What sand sifting goby would you recommend?

[DrHank]

I've not had much luck with orangespot diamond gobys, nor has my friend. They seem to like to carpet surf. I've got a dragon goby but he seems to stay in one place and is basically lazy. Who's using what and how is it working?

 

[rdz1]

if you have a reef tank i would not go with a sand sifting goby because they put sand on your corals and you will be cleaning them off all the time. I took mine back to the store after a week. I have some sand sifting cucumbers that work great.

 

[Dentoid]

Blue Spot Jawfish! Technically not a goby, but who cares! They will not only sift your sand but rearrange it periodically.

 

[CREEPIN]

im a total noob, whats carpet surfing??

sorry for the noobish question..but we all gotta start some were right? lol

Thanks guys !

 

[rlcline76]

It's when your fish jumps ship and hits the floor.

My suggestion, although not a sand sifter on a wide scale...yellow watchman.

 

[BarbMazz]

Those Yellow Watchman's are neat looking, but there ARE some BSJF available over in Diver's Den Doc!

 

[Varga]

your orange spotted goby jomped out of a 210g tank????!!!! I thought they only jump when they want more room to play

 

[jnohs]

I had a white sand sifting goby. He made short work of the red alge on the floor witch was a problem at the time. Also he ate all the pods in the tank. I mean a ton of pods. I would say someone woul need at least a 55 gallon tank and a large area that he can not get to. They do not stop sifting ever. They are very efficent, but what ever it eats it will eat all of it. I mean all of it. I would like to try an other one after i set up my 55. But i must say that i do not even think my 55 will be large enough and I also want a manderin goby. I know the sand goby will out eat the manderian 1000 to 1. The two of them together is probably not a good idea. manderin gobys are slow eaters. Because of that they r also hard to keep.

That reminds me if you have a ton of pods and a large tank and pretty stable water pramaters. A manderian goby I think is one of the coolest fish. that or a phsyicadeliac goby very similar. i now now that this fish should not be bought unless the tank is a least 6-8 months old.

 

[DrHank]

Thanks folks. I'll take that as an I don't know.

 

[corrado007]

My wife had an orangespot diamond goby in her tank and it went carpet surfing as well after doing a superb job sifting all the sand . I've got a yellow watchman in my 90 and he just occasionally sifts a bit of sand here and there but he's still small, perhaps too small to get the argonite easily through his gills. Still, he has great personality and coloration and if you don't mind the construction, which I do, you could always put in a pistol shrimp with him and that would be fun to watch.

 

[rlcline76]

Yeah, the pistol shrimp will pick up the slack bulldozing all day. I have 2.

 

[nikkipigtails]

Our Golden head sleeper was awesome. He never swam past the middle half of the tank. He spent his time in the rocks or sifting.

 

[prow]

sleeper banded goby (Amblygobius phalaena) is best, IMO. these guys are real work horses and just one will take care of your 210 they dont create big pile like other sleepers, some piles but nothing like goldenheads or anything. they dont spread the sand all over the rock like others aswell, they still do a little but nothing in comparison. at least that has been my experience with them. they are always crusing around sifting staying on the bottoms but not zipping like you see some of the others donig all the time.