What type of goby

[hessfish]

Hi all I want a goby that will clean my tank but doesn't need corals or anything special to live because I have a fairly new tank. What do people recodmend? I have 29 display and 10g sump.

 

[wfournier]

Mandarins are not gobies and not good for new tanks, especially a 29g tank...

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

When you say you want a goby to clean your tank, what specifically do you want it to do? Sift the sand bed?

 

[aleonn]

My understanding is that gobies require an established sand bed from which to feed upon. Since your setup is still new, there hasn't been enough time for pods and other sand-dwelling organisms to establish themselves yet. Of course, you can always target feed, but I just wanted to bring that point up .

 

[hessfish]

My understanding is that gobies require an established sand bed from which to feed upon. Since your setup is still new, there hasn't been enough time for pods and other sand-dwelling organisms to establish themselves yet. Of course, you can always target feed, but I just wanted to bring that point up .

Ahh thanks! See that's what I love about his forum I can research for hours and find maybe it's hard to target feed but here I get that right away.
Well my tank is nearing 4 months and I just had a HUGE diatom bloom so the sand is brown where it was white. Also I'm thinking of ordering 10lbs garf grunge.
I am focusing on sifting. I'm torn between diamond and golden head sleeper.
Any opinions on that?

 

[reefsic]

I'd do either of the two (diamond or golden-headed)! A buddy of mine has a diamond and his substrate is gleaming clean!!!

GL

 

[aleonn]

Diamond gobies tend to sift the entire tank, and require a minimum of 50 gallons to work their magic. I don't know much about the golden head sleeper though, but that info should be on live aquaria

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

The only problem with those fish in a smaller tank like yours is, they eat the microfauna that lives in the sand bed while they are sifting. That's why they require much larger tanks. I'd suggest going with a fighting conch, along with some tongan nassarius snails to keep the sand sifted. Another option is a tiger pistol shrimp with one of the symbiotic gobies like the yellow watchman. I have a tiger pistol in my 30g and he is a bulldozer - sifting and shifting my sand bed around on a nightly basis.

 

[Korrine]

Adrienne,

Your tiger pistol ventures far from the burrow? I had a candy cane pistol that would only emerge about 2 or 3" from it's burrow. I know tiger's get larger though. Have any pics?

 

[hessfish]

okay so diamond and gold head are ruled out (tank size).
all i really want is a animal that will clean is kind of hearty as well so if there is a swing they wont stress out too much.
ill look into couch but they are inverts and i havn't had the best of luck with them even though my perameters are all in the good range.

 

[Korrine]

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marscavart.htm

 

[Korrine]

Have you looked into Nassarius snails?