Sand sifting Gobies

derricksoldit

New member
Hello ladies and Gents,
I was wondering if anyone had an opinion on Sand sifting gobies? Is all that sand sifting bad for the tank??
 
I have a Diamond Goby and like that he keeps the sand clean. I have one in a 110 gallon and he is constantly cleaning the sand.
 
My goby has helped cut down on algae on my sand. However, it has a bad habit of gulping up sand, and swimming over my leather coral and spitting the sand onto the coral.
 
I can not think of any harm the goby has caused to water quality or the sand. I still a zillion pods. I would say he is a benefit for keeping the sand clean. Before I had him my sand often had dirty or algae spots, now it is always clean looking.
 
The main problem is that they can keep the sand clean of everything, including pods. If you have no ambitions for mandarin dragonettes or scooters, you're fine...uh,---well, one other detail: they can shift your rockwork if you have anything precarious. I made my own tank ready for them by putting down eggcrate under the sand and rock, but I love mandarins, so there we are: no diamonds. My yellow watchman does a moderate amount of sand-sifting, but he's far from efficient. Some others have named the court jester goby as a sandsifter, but since he's only about an inch or two long, he's not every effective. Diamond gobies, on the other hand, are major redecorators. Nothing escapes them.
 
I was asking about setting up a proper DSB for nitrate removal and was told one of these is ok but not ideal. 2 will ruin a dsb.
 
I have a barred bullet goby and a golden headed sleeper goby, they do an awesome job of cleaning but boy would I like to skew them as they put sand on everything at times...
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7643650#post7643650 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MJAnderson
I was asking about setting up a proper DSB for nitrate removal and was told one of these is ok but not ideal. 2 will ruin a dsb.
 
I don't know how they'd ruin a sand bed. Or deplete a rock-filled tank of pods, for that matter. Mine NEVER went into the rocks, just in the sand, while my mandarin stayed in the rocks always. Also, he just gulped sand from the top layer, I never saw him burrow down inches deep or anything. That said, I didn't have him too long as he fell victim to my marine velvet attack, so who knows what he would have done eventually.

jds
 
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