Watchman Goby

[ReefRiverine]

Was thinking about getting a watchman goby to clean my sand bed. How are they in the reef aquarium? good? bad?

 

[Clink51]

the watchman wont clean your sand. they like to hide most of the time. Maybe a sand sifter goby or a clown goby will fair better

 

[Mano29]

They good and bad I love them they keep ur sand white but u tank would be Cloudy and they love jumping out da tank

 

[ReefRiverine]

ok so i read up more on the diamond goby and they seem to clean the sand but they might knock over coral sand dig out under my live rock. anybody have a conch and how are they cleaning the sand?

 

[theMeat]

Have 2 yellow head gobies. They do great job of cleaning the sand. Can't say they've caused any damage other than sometimes having to push around the piles of sand they make. They also stay at the bottom so can't see them jumping out. But guess if there's a fish torturing them it's possible. When i first pit them in about 6mos ago they would make the water cloudy. Now not so much. Guess the fine floating particles got filtered out.

 

[ReefRiverine]

the yellow head gobies seem pretty neat. i have a lid on my tank so im not worried about jumping at all. maybe ill try those out.

 

[bonomo53]

What size is your tank? Yellow heads need a large established sand bed. They will also make your tank very cloudy since they constantly sift. I have two conchs in my 93 cube that keep the sand very clean they are definitely the way to go.

 

[ReefRiverine]

I have a 29 gallon biocube. what kind of conch do you have? I was thinking about a fighting conch if I dont get a gobi. now im deff leaning towards the conch.

 

[bonomo53]

I have a 29 gallon biocube. what kind of conch do you have? I was thinking about a fighting conch if I dont get a gobi. now im deff leaning towards the conch.

I have a Florida Fighting Conch. They always stay on the sand bed and do a great job cleaning.

 

[Z06-Hec]

I had a golden head sleeper gobie...
Most amazing worker i have ever seen, literally all day scooping sand and sifting it through his gills.
ALL DAY LONG..
Only problem with that was any corals on the sand bed get covered. Some clear them selves off others cannot.
But literally all day long until my Hippo chased him out of the tank.
My 4 conch have nothing on this guy!

 

[Jackooze]

Mine never cleans the sand.

 

[theMeat]

Mine never cleans the sand.

Your what?

 

[Jackooze]

Your what?

Lol sorry. Yellow Watchman Goby

 

[theMeat]

yeah, ime yellow head, or diamond watchman are the best sand sifters.

 

[Z06-Hec]

forgot to add, my Yellow Watchman does absolutely nothing!!!
I thought he was dead one time because i didnt see him for months, then poof popped out...
I never even see him eat.. always in his corner and at night when my massive bristle worms come out they surround him and he doesn't care...

 

[bkstang]

I have diamond goby and it is the most entertaining fish in the tank. Getting ready to sleep is the best part!

 

[ourcoralreef]

What is your goal what are you trying to clean
Sand needs to be cleaned with a siphoning tube
If its detritus your looking to get rid of then gobies do not eat detritus they sift the sand for micro organisms and eat them this can cause havoc on your system if your tank isn't established or has enough micro organisms for the system to run well
If left over food is a problem i would recommend snails and shrimp
Your tank is to small for a star or a cucumber but big established tanks i would recommend stars and cucumbers

I know manual labor sucks but it has to be done otherwise you will get high nitrates
I have two yellow watchman gobies (with blue dots) and they do nothing to clean the do filter some sand nice to watch but thats about it

 

[ReefRiverine]

yeah im just trying to get the detritus out. my sand bed has brown all over ,t. and my snails and hermits do nothing, my fire shrimp just stays on the rock work. I just need somthing to move the sand so it doesnt get all clumpy when i do siphon it.

 

[theMeat]

Get some better flow down low to keep it in the water column, and it will get filtered and skimmed out.

 

[ourcoralreef]

Get some better flow down low to keep it in the water column, and it will get filtered and skimmed out.

+1 yes you dont have to point a fan or return dirrectly at the sand just enugh to not let anything settle

Are you sure the brown is detritus and not algae look up some reference photos on google

How new is your tank

How often do you do maintenance sand water etc