sand fill the tank half full with water, rinse the sand to remove most of the fine and muddy fines which will mess up the water. Fill the wet sand in 1 gal plastic bags then while closing the top of the bag with one hand put the bag in the aquarium down to the bottom then slowly turn the bag around and let the sand slowly powr out of the bag, this way you will not mess the water and be able to see what you are doing.
Keep adding bags until al the sand is in.
Use a powerhead to blow the sand under the rock, do not worry too much to fully fill it as it will level in by itself over time and besides your fish will dig it out anyhow.
After this is done you can set up the rest of the rock on top.

 

[lottie_pufferfi]

i already have corals going in my tank, but i fool around and move stuff enuogh, lol , plus there all frags. what a pain to redo to rock work thuogh. my rocks are touching the bottom pane thuogh the sand, but i amm worryed about the glass breaken thuogh. i have like 300 dollors worth of rock, (dont remember the lbs only the $$ mark it made on me)
what to do. what to dooooooooo....... im concerend about the stabalility of the rock and trying to find a good "stay there" position.
and how long (or short i should say) should i cut each pvc piping?

 

[lottie_pufferfi]

wow i really should have reread that last message for errrs, sorry if its hard to read.

 

[jdieck]

Don't worry about the writing, I didn't notice!