Best sand sifting fish? Orange Crosshatch Goby, Tiger Watchmen Goby, Orange Spotted Goby or other?

[mistergray]

Heard that diamond gobies are a pretty good sand sifter.

Only problem I have with them is they grow half a foot. Yikes!

 

[JaaxReef]

Only problem I have with them is they grow half a foot. Yikes!

Yeah, that’s why we recommended the Crosshatch or Linki instead for a tank that size. I have the sleeper blue dot in a 120 and it’s perfect.

 

[mistergray]

Yeah, that’s why we recommended the Crosshatch or Linki instead for a tank that size. I have the sleeper blue dot in a 120 and it’s perfect.

I’ve been looking for that crosshatch for at least a month. It’s no where to be found. The one place online that has it doesn’t deliver. They should take their website down if they’re not delivering. Lol! This is the first time I’ve heard of a linki. Hopefully it’s easier to find then the crosshatch.

 

[GSnake]

look into the two spot goby, its a mini sand sifter. I personally have not had the experience of owning one, but I've planned to buy it in the upcoming weeks, whenever its on the next shipment.
My past exp with a sand sifting goby was with a diamond watchman sand sifting gobv. my sand was PRISTINE. he did a really good job !. but there was sand on al my sandbed corals.
the two spot is suppose to be on the opposite end of the messy scale, while doing a decent job at cleaning the sand. ill find out soon.

fyi if you decide you would like to try one too, i heard they are hard to keep/ hard to feed and require live fauna in the sand to keep alive

 

[Letmeusemyemail]

Which one would be compatible with a diamond watchman goby already paired with a pistol shrimp. 75 gallon tank

 

[mistergray]

look into the two spot goby, its a mini sand sifter. I personally have not had the experience of owning one, but I've planned to buy it in the upcoming weeks, whenever its on the next shipment.
My past exp with a sand sifting goby was with a diamond watchman sand sifting gobv. my sand was PRISTINE. he did a really good job !. but there was sand on al my sandbed corals.
the two spot is suppose to be on the opposite end of the messy scale, while doing a decent job at cleaning the sand. ill find out soon.

fyi if you decide you would like to try one too, i heard they are hard to keep/ hard to feed and require live fauna in the sand to keep alive

I bought one about a month ago. The rumors are true, they’re hard to feed and mine didn’t make it. If you have an extremely mature sand bed you may be luckier than me.

If the crosshatch goby or links goby doesn’t work out for me whenever I’m able to find one, I’m done with gobies.

I’m out of my Goby mind! Help me pick a goby please

 

[ultraArcite]

I've noticed there aren't a lot of sand-sifting captive-bred fish... Is a yellow watchman goby, starry goby, or yasha goby a good sand-sifter?

 

[r2odie]

Anyone have experience with a Bella Goby? My lfs has some coming in soon. They are beautiful.

 

[JaaxReef]

I've noticed there aren't a lot of sand-sifting captive-bred fish... Is a yellow watchman goby, starry goby, or yasha goby a good sand-sifter?

None of those actively feed out of the sand, but they do move some sand when creating and maintaining a burrow.

Biota breeds the Linki would be the only one I know of that sifts sand, but too small to be effective in a big system.

 

[JaaxReef]

Anyone have experience with a Bella Goby? My lfs has some coming in soon. They are beautiful.

Basically a fancy looking Gold Head Sleeper in my opinion. No direct experience with them myself since I don’t want to pay that much for a goby… ha!

 

[TigNJaxx]

I have a sleeper blue dot goby, but he’s in a 4ft tank. If I had your tank size I would probably shoot for the Orange Crosshatch.

Just like others have mentioned, they will create cloudy water for a few days until your skimmer and filter socks pull out all the crap. Then it really settles in nicely. Avoid the Diamond Watchman and Gold Head Sleeper (among many others Valenciennea) as they really tend to bury corals and release the sand from up high in the tank. The sleeper blue dot is the only one from that genus in my experience that isn’t quite as messy.

Great information! Thanks so much!

 

[Lineatus]

A combination of conchs and nassarius snails will do a far better job than any fish IMO