Will I Regret This ??

ivanzlemus · Nov 16, 2025

I have a 20 gallon nano tank that I’ve had set up for a while now ( about 8 months ) letting it coast basically just doing water changes and refilling RO , I am finally ready to get serious and start adding coral so I went to the local fish store today and picked up a clean crew , a few turbo snails and a diamond goby to help clean up the sand , but I did not think about the cons that would bring , the goby is kicking up a lot of sand causing my tank to be cloudy , will this always be a problem ? I always wondered why I never seen gobies in any nano tanks

Rhetoric · Nov 16, 2025

20 gallon is small for a diamond goby. It will have a hard time finding enough food.

Diamond gobies definitely spread sand everywhere. That's not going away.

Tahoe61 · Nov 17, 2025

That's not enough real-estate. That would drive me nuts. Great fish in a bigger tank.

TX_REEF · Nov 17, 2025

yes, you will regret it. Tank is not appropriately sized for a diamond goby, they can reach 6" long. Strongly recommend you return it, use nassarius snails and perhaps a small conch for sand stirring.

JTP424 · Nov 17, 2025

On a positive note, appreciate the slow rolled approach.

paulroberts1975 · Nov 17, 2025

I have a diamond goby in a 20 gallon tank. It’s going in a bigger tank when I get one. Sold to me as a diamond shrimp goby. The fish store didn’t have sand on the bottom for it just gravel which wasn’t suitable. It was skinny when I got it. It’s not going back there. It’s got a better chance of survival with me. It’s fat. It eats crab pellets. Bits of fresh shrimp and mysis shrimp. But … it digs holes under the rocks and spits sand everywhere. All over the rock flowers and it’s constantly excavating. The rock flower get the sand off themselves. I’ve also got a pistol shrimp in there. It’s got its excavation work going on too. I actually like them stirring the sand up. The sand is clean. And they are actually my fave two things in the tank. But you will need to supplement the feed for the diamond goby. One of my little clowns died and the remaining one is best buddies with the diamond goby. The clown follows him everywhere when he’s doing his rounds and eats whatever he stirs up. But yes the sand thing won’t be going away. Sometimes he swims up High and sprinkles sand as he goes.