Help with Diamond Goby

[symphony]

I bought a Diamond Goby "Digger" almost 2 weeks ago. first week he was out digging several burrows and sifting sand several hours a day and then would hide. Digger then went missing for six days thougt he was dead, looked for him all over at different points in the day/night to no avail. Today saw the sand flying up and here comes Digger up from under the rock in the center of the tank for a brief apperance and back down again. Is he depressed for some reason, he was eating fine, sifting sand and I bought him mysis shrimp treats. He is a very pretty little guy and it's cool the way the sand falls from his gills, I would like to see more of him. any suggestions?

 

[t316]

You will, just give him time. Right now he's finding plenty to eat/sift under the rocks but once he's got that stirred to a sandstorm, he will be out doing it to the rest of the tank. I have a love/hate relationship with mine, due to their messiness

 

[symphony]

Thanks, he does kind of make a mess but he is funny to watch.

 

[t316]

They are awesome fish, and really do a great job of keeping the brown off the sand, but they have a knack for keeping the water all cloudy, disrupting rock work, and even covering up any low lying corals. Mine even "relocates" snails if they get near one of his caves. He will grab them by the antenna and go drop them somewhere else in the tank...

 

[symphony]

he is currently rooming with a serpent star, guess I won't be so up - tight about him, I just lost a fire shrimp I bought the same day as the goby, then the goby went missing so I feared the worst. I have seen him the last two evenings, but he is not nearly as social as he was the first week.

 

[vince-1961]

I use a giant hermit crab to sift the brown crud off my sand.
Can you say "bulldozer"?

 

[symphony]

I was going to buy some tiny blue hermits but the guy at the lfs says they kill more stuff than they are worth putting in the tank so I never got any. I have a variety of snails, one serpent star, one brittle star, two lettuce nudibranch, and two porcelain crabs. oh yeah and one cleaner shrimp.