Yellow Watchman

[wieselspor]

I thought yellow watchman gobies were sand sifting gobies but i was reading on another site and they dont include them. Will they turn the sand sufficently in my 40 gal. If anyone has a better fish i'd like to hear it. Thanks

 

[airforceb2]

If you want sand movement, get an engineer goby. Just be warned that they will topple over any unstrudy rock work.

 

[jdragunas]

watchman gobies don't really sift the sand, they burrow a hole, and live in the same spot. You could get some nassarius snails, or maybe a queen conch - they won't really be a problem with toppling rock. They're very good at sifting sand. There are also some starfish that'll do it too, but i'm not sure which ones...

 

[kdfrosty]

My YWG has a cave. He doesnt sift sand, and he doesnt have a burrow. He's also not paired with a pistol shirmp, so that may be the reason for lack of a burrow. If you're looking for a sand sifting goby, go with the diamond goby or engineer goby as previously mentioned. Those guys will most likely create a mess though. It all depends on what you're looking for.
My hermits, nassarius snails, and conch are always working on the sand though. I would not recommend a sand sifting star as they eventually starve from depleting the sandbed. Stick with snails and hermits IMO.

 

[jdragunas]

Yeah, my YWG has a burrow/cave. He burrowed the sand under a piece of LR, so the top half is LR, and the bottom is sand... they're definately not sandsifters, though

 

[wieselspor]

Would anyone reccommend that I need a sand sifter in my FOLR 40g

 

[wieselspor]

I have 7 hermit crabs 2 1" snails and a buble bee snail. Do i need more???

 

[littleliza]

engineer gobies get pretty big-I have one and he's about a foot long now (I got him at about 2 inches and the lfs told me they get 'a little bit bigger'). Diamond sifters do a great job of stirring up the sand bed. Yellow watchman gobies don't dig, but if you pair them with a pistol shrimp the shrimp will and the ywg will live in the burrow with them.

 

[wieselspor]

are the pistol shrimp easy to keep?

 

[jdragunas]

My YWG dug...even the pistol shrimp won't "sift" the sand, though. they just burrow a hole, and live in that same hole - but they're very cool to have.

If you're worried about the sand, I would recommend getting a few sand sifting snails so you don't get nitrate pockets, as those can pose a problem in the future.

 

[kdfrosty]

Yeah, sand sifting snails are great. I keep about 25 Nassarius snails in my 50g.

 

[wieselspor]

Alright i've ordered 20. I think i'll go ahead and get the YWMG and look for a pistol shrimp.
Thanks

 

[realnew]

If you really want to keep your sandbed messed up, get a maroon clown. I have one that continuously stirs my sandbed.

 

[littleliza]

I've found my pistol shrimp to be very low maintence.