How reef safe are diamond gobies?

[cdw79]

My 180 gal is about 6 months old and is seemingly finally getting established / escaping the uglies. Problem is my sand bed is a bit of a disaster. Constantly got this brownish-greenish tint to it, irrespective of high or low flow areas. Unfortunately my sand sifting star and conch have made no noticeable impact.



Been told to take a look at a diamond goby. I've been in the hobby for a long time and had always been under the impression that these were hard to keep long term. Irrespective of that, I worry about how reef safe they actually are. I have fungia, acans, Wilsoni, and other LPS that are on or toward the bottom of the tank.

For those that have kept them, how often have they caused a problem with low-lying corals? Worth a shot, or would something else be a better idea? I absolutely hate the look of this sand bed right now and am willing to try just about anything as long as it won't harm my coral.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

My 180 gal is about 6 months old and is seemingly finally getting established / escaping the uglies. Problem is my sand bed is a bit of a disaster. Constantly got this brownish-greenish tint to it, irrespective of high or low flow areas. Unfortunately my sand sifting star and conch have made no noticeable impact.



Been told to take a look at a diamond goby. I've been in the hobby for a long time and had always been under the impression that these were hard to keep long term. Irrespective of that, I worry about how reef safe they actually are. I have fungia, acans, Wilsoni, and other LPS that are on or toward the bottom of the tank.

For those that have kept them, how often have they caused a problem with low-lying corals? Worth a shot, or would something else be a better idea? I absolutely hate the look of this sand bed right now and am willing to try just about anything as long as it won't harm my coral.

I have one, and he is awesome! Moves a ton of sand, but only near his chosen burrow. I have several corals, but none are on the sand, so I can not speak about that. Do you have a CUC? If so, what? Nassarius snails are also quite good at sand movement.

 

[Freenow54]

I have one, and he is awesome! Moves a ton of sand, but only near his chosen burrow. I have several corals, but none are on the sand, so I can not speak about that. Do you have a CUC? If so, what? Nassarius snails are also quite good at sand movement.

That being said how about multiples of them and what spacing. I have read they are real mess makers. I want to get one at least now wondering about a couple more. Thouhts?

 

[Sophie"s mom]

That being said how about multiples of them and what spacing. I have read they are real mess makers. I want to get one at least now wondering about a couple more. Thouhts?

If you get multiples, I would get them all at the same time, as they can be very territorial. Mine is all over the tank, but his sand moving stays very local to his burrow, an area of about 6" x 9" . It just depends on where they make their burrow. Also, I get a diamond, a yellow watchman, and a firefish all at once, and for awhile at least, they all stayed in the burrow the diamond made. The yellow watchman is still in there with him.

 

[cdw79]

Bump

 

[FernBluffReef]

Love ours.

I’d say reef safe with some minor cautions. 1) Corals directly on or in close proximity to the sand bed will get sandy or worse buried. 2). Rocks on sand bed will get undermined. Put the rocks on glass

Ours does a decent job of keeping 2/3rds of our 112gallon 5’ tanks sand bed turned over. We have carbisea special grade sand. Smaller grained sand and I understand they may make sand storms. Coarser sand may be too large for them.

As to multiple diamond gobies in the tank. I can’t offer thoughts on that topic.

 

[DaJMasta]

It's definitely good advice to make sure your rockwork isn't floating before you get a sand sifter, but I think the "dangerousness" of them in a reef tank is pretty overblown. Make sure you keep an eye on the low corals and maybe relocate some near the burrow it chooses, but healthy LPS can remove a little sand, so as long as they aren't directly in the line of fire or are floating themselves, they should be fine.

 

[C4Rez]

I had a diamond goby for almost 2 years. Transferred from my 25gallon to the most recent 145 gallon setup. Loved “Brutus,” (fitting name since he was my biggest goby ever) he sifted the sand throughout that 5 ft long tank going from one borrow to the next for almost a year. Then he died. Maybe it was age? Or maybe it was the dang Dinos he was sifting through during that particular outbreak. Anyways, I’ve tired having a diamond goby again afterwards, but to no success. Each one (2 since Brutus at different times) died within 2 months; I’m assuming from starvation. Maybe the sandbed wasn’t enough to meet their diet requirements.

Anyways, go for it. Haven’t have problems with diamond gobies regarding corals (especially since I try to keep minimal on the sandbed)