What kind of fish live inside the sand bed?

[Tanabe750]

I was vacuuming my sand today and I noticed I have some fish living in it. Could anyone list the names of fishes that live in the sand, so i can compare? And are they good or bad for a reef aquarium?

I only got to see an inch of the tail end. It's thin, black and has the body of a tube fish.

 

[Stevenliu9]

lol Do you not remember what you put into your tank? many wrasses like to "sleep" in sand. Can you can tell it's a wrasse if you see slim around the fish- they build a slime cocoon to hide their scent from predators. Also could be certain gobies digging tunnel. Gobies for the most are are reef safe. Wrasse on the other hand can be a hit or miss depends on the species.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Sand burying wrasses do not build a mucus cocoon, rather the wrasses that sleep in the rocks produce the cocoon. Sand burying wrasse Genera include Halichoeres, Macropharyngodon, Pseudocoris, Pseudojuloides, Coris, Xyrichthys, Novaculichthys and Xenojulis.

Other sand burying fish are wormfish, firefish, dartfish, any goby that has a sandy pattern on their back, shrimp gobies, pike blennies, crocodilefish, soles, flounders, some puffers.

 

[Betta132]

Are you sure it's fish and not strange worms?

 

[Tanabe750]

I'm guessing it's a fish, because of the way he moved his tail left and right to dig himself back in. It moved a lot like a tadpole tail.

I'm only knowledgeable in bristle worms and they usually sink into the sand.

It does look a lot like a wormfish. But, it doesn't have any pattern. It's solid black.

Thanks for the help. I freaked out when i saw it..lol. After my aptasia problem, I'm scared of hitch hikers.

 

[Betta132]

Please do your best to catch it, I gotta see this!
Wiggly tail could still be a worm, but that does kind of sound like a fish... I suppose it's possible that you have a hitch-hiker worm fish.

 

[eatbreakfast]

An engineer goby is pretty dark and is capable of digging like that.

 

[the808state]

what do you have in your tank?? that will narrow it down!

Leopards, halichoeres, coris, thalasomma sp are the main sand burrowers.