sand question

[sassyfrassy]

Originally I had a 4" partition front to back, sectioning off 1/3 of floor where sand is 3 1/2" - 4". The other 2/3 of floor was 2 1/2" - 3". I read you shouldn't disturb sand, but I now have a diamond watchman goby who is continually re-arranging the sand. Some places are now down to bottom, while he seems intent on burying the barnacles so that area is probably 5-6" deep - needless to say the sand is disturbed on a regular basis except for the deeper end where sand is 4". But I'm not seeing any real problems. Had a small rise in phos. & nitrate a few times but it quickly stabilized. So is his constant digging something I don't need to be concerned about?

Another question: Between the watchman & the 6-line wrasse will the pods & co-pods, etc. be too depleted for me to also be able to maintain a mandarin goby?

Thanks

 

[jer77]

So your asking if your goby disturbing your dsb will be bad? Well if it regularly does as you describe, the dsb's nitrate lowering ability will be compromised. That's what large goby's do though so there isn't much you can do. And they do eat anything like copepods in the sand, including a lot of the other microlife that helps to reduce nutrient levels. I would try not to look forwards towards a mandarin goby even without the diamond, they are very demanding creatures.

 

[crvz]

I believe it's more of a bad practice to disturb a sandbed that has been left alone for months at a time. If your fish is continually mixing it up, you're less likely to have issues from it doing so.