Who's your favourite (or not) sand sifter ?

[gregzz4]

Who's been your most and least favourite sifter ?

Don't judge my question based on how new my tank is :smile:
I'm just lookin' for 'down the road' critters

[wmcinnes]

Ive asked this question before and heard that the Diamond Goby is the best.. best sand sifting fish wise anyway, im not too sure about the other critters. Others will chime in and help you out more than I can haha

[gregzz4]

Thanks Wayne
The Diamond comes up a lot

I searched long enough that I felt it might be better to start a new thread specific to sifters :smile:

[subman]

My favorite was a tiger tail cucumber. Love the diamond gobies but hate the mess they make. I think my all time favorite was a goat fish I had for about 10min till my lion ate him. (The goatfish was to big for him to eat but he jammed it down his throat by ramming into the rocks!)

[Proteus]

Goat fish are rad but get a little big for your 75g. I had a diamond gobie that was great at sifting. But covered everything.

My favorite is a very large snail. Can't remember the name but is brown and huge. And my conchs

[Enigma]

Goat fish are rad but get a little big for your 75g. I had a diamond gobie that was great at sifting. But covered everything.

I have a Signal Goby who does the same thing. He covers everything in sand: including my gorgeous Acan colony. :( My sandbed looks great, but he drives me nuts. I'm in my tank every day digging things out of the sand. He also digs out the sand underneath my scape. Thankfully, my scape is simple and won't topple.

He may wind up a "free to a good home" fish.

[Reef Pilot]

I have a pair of Orange Spot Gobies, and they do a great job of sifting and moving around the sand. Interesting to watch, too, and how they interact with other fish, when they get too close.
http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/503/medium/0022.JPG

[Aquattro]

I hate sand sifting fish, they always cover everything with sand. I use a seastar, a large conch, and a bunch of nassarius snails.

[intarsiabox]

My diamond (aka orange spot) goby does an amazing job. Unlike a dragon goby I once had he just stays at the bottom of the tank to sift sand rather than swimming up in water column and spitting it everywhere. I've never had a problem with this one covering corals with sand.

[Reef Pilot]

My diamond (aka orange spot) goby does an amazing job. Unlike a dragon goby I once had he just stays at the bottom of the tank to sift sand rather than swimming up in water column and spitting it everywhere. I've never had a problem with this one covering corals with sand.
Yeah, same with mine. They only move the sand on the bottom, and make little holes and mounds. Any coral on the sand could get covered, but not on the live rock. Having said that I have some mushrooms growing down on the sand, and they seem to always get uncovered on their own. One thing that is important, though, is that your live rock is sitting on the glass bottom, not on the sand, which would be undermined and cause shifting.

I should mention too, that my sand is the larger coral rubble type, not the fine sugar sand.

[FWC]

I love my diamond watchman goby. She keeps the sand super clean and is quite a personable fish.

That being said I wouldn't mind if he did stop moving all the sand into the middle of the tank...

[mike31154]

My arm, hand & a siphon tube are my favourite sand sifting critters. I stir things up a bit when I do water changes. Since I don't have a sump, that's a regular routine in the display every 20 days or so.

[reefgirl189]

I bought 3 sand sifting starfish because everyone was sold out of fighting conch and so far my opinion of them is that they are useless.

I have a nassarius (sp?) snail in the 180 somewhere. Haven't seen him in over a month now because he's always in the sand sifting away.

I'd love to find a goby. I think that'll be my next addition based on other's opinions of them.

[Coralgurl]

I have a orange diamond goby, sand snails and a sand star. By far the goby does the most, he never stops sifting. The only issue I have with him is where he has decided to sleep, he buries the hole during the day and kicks the sand out at night. I have a mini nem and a mushroom on that rock, the nem seems ok but the mushroom relocated as it was constantly under sand. I can't keep any corals in front of that rock but I'm ok with that. He doesn't kick up sand anywhere and IMO was the best addition for keeping the sand clean.

[Reef Pilot]

In my other display tank, I have 2 fighting conch, and used to have a tiger conch, but he died. They move around a bit, but don't do much to clean the sand that I can see. Keeps my Copperband interested, as he tries to pick under their shells. Not sure if he is looking for food there, or trying to get at the snail itself. Not sure why the tiger conch died (might have been the Copperband bothering him), but he didn't move for a couple days, and when I picked him up, it was a really bad stench, so I knew he was dead.

But for sure, my gobies in my other tank, do a much better job of keeping the sand looking clean and fresh.

[dc4]

Who's been your most and least favourite sifter ?

Don't judge my question based on how new my tank is :smile:
I'm just lookin' for 'down the road' critters

Well, when your tank its ready, you can have my Rainfords goby. I'm tired of him covering up my scoly, plates, chalices, and Zoas. Drives me nuts...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk

[pink spider]

By the way, Diamond Goby and Orange spotted goby aren't the same at all.

The orange spotted goby is a shrimp goby, he'll never clean out the sand.

The Diamond Watchamn Goby is a sandsifter... probably the best one out there. There's also the Golden Head Goby that does a great work too.

[xnmuller]

I very much enjoy my little two spot goby. While a 135 gallon may be a little too much territory for one little two spot (I also have 4 nassarius and a sand sifting star), he does do a good job where he is working. The diamond watchman is probably a more effective sand sifter but the two spot does not drop sand all over everything.

[gregzz4]

Thanks to everyone for the input. It's nice to have all this info in one thread :wink:
You've narrowed down the list for me to gobies and/or just nassarius snails

Any more input on specific gobies would be great

[kole]

Get some nassarius snails even if you get a goby. They move the sand but are very good at cleaning up any uneaten food. Plus if conditions are right they will reproduce. I put a dozen or so in my 70 gallon reef and there are now over a hundred babies.

[chandigz]

By the way, Diamond Goby and Orange spotted goby aren't the same at all.

The orange spotted goby is a shrimp goby, he'll never clean out the sand.

The Diamond Watchamn Goby is a sandsifter... probably the best one out there. There's also the Golden Head Goby that does a great work too.

Diamond sleeper gobies and orange spotted sleeper gobies are the same. It depends where they are shipped from. Same scientific name different common name. They are a sleeper goby but I've seen them listed as gliders as well but I've never seen them listed as diamond watchmen gobies. Watchmen gobies are usually shrimp gobies as they act as a watchman for the shrimp. Anyhow To many common names out there often makes things difficult.

[xtreme]

Diamond Watchman Goby (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+2971+220&pcatid=220) (Valenciennea puellaris) and Orange Spotted Goby (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+31+195&pcatid=195) (Amblyeleotris guttata). Definitely two different species.

[chandigz]

Diamond Watchman Goby (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+2971+220&pcatid=220) (Valenciennea puellaris) and Orange Spotted Goby (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+31+195&pcatid=195) (Amblyeleotris guttata). Definitely two different species.

ya those are two different species but check out the common names in the description of the diamond goby. When talking about sand sifters orange spotted Can also be the same species. Thats the problem with "common names", they can be common with different species.

[gregzz4]

Thanks xtreme - I have those 2 on my list

Any more faves ?
And what ones to avoid ?

Tank is eggcrated and sand is aragamax select

[Jaws]

What about a pink spotted shrimp goby?

[gregzz4]

Any experience with one ?
Added to list

[Snufflupagus]

I have a sand star and a silver dollar in my 150, they seem to do a fair job.

[Enigma]

And what ones to avoid ?

Signigobius biocellatus (Twinspot, Two Spot, Signal, Crabeye, 4-Wheel Drive Goby) is probably best avoided. In saying that, two of us who have replied to this thread have one: and they are being successfully kept.

The word on the 'Net is that they should always be purchased in pairs, are typically full of parasites, and do not get enough to eat in our tanks (as they will only sift sand).

From what i understand, one will keep watch while the other eats, and then they'll switch off. I have a very peaceful tank, so my little goby does not appear anxious. I think he'll do okay by himself, as long as I keep a peaceful tank and don't do something dumb like add a damsel.

I haven't dewormed him, and there has been no evidence that he has worms. None-the-less, I have read that deworming them is vitally important, so I think I'll be doing that before he is moved to the new display tank.

I have to inject food into the sand to keep him fed. This is working very well, though it is a pain in the backside. He gets a mysis, brine, spirulina, Garlic Gaurd cocktail, which I inject about a 1/2" deep into the sand using an old dose measuring syringe.

He is a very cool little fish, and is very interesting to watch. They are not available aquacultured, unfortunately, and they're probably best left in their natural habitat.

[Jaws]

Any experience with one ?
Added to list

My experience has been good but they don't usually do a whole lot of roaming around the tank from what I remember. Neat personalities though and nice looking too.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Nassarius snails are great because, unlike most other obligate sand-sifters, these can be placed into a relatively new tank since they are scavengers. As soon as you put food into the tank, they'll rise up out of the sandbed like a bunch of mini-Uboats:razz: Excellent for keeping the tank clean in case of accidental overfeeding and this also keeps any bristle worm population from exploding since the N. snails eat up the uneaten foods.

[gregzz4]

Well, our minds are made up, but it would be nice to keep this thread alive for the benefit of others
We're going to eventually get an orange spotted/diamond goby and I added a small crew of nassarius today
I also added some small pellets in case the hermies are hungry and the snails went crazy :lol:

Again, thanks all for your input

Oh, Wayne wins the booby prize .. first to post and happens to be our choice, along with some nassarius snails of course .. thanks brad and anthony :smile: