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

[Susan Edwards]

I love them. I have a diamond goby. Keeps sand clean and not all over the place. Tried a second one and the 1st kept after it, and now I don't think I have it. I also have a barbara goby with shrimp. Seldom see them. I used to have a gold head sleeper who put sand all over. Tried one in new tank but it didn't make it. Wouldn't eat and died. I'd like to get another sand sifter for other side of tank and a jaw fish.

 

[GSnake]

i plan to get a two spot goby for minor sand sifting.
I had a orange spot goby in the past but my corals on the sand bed were getting covered everyday!

 

[ArtisticReef]

I have 2 diamond back gobies and my sand stays spotless. Besides it’s fun to watch them open their mouths wide and flair their gills for the cleaner wrasses do do their job!

 

[WyoMt.Chef]

This week were going to be focusing on Gobies and Blennies! Today I wanted to start us off by beginning a discussion on Sand Sifting Gobies.

Sand Sifting Gobies plow through the tank substrate, sifting/straining algae, detritus and uneaten food from the sand. This not only removes unwanted nitrate producing substances, but it also stirs and aerates the substrate (very important for deep sand beds), releasing toxic gases - TheSprucePets

1. What's your experience with sand sifting gobies? (pros and cons)

2. What are your most favorite sand sifting gobies?

Yellow Watchman Goby image via @rboutin111

Really enjoy the looks and lively nature my tiger ward adds to the bottom of the tank. He does feel the need to bury a couple zoa/shrooms rocks. Add the guy is feeling the need for multiple homes around the tank that he stays in periodically. He really moves way more and than I anticipated.

 

[Zuma]

Probably one of the coolest additions you can make to your reef tank but just get bummed at there propensity to jump out of one's tank..

 

[mynd]

NO SAND = HAPPINESS <== That is is a link you should click it

 

[Sean Clark]

Sean, great video, thanks for posting!

I can not take credit for the video. It is not mine, I only shared it. It is one of my favorites though.

 

[Koty]

Whether I love them or not is irrelevant (I do, he has lots of character). IME they are a must! once I got mine it's goodbye to any kind of algae growing on my sand. I can stop here as this makes him one of the most essential members of any reef tank. Moreover, he digs tunnels and moves sand from one place to another. In so doing he saves me time from doing any bottom cleaning. I do not do water changes so I depend on him for keeping my parameters where they are. He does occasionally spray sand on corals or moves them a bit but who cares, they live in the sea so they are used to it. For me, he is an honorable member of the essential working crew:
1. A tang to clean algae from the rear glass (Scopas);
2. I have three Halichoeres species that keep the corals pest free. They seem to even control Vermatid snails (My huge V. snail population seem to stabilize lately and even decline)
3. SSG, see above.
Check out the sand around him...

 

[Andresnyc93]

Love my diamond goby, constantly keeps sand white but off side is you can’t place much corals on lower third of the tank or they’ll for sure find a way to cover them with sand.

 

[Hans-Werner]

Combining these gobies with Ctenochaetus is difficult.

Since they are competing detritus feeders Ctenochaetus will chase these gobies and chase them out of the tank. This is in my experience the reason why these gobies are known as jumpers.

Since it is nearly impossible for me to cover the tanks without a hole or a slit where a goby would find its way out, I abandoned keeping them ... and sand also ...

 

[NoahLikesFish]

I love my decorated gobies (Istigobius decoratus). I have 1 in all my larger tanks. They sift sand, but do not carry it around when they sift. I thought the one in my 180 (first one I got) was a rarity, but decided to buy another for the nem tank, as the sand needed a little help. It did the same thing. Grabs a mouthful and sifts right there. Does not raise up and dump it, build mounds or anything. From there, I put one in the mangrove lagoon and then in my 90. Love them. They also hop up on the rocks and move all over the tank. They do not just stay at the sand, so makes it nice.

Quick shot of the one in my nem tank.

do they eat food besides the sand bed? my main apprehension with them is that they will starve even in a large tank. those ones look cute and when i get a bigger tank around the footprint of your 90 i might get one or three. yours is adorable

 

[twiatr2001]

Gobies are great for sifting sand, but if you have a certain sand scape in mind the goby will definitely change it, sometimes they will try to cover corals with sand as well, and they are known for jumping, take it from someone who knows, I have gone through (no exaggeration) at least 35-40 gobies in my reefing history and most were from jumping and the others have been from going into an anemone just out of pure curiosity, it got so bad that the local fish store owner felt so bad for me that he would give me free ones for a while, just to see how long they lasted, this was also with a mesh cover on the tank but since it was a nano with a rounded front couldn't get it completely covered, but they always found a way out, my opinion not the smartest fish. But what a sifter!

 

[AccidentalAquarist]

I love gobies! So, I may be biased, but I cannot recommend sand sifting gobies enough!! They are diligent cleaners, have adorable interactions with other fish, have unique symbiotic relationships with snapping shrimp, and are typically really easy to keep in a home aquarium.

That being said, when housed in a tank with more aggressive or territorial fish, sand sifting gobies have a tendency to jump tank and go carpet surfing. So, a lid or a tank with a deeper sand bed would be needed. But when kept in a peaceful tank, they prefer to dive into their burrows for shelter instead.

There are some considerations you need to provide for sand sifters though, if you plan on keeping them. Many people in the hobby add sifters to their tanks to combat a problem that they have with their sand beds. And while they can solve the majority of sand bed issues with ease, you need to consider how to feed them after the job is done. I like to seed my tank with copepods and other microbugs to give my fish and corals something to snack on between feedings, which is great for wild caught sand sifters who are too picky for frozen foods, since they eat a LOT for such a small fish!

They're an anxious fish, and will spook easily. So, when adding them to a new tank, you should try to release them behind rock work and with the lights out. I usually like to introduce them to a new tank after a standard quarantine period, at night after feeding when the lights have gone off and the majority of my tank is winding down. This minimizes additional stressors and allows the goby to establish their territory with ease.

Pairing them with a snapping shrimp is always a great idea! I think my gobies feel safer and more secure with a shrimp buddy to pinch any feisty tank mates! And the shrimp can break down larger pieces of food into bite sized bits for the goby once their job is done and the tank bed is sparkling clean.

There are other options for a clean sand bed, but all in all sand sifting gobies are the best bet, 10/10, highly recommend!

 

[JaaxReef]

I really love them, IF you are smart with your scape and coral placement and pick some of the less likely species to throw sand up in the air all over everything.

In smaller tanks, Amblygobius decussatus is a great choice to me, but hard to find. Tends to stay closer to the sand bed when sifting and doesn’t sift quite the same quantity.

For my current larger tank my Valencienna Sexguttata is my favorite. The blue dots on the cheeks are a subtle beauty and he stays close to the sand when sifting the vast majority of the time.

Other Valencienna (e.g., Diamond and Gold Head Sleeper) can be a mess and bury all sorts of things.

It’s all a risk if you keep corals on the sand, but the trade off of less sand maintenance to keep it clean and white is worth it for me.

 

[MEPAWN35]

I love my diamond goby! Now when it comes to corals he always covers them if they are on the bottom 3rd of the tank but its a small price considering he keeps my entire sand bed in my 240 gallon tank perfectly clean!! Well worth it since i no longer have to do any deep sand bed cleaning as he sifts through it all.

 

[Brazilian Reefer]

I want to keep a Bicolor Blenny here

 

[Fritz05]

I love gobies, sand sifting or not. Admittedly I would not consider my gobies to be sand sifting (Yellow Watchman, Blue Neon, Starry, and Court jester), but each one is very entertaining and they all get along. The YWG is paired with a Tiger Pistol shrimp and the shrimp is not sand sifting, but a bulldozer... Every day it has new architectural ideas for the burrow and the YWG is diligently keeping watch. The Blue Neon hangs out on the rocks (including upside down) and tries to clean passing fish, which then flee. The Starry Goby also hangs out in all kinds of places, including straight up on the glass (I do not know how). The Court jester is majestically picking at algae in carefully selected places. Peaceful and entertaining, that is a winning combination for me!

 

[Treecop]

Yes some can be very messy, like the YWG & tiger pistol shrimp; mine got so big they now live in the LFS display tank.
I do have 2 pairs of Yasha Gobies/Randalls pistol pairs but I wouldn't consider them sand sifting even though they burrow. My twin spot signal goby is the perfect sand sifter-moves the sand but doesn't really throw alot. But they can be hard to keep if you don't have a mature sandbed. Mine also eats frozen.

I have a two spot. Easily my favorite fish.

 

[mehaffydr]

I love mine. I have a pair of Diamond Gobies and they are constantly digging burrows and they are always working together as a team. There just fun to watch. They keep a lot of sand from becoming stagnant even in my tank with 50 sq. ft. Of floor space

 

[wwcgroupie]

Love that they keep the sand clean hate that they cause sandstorms.