Sand sifting goby not sand sifting

[dzhuo]

I bought a diamond watchman goby on Wednesday night to help stir the sand a little. So far, the goby been mostly hiding in its cave majority of the time. For the handful of times I saw him out, he has sifted only a little bit; very different from all I have been from other people's tank where this particular goby is sifting pretty much non-stop. The goby still looks very healthy and I have not seen any other fish being aggressive toward him at all but he doesn't come out, eat or sift sand.

Anyone think it's because he's new and still adjusting? Is this normal? Should I be concern?

 

[SushiGirl]

I would guess he's still nervous, it's only been a few days. Do you still have the fish in your avatar in your tank?

 

[dzhuo]

No. The goby in my avatar is from my 10g which had been took down a long time ago. My new tank is 150g and the diamond is the only goby there. Have you had a diamond goby before and experience similar?

 

[SushiGirl]

I had one before, but in a smaller tank. There were only a couple smaller fish in the tank when I put him in, so he was the biggest in the tank. He didn't sift right off, and he didn't sift all the time, but when he did, he went to town LOL.

 

[Waco Pilot]

We had a Tiger Goby that was the largest fish in the tank (75g - 3 other non-aggressive fish) that started out sifting sand but spent most of his time hiding and only came out when no one was near the tank. Have not seen him in about a week....after we found him in the refugium! He made it all the way through the system into the sump! Now he has totally disappeared and we fear him D-E-A-D. We now have a Randall's Goby that we have had for about 3 weeks with a Tiger Pistol Shrimp. Both doing well and eating and reside under a huge rock in the front of the tank. They are a hoot to watch!

 

[SushiGirl]

Mine actually spent a lot of time watching me sitting next to the tank LOL. I have tons of pics of him looking at me.

 

[Waco Pilot]

Had to laugh as we have a bunch of photos of ours as well...with and without the shrimp. They seal their burrow every night as soon as the moonlight LED's kick on and don't open for business until the next morning. And...they make new entrances about every other day.

 

[dzhuo]

I used to have a pistol shrimp and goby pair (avatar) in my 10g which I love. I will wait to see if my diamond sand sifter become more active. I am just worrying that if he doesn't sift or come out to eat, he might starve.

 

[Toddrtrex]

I used to have one -- and if memory serves it took it a couple of day to feel comfortable and be out and about. After that it was out all the time, sifting the sand. That lasted for about a year, and even though it was eating prepared foods it slowly starved to death.

 

[dzhuo]

How big is your tank when you have it with you?

 

[Johnwayne]

mine destroyed my tank kicking sand everywhere constantly.

 

[Johnwayne]

it took a whole tear down to catch him too.

 

[small alien]

I will just add that a sand sifting goby is often a poor choice as a remedy for a funky sand bed. And they often starve. Good luck.

 

[small alien]

I'd try a tiger tail cucumber instead.

 

[Toddrtrex]

How big is your tank when you have it with you?

75 gallon. And I had one other that died the same way -- one fish that I don't plan on purchasing again.

 

[skidoll]

I have a diamond goby, and it took him about a week to finally get comfortable. Now, he owns property under every rock and has piles up to 6 inches high. Give him a little time. Are you feeding mysis? My goby will rush out of his burrow for tasty mysis.

 

[dzhuo]

75 gallon. And I had one other that died the same way -- one fish that I don't plan on purchasing again.

That's pretty disheartening to heard. My tank is a little bigger (4'x3') so hopefully he will do better. Definitely somewhat concern after your experience.

 

[Toddrtrex]

That's pretty disheartening to heard. My tank is a little bigger (4'x3') so hopefully he will do better. Definitely somewhat concern after your experience.

I really hope what happened to me (( and a few other experienced reefers )) doesn't end up happening for you.

 

[SushiGirl]

Interesting, I've had 2 of them & neither of them starved, both were fat as could be. They really enjoyed prime reef frozen the most, along with frozen bloodworms and whatever else I put in the tank that hit the bottom. I always made sure plenty hit the bottom, they were always the biggest fish in the tank, and I never kept aggressive fish. Both died in separate tank crash incidents that killed everything in my tanks.

 

[dzhuo]

The goby came out a little more tonight. I am actually surprise that he swims all the way to the center of the tank and sift there for 5 minutes. He still looks healthy and active but definitely looks a little skinny (same as I saw him in the LFS). So far, I only saw him grab one piece of food (I fed Rob's food tonight) and ignore the rest.

Finger cross.