Lawnmower Blenny

[six.line]

So my brother in law bought a lawnmower blenny-- they are hilarious to watch and keep his sand pretty clean. The big downside is that it stirs up a lot of fine sand and covers the rock with a layer of brown sand. It really is ugly.

Is this what they all do?

Tank in question:

55 gallon with 30 gallon sump, ViaAqua entry level (not sure on the model) Skimmer, two overflows in the corner, 2x 175W MH lighting, SSB that's a mix of argonite and play sand, 65lbs live rock.

Cleanup crew consists of 2 mexican turbo snails and 10 some odd hermit crabs. If he had more of a cleanup crew would this take care of the problem?

 

[six.line]

bump

 

[Blown 346]

Re you sure it is a lawnmower blenny? They eat algae off the glas and rockwork. He might have a sand sifting goby.
Yes they pick up sand and spit it all over the place.

 

[Swanwillow]

anyways-ditch the hermits, invest in more snails... oh, 10 nassirus snails (can't spell today) and 3 more turbos would be a nice investment... the nass snails will clean the sand/substrate, and more turbos for the rock.

 

[angelsj247]

what does it mean when people reply, Bump?

 

[RLMainers]

They're moving their post up to the beginning again to keep people's attention on it.

 

[six.line]

I put 'bump' in there because I had not yet received the answer, and so I 'bumped' the thread back up to the top.

Re you sure it is a lawnmower blenny? They eat algae off the glas and rockwork. He might have a sand sifting goby.
Yes they pick up sand and spit it all over the place.

Come to think of it, no, I'm not sure. But my question remains-- would a better cleanup crew get rid of the dust or is that a part of the package of a sand sifting goby?

Swanwillow:

I'm trying to convince him to go with 5 total turbos, 7 and 7 of astreas and ceriths, and 15 some odd nassarius snails... I don't know why he doesn't have more of a diverse crew.

 

[davidhughes85]

I had teh same problem last week and my sand sifting goby made it where my tank would always have a slight haze to it..youll notice your water will be clearer in the mornings before hes been active than at night when you go to bed. i had to get rid of mine and after doing so my waters inproved a lot..there great to watch but not worth the look of my tank

 

[six.line]

Thanks, Dave. I was wondering if the fish would ever slow down. How long did you have yours?

 

[sttroyiii]

Mine never stirred up the sand. He was usually in the rocks hunting for hair algae. Once the HA was gone, he died. There was still algae, but I guess they can only pick off the hair type. If I had realized this, I would have grabbed some nori sheets.

 

[Swanwillow]

ya know, what do the sand-sifters eat? just microstuff, or will they eat prepared foods?

 

[Blown 346]

Sand sifter gobies will eat what your fish do, but theremain diet consists of worms, pods.

 

[davidhughes85]

I had mine for two weeks, sttroylli probably has the larger particle sand where the clouding is not a problem....I think you probably have fine grain sand like me and if you do yes he will keep clouding your water... Hes not going to stop taking the mouthfuls of sand and blowing it out cause thats how he eats and everytime he makes a nest it clouds ALOT

 

[sttroyiii]

Youre right, I have half Aragonite (?) Fiji Pink live sand, and half playsand. Still, I never saw the LMB go after the substrate at all. I only had him about 3 weeks.