sand-sifting gobies bad???

tripleup05

tripleup05

Member
I was just at the LFS and I was askin about a good goby to keep the sand stirred (which i've heard is a good idea for DSB), and he said they will desimate the organisms in the sand bed including the good ones. Is there any truth to this? If he's right, how do I go about keepin the sand stirred and clean without harming the good organisms?
 
petergorde

petergorde

Member
i'm no expert, but as far as i know they sift the sand looking for micro orginisms to eat. this will lower the ammount of critters you have in the sand bed, but not that much. many people have gobies as their sand sifters. another drawback to gobies is that they will creat mountians in your tank and cover any sand dewllign corals, like open brain corals, with sand. my buddy just had to get rid of his for that reason and he hated the mountians. they are not bad but you have to be willing to deal with alot if you want to have them.
 
tripleup05

tripleup05

Member
I thought alot of people had them, thats why i was confused. Difference of opinion I guess. I like the little guys and dont mind knockin down the dunes every now and then, so i think i'll go with one. Does anybody know of a particular species that is good? ah and I dont have to worry about the corals because i'll be FOWLR for awhile
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Your LFS gave you good advice (it hurt to say that).
Sand in a Live DSB does not need to be stirred.
 
maeistero

maeistero

Active Member
my sandbed is 1-2" deep depending where you look. i've about a 6" sandsifter (my lfs told me it's a goby species) it looks like a mini eel, black w/orange stripes. it lives under one 10" diameter piece of lr and never leaves. it has about 4 holes that it will go about 2" out of to get food. never bothers anything fishwise. i love it b/c it seems like a mini reefsafe eel. just make sure all of your lr is grounded or it will dig out the sand underneath and kill itself. it doesn't bother my nassarius snails or my mini crabs. i've yet to identify it as i've only had it about 3 weeks. :notsure:
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator

Originally posted by maeistero
i've yet to identify it as i've only had it about 3 weeks. :notsure:
It's a Engineer Goby. They move the sand around but they don't really sift it.
 
maeistero

maeistero

Active Member
i've the same goby. it's pretty cool, b/c when you move it's initial mountains (hills?) it doesn't leave the rock. never bothers anything, my snails creep up on all it's holes so it just goes and digs another way out. i've seen it come about 4 inches out max to get flake food.
 
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