Sand Sifting Gobies: Are they worth keeping? Your Favorite?

[Anemone_Fanatic]

Sand sifting gobies are hard workers that have interesting behavior. In a FOWLR or a tank with corals up high on the rocks, they are great. They bury corals, so they are probably not a great fit for my reef.

 

[frizzayyyyreef]

Even after the sand storm settles they’re constantly knocking corals over dropping sand on them irritating them….love the clean sand but love my corals better there a hell nooo for me bro

 

[frizzayyyyreef]

Someone posted this video on YouTube and I think that it is hilarious and shows that these little fish are absolutely worth keeping.

This is amazing

 

[frizzayyyyreef]

Diamond watchman goby, constant sand/debris storm, no thanks not again.

Believe it or not This settles eventually one day it just stops but they do still dump sand on corals on the sand bed

 

[Pipo5]

I hade a yellow wachmen and he was the only fish that ended up in my filter socks about once a week he grew twice in size and still happened so annoying.

 

[wheels 45]

I have mixed feelings. I have had 2 rainford gobies, a ywg. I have a really hard time keeping them alive though. They either stop eating, or they disappear and I never see them again. I am tempted to try again, but I am reluctant.

I forgot! I also had a gold head sleeper goby. It disappeared when I added 3 blue green chromis to my 32 gallon. I never saw it again either

 

[i cant think]

Someone posted this video on YouTube and I think that it is hilarious and shows that these little fish are absolutely worth keeping.

It’s like he’s trying his hardest to give the jawfish a reason to flip out haha.

 

[i cant think]

I forgot! I also had a gold head sleeper goby. It disappeared when I added 3 blue green chromis to my 32 gallon. I never saw it again either

Valenciennea need a larger tank, I’d say 4’ is the bare minimum. Ontop of that they need need sand beds. Without a well established (2-5 year old), 3-5 inch deep, heavily seeded sandbed they will often starve. I have found even with frozen feeding, you need to do that Atleast 5 times a day to get a large species of Valenciennea to thrive. These species are worse than mandarins in many ways. As for Koumansetta, if you get a wild caught specimen then chances of success are little unless they’ve been in the LFS for 3-4 weeks. If the LFS can prove that they eat frozen mysis and brine you should be ready.

I will mention this though.
No goby will love a long and healthy life with just dry/prepared foods.

 

[mvbrandt]

Diamond Goby is by far my favorite. Sand wouldn't be pearly white without him.

 

[Mkus]

Don't know why anyone would dislike something like a shrimp goby, but could see people not liking things like a Diamond watchman goby as unless you get course sand, it'll fly all over your tank all day, thus agitating corals.

Here's mine. Love watching him and the Tiger Pistol Shrimp work together, so do the kids.

Nice I have one also really like him!

 

[i cant think]

Also my favourite sand dwelling (Not to be confused with sand sifting) goby has got to be this guy.

The photo isn’t in great focus however, right in the Center you can see a blur of his face. This is my Discordipinna griessingeri, I’d love to try house this guy with a Discordipinna filamentosa however finding a filamentosa would be a nightmare and a half. As you can see this guy has dug a small ditch under the rock, don’t be fooled by the size they are. Their cave systems can be huge. When I lifted his rock up a few months ago I finally got a good view of his cave system and my curiosity of this species just grew. He lines all of the tunnels in the rock with grains of sand. I haven’t figured out why but almost everywhere he goes touches the sand bed. He very rarely goes onto the rockwork unless it’s to get to somewhere else.

 

[ShadowMan]

My Diamond Goby is the life of the party in my reef, always out and active, keeps the sand pristine white and is incredibly sociable with all the other tank mates and loves the attention. And being a diamond, has beautiful detailing and colour.

One con, being a sand sifter he definitely moves and stirs up the entire sandbed to his liking, so be prepared for a lot of sand kicking up initially and for the bed to be uneven. Also, he has made loads of tunnels under my rockwork... great for my shrimp and thankfully my rockwork is incredibly stable, so just be aware!

 

[REEFER-RICK]

My Diamond Goby is the life of the party in my reef, always out and active, keeps the sand pristine white and is incredibly sociable with all the other tank mates and loves the attention. And being a diamond, has beautiful detailing and colour.

One con, being a sand sifter he definitely moves and stirs up the entire sandbed to his liking, so be prepared for a lot of sand kicking up initially and for the bed to be uneven. Also, he has made loads of tunnels under my rockwork... great for my shrimp and thankfully my rockwork is incredibly stable, so just be aware!

took my diamond about to make a tunnel under a rock but put a few rocks around him now he has settled down some

 

[REEFER-RICK]

took my diamond about 5 minutes to make a tunnel under a rock but put a few rocks around him now he has settled down some

 

[NanoMan16]

I am a BIG NO!! Ok I had a diamond sleeper goby. He did a great job of sifting the sand for sure. So much that my water was always hazy. I woke up to plate corals covered daily. That kills them if they try to eat a piece of sand witch they always do and those corals are not cheap. If left unchecked I mean twice a day your entire sand bed would be shifted to the other side of the tank. This is havoc on a reef tank. One 3 inch goby cost me 4 plate corals, 2 Duncan colonies, a Zoa garden, 3 acans, GSP colonies. They can take sand from the bottom and take it to the top on a rock and start making a pile. I traded out the fish since sometimes you just get a dumb fish. No luck new one did the same dang thing. Reefer BEWARE!!

 

[WVNed]

I like dragon gobies because they swim like a fish and work tirelessly.

 

[Floyd-]

I have a diamond goby and a jawfish and they are wonderful! full of character and spunk and they keep the sand clean and well rotated.

 

[Coby333]

I just purchased a diamond goby 2 weeks ago. I had a makeshift lid on my tank while I'm waiting for mine to be built and shipped. He still found a way to get out and I woke up to him dried up on the floor. I'm debating on getting another one when I receive my lid. Does anyone know of a better sand sifter that won't bother my corals?

 

[doubleshot00]

I have no experience with them yet, but at some point I will get one, my favorite is probably the orange marked goby.

In the same boat my only issue i see from going ti the LFS is they have 2-3 gobies in different tanks with a mound of sand. I ask did he do that he says yes. I don’t think i want a mountain of sand randomly in my tank.

 

[Obsessed with fish]

In the same boat my only issue i see from going ti the LFS is they have 2-3 gobies in different tanks with a mound of sand. I ask did he do that he says yes. I don’t think i want a mountain of sand randomly in my tank.

I didn't know that, but I'm glad I do now!