what species of Starfish/snail/sand sifter of any sort?
 

Hey all,
I'm fed up with gobies jumping out of my tank, so im moving to starfish to stir up my sand bed. anyone have suggestions on species? what to avoid? am i makeing a huge mistake here?

Id grab a conch or a few (depends on tank size) instead.
Most interesting creatures and do a pretty good job of keeping the sandbed clean.

I'm not sure of their real name but I usually see them in dealers tanks listed as "white sand sifting starfish" for around $15. I've heard they can do too good of a job though and desimate your sand of all life. I'm not sure if this is exaggerated or not as I don't have sand in my tank so have never owned one.

Well that's what I want to avoid. I want the sand bed to still be alive. I just want something that will eat the algae, turnthe sand, but not eat everything else. Will aconch do that? Or are they indiscriminate feeders like some starfish?

Conchs will do a great job and only go after algae type material including diatoms as far as I know. They work so well in fact that you may end up having to feed them nori or algae pellets for koi. Usually if you see a conch on the glass of your tank it's because they have cleaned up all the algae in your sand and are starving.

I assume you have considered putting a covering of some sort over your tank so that they can't jump out.. so was there are reason why you opted not to implement a cover?

Do you suggest a fighting conch? Are there other suitable species readily available?

I did have a lid in place for thelast one but after grazing for 20 minutes, it jumped into it. Looked really stunned, disappeared into the rock andeas never seen again. :-(

Sounds to me like your glass top worked then.
Fish bonked his head, but he probably learned his lesson.
If hes still in your tank, id give him a few days to see if he comes out.
From what you said, it doesnt sound like he did anything to really be taken out yet.

Sand sifter star fish will burrow themselves in your sand all the way at the bottom and starve to death when there is no more food in your sand. A high risk of poisoning your tank with a rotting starfish buried somewhere at the bottom.
I used mine for a week or two then returned him after he cleaned up. Only was $10.00 to.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/a...num=1&count=10

This might help if you want to stay with gobies.
I changed the settings on the right hand side to filter you
- Sand Sifting Gobies
- Minimum Size 70 Gallon Tank

Im guessing this is for your 65 Gallon tank correct?

Sand Sifting Star Fish
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...572&pcatid=572

"These peaceful omnivores are a great addition to reef aquariums. They will consume detritus and left over food. Like other starfish, this member of the Astropectinidae family also consumes small invertebrates, including shrimp, urchins, mollusks, bivalves, or other small sea stars. As such, they should be actively fed with a varied diet that mimics their natural food sources, especially in well-established marine aquariums. Otherwise, these voracious feeders can quickly clean your aquarium of detritus and then bury themselves into your substrate, starve, and eventually begin to decay."


And if your still interested in a starfish here's a bunch of them also which you can read about to pick which would be best suited to your aquarium.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/a....cfm?c=497+528