Sand sifting gobies. good or bad?

[todd22]

?

 

[Mouse]

I have heard that blue cheek gobys tend to bomb corals with sand, and that the engineer gobys dont. Not certain to their affects on DSB life though, pods etc.

 

[phoenix1]

I think they are very helpful esp in keeping the sand free of detritus. Bullet gobies are the best for doing this - I had one in a 110 and that was all that was needed. Downside is they will coat any corals close to the substrate with the sand.

 

[Anonymous]

Fun to watch, keep the sandbed nice and white, but also deplete the sandbed of critters and coat corals with sand (some quite a few inches above the bottom, I might add)...

Peace,

Chip

 

[todd22]

So I suppose my next question is what is more efficient in a 1 1/2 inch sand bed, the sifting goby or the little guys that he eats?

 

[dattack]

Are there any gobies that don't eat all the copepods and amphipods and would rather have some prepared food instead?

 

[danmhippo]

Why would it bother to sift sand for you if all he eats is flakes & other prepared foods?

Sand stirrer = sand fauna killer

 

[DEADFISH1]

try a Yellow Headed Jawfish, they just move sand to create their little homes, they don't eat on isopods that I've ever seen anyway, but they can stir up some sand.
http://www.divestvincent.com/RobinBurr/27.html

 

[Mabu]

I had a pearly jawfish that tore up my tank. He would dig homes under the live rock and weaken the structure. He also was a monster PIG as far as eating - he would take food away from everything else in the tank - I had to put food in at the other end of the tank.

He's very entertaining though. I found a way to deal with him - I got a ceramic "hidey-hole" from the LFS and buried it in the sand and flushed out of every other place until he took up residence in the artificial cave. Now things are better.

 

[THillson]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by danmhippo:
<STRONG>Sand stirrer = sand fauna killer</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That about says it all.

It's hard to say how much of a benefit a 1 ½" sand bed will do. You won't have the deep anaerobic layer to complete the de-nitrification cycle. It will help, you'll see gas bubbles develop, but it won't be as efficient as a 5-8" DSB. FWIW, I'd go with the gobie (I have two in my tank, DSB is in the sump), my favorite is the tiger stripe watchman. He'll pick a section of the tank to be his home and not disturb the whole sand bed.