Sand sifting creatures

[Allmost]

Hello all,
can you guys help me make a list of creatures that can help us clean the sand bed, stir it, eat detritus and left over food and so on ?

1. Sand sifting star.
2. serpent starfish.
3. snails ?

list your fav. sand animals.

 

[thebkramer]

My Buddies/Tenants

Diamond Watchman Goby .. awesome lil guy!! gets the job done!!! and also eat reg food too!
Tiger Sand Conch
Nassarius Snails

the Tiger Tail Sea Cucumber would have to be one of my absolute favs!! but he ran out of food quickly in my tank :sad1: so I had to pass him on to another reefer.

Fighting Conch is another good guy.. but I'm afraid that there is too much competition for food with what I already have.

My least fav.. the SS Star!!! they eat all the good stuff.. then bury themselves and starve to death smh

 

[mayjong]

none-
in my mind, the most common "sand sifters" , stars, gobies, snails- eat too much, and will deplete the sand of all beneficial organisms.
just my .02

 

[thegrun]

Nassarius snails!!!

 

[downbeach]

It depends on your sand bed, if you keep a DSB, and want to keep it "alive", you shouldn't use any type of sand sifting animal that preys on the infauna.

Here's a good article on Gobies (Valenciennea species):

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-09/hcs3/index.php

I would get a couple of Conch's.

 

[cloak]

I think you would be better off just stirring the sandbed up with your finger on occasion right before a water change. I do this to the SSB in my 20 gallon tank about once a month or so and have had great results. I do have a couple of the larger Tongan nassarius snails in the tank, but they can only do so much really. Solving a detritus/leftover food issue with something that needs to be fed and will poop is not really the way to go IMO.

 

[Allmost]

thank you every one for the replies so far.

I should have stated the question differently ....
lets say .... just looking for list of creatures that live in sand

keep them coming

 

[tracyclifton]

Is it for the 200g? If so, I recommend the ss star. I have one in my 180g and it seems perfectly happy and I don't think it has done any damage. I can see how they wouldn't be good for a smaller tank. Also, the fighting conch is great. I have one in the 180g and one in the nano.

 

[borderreef]

I have three cucumbers in my tank. They have a very primitive digestive system. They pull the ditritus filled sand in one end, and it moves through to the other end and comes out nice and clean. From the reading I've done on them, they do little to no harm to the fauna you want to keep in the sand. They are doing a pretty good job. I would not recommend a sand sifting star. They eat everything, including the pods and other beneficials you want to maintain. And once they've depleted their food sources, which they do rather quickly, they starve to death. Nassarius will come out and feed on the ditritus on the surface before it has a chance to decompose and get into the sandbed. Blueleg hermits are also good for that.

 

[aleggett321]

My favorites...nassarius snail and a yellow diamond goby. The goby keeps the sand pristine and has such a personality, comes up to the glass and stares back at me. Cutest fish in my 150

 

[cakemanPA]

Fighting Conchs

 

[Junktown]

I like the diamond goby.