A Lonely Diamond Goby Causing A Big Mess!

[Scousereefer]

So I have a 50gallon Reef tank which is about 4months old now and is going really well... zoas, kenya trees and mushrooms all happy, clownfish seem to be cleaning a patch of rock to nest. Lawnmower Blenny is doing a great job at keeping hair algae at bay and i have lots of baby trochus snails now lol.

However i have a Diamond goby on his own without a shrimp and he just wont settle in one burrow he is always making a mess and spitting substrate all over my zoas and mushrooms and creating unsightly mounds everyday!

Will a pistol shrimp settle him down because i have tries everything else and i am close to giving him away which i really dont want to do as he is a beautiful fish full of character but he is creating unnecessary work for me and disrupting the corals.

thanks in advance guys, also its time to add more corals and fish so feel free to give me some advice and ideas for new additions

 

[Cell]

No. Diamond gobies are sand sifters. It's just what they do.

 

[Scousereefer]

Are they not a type of watchmen? I received it from a local reefer who was breaking their tank down

 

[mindme]

Diamond Goby's aren't shrimp gobies, so that's not going to happen. Mine does the same stuff, you just have to live with it. I personally like mine and I'm glad he's always moving the sand around.

 

[Scousereefer]

Diamond Goby's aren't shrimp gobies, so that's not going to happen. Mine does the same stuff, you just have to live with it. I personally like mine and I'm glad he's always moving the sand around.

True man he does clean it alot to be fair to him, before I got him the substrate looked like toasted marshmallow but he keeps it bright white

 

[Mike from TN]

I also love my Diamond Goby. Lots of personality and my sand is always Snow White. They are excellent sand sifters but you need to place your vulnerable corals just a little bit higher up to protect them from the sand storm. I use a turkey blaster to relocate the mountains to the low spots almost daily.

 

[Scousereefer]

I also love my Diamond Goby. Lots of personality and my sand is always Snow White. They are excellent sand sifters but you need to place your vulnerable corals just a little bit higher up to protect them from the sand storm. I use a turkey blaster to relocate the mountains to the low spots almost daily.

Yerr he is fantastic at keeping the sand white but it's a pain having to fix the bed lol,
I have just ordered a turkey blaster n some tongs/tweezers from Amazon.. my tank will need aquascaping again to place corals higher I suppose

 

[Mike from TN]

Yerr he is fantastic at keeping the sand white but it's a pain having to fix the bed lol,
I have just ordered a turkey blaster n some tongs/tweezers from Amazon.. my tank will need aquascaping again to place corals higher I suppose

You may not have to rescape. I picked up some small pieces of live rock rubble from the LFS and just made little mounds to place my sand dwelling corals on. Only needed to raise them up about 1/2” to prevent them from getting buried. I do have some Zoa’s that have grown pretty close to the substrate that the Goby kicks sand on. I just blow them off with the turkey baster.

 

[mindme]

I also love my Diamond Goby. Lots of personality and my sand is always Snow White. They are excellent sand sifters but you need to place your vulnerable corals just a little bit higher up to protect them from the sand storm. I use a turkey blaster to relocate the mountains to the low spots almost daily.

Mine builds up the middle of the tank. But I am lucky because that area caused me to turn my powerheads down due to it blowing the sand away, as the power heads face each other and that is the most common place for them to meet and blow down. Now he builds it up, but the powerheads are constantly blowing the sand back away.

It's still built up pretty high because he keeps at it, but my flow keeps it down pretty well.

He buried one of my hammer corals, I had to move it up higher. Unfortunately I didn't move it in time and it lost a head. I kept blowing it off, but he would bury it back just as quickly.

 

[krash7172]

I slowly removed sand weekly as mine kept making mountains. He still constantly moves sand but it rarely gets over a few inches now. A magnetic scraper is usually enough to push some sand around for a relatively flat sand bed but I like what he does.

 

[salty joe]

I have a pair of diamond watchmen and love them. Thing One and Thing Two. They are practically inseparable. They can move the sand anywhere they want-it's fine with me.

 

[Wrigley&Ivy17]

Mine does the same thing. I will smooth his sand mounds out only for him to build them back as soon as I’m done. Love him. Personality galore.

 

[mvbrandt]

I just sit back and enjoy what he does with my sandscape, including letting parts of the tank be bare bottom lol. He's easily my fave fish.

 

[bruno6]

So I have a 50gallon Reef tank which is about 4months old now and is going really well... zoas, kenya trees and mushrooms all happy, clownfish seem to be cleaning a patch of rock to nest. Lawnmower Blenny is doing a great job at keeping hair algae at bay and i have lots of baby trochus snails now lol.

However i have a Diamond goby on his own without a shrimp and he just wont settle in one burrow he is always making a mess and spitting substrate all over my zoas and mushrooms and creating unsightly mounds everyday!

Will a pistol shrimp settle him down because i have tries everything else and i am close to giving him away which i really dont want to do as he is a beautiful fish full of character but he is creating unnecessary work for me and disrupting the corals.

thanks in advance guys, also its time to add more corals and fish so feel free to give me some advice and ideas for new additions

Mine is a nut. Makes me crazy with its putting sand on everything that’s low. What a personality! I have built up the bases of the low corals to keep them free of sand. Seems to be working.

 

[Scousereefer]

Mine is a nut. Makes me crazy with its putting sand on everything that’s low. What a personality! I have built up the bases of the low corals to keep them free of sand. Seems to be working.

Boss personality but a little wind up lol Seems like my only option now to buildup

 

[RobB'z Reef]

I'm learning more and more about these little guys as I've had mine a almost a month now. He sure is entertaining and like some have mentioned, his plans are not necessarily in line with your plans for tank layout/design etc...

This guy definitely has a plan! Now if he would just let me know what that is...

 

[Scousereefer]

I'm learning more and more about these little guys as I've had mine a almost a month now. He sure is entertaining and like some have mentioned, his plans are not necessarily in line with your plans for tank layout/design etc...

This guy definitely has a plan! Now if he would just let me know what that is...

They really are fascinating and I have a thought that when they spit it instead of Gill sifting it could be down to no food in the mouthful.

More Hunger = More Activity ?

I have bought some sinking formula 2 pellets yesterday and he ate a fair bit so I will fix my substrate bed and keep feeding these pellets and I will let you know if this helps reduce his activity.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

They really are fascinating and I have a thought that when they spit it instead of Gill sifting it could be down to no food in the mouthful.

More Hunger = More Activity ?

I have bought some sinking formula 2 pellets yesterday and he ate a fair bit so I will fix my substrate bed and keep feeding these pellets and I will let you know if this helps reduce his activity.

interesting thought! Mine snags mysis right out of the water column when everyone else gets fed. I'll be watching his growth and health closely as well.

 

[90's reefer]

I have had mine in my frag system for over a year.
It was quite small when I got it.
I would not have a tank with sand without one.
It keeps the sand stirred up and I rarely have to touch it.
Yes they move sand everywhere but thats what they do.
Mine will also eat pellets that sink to the bottom if it can find them before the snails and shrimp do, lol.

Only regret is that I did not get a pair. I have been thinking of getting another but not sure about it pairing up.

Any thoughts about trying to pair it up?

Their are only 2 other fish in the 45. A clown and a 6 line. They have all been in their for around 15 months.

 

[PeterB113]

If anything a shrimp would make it worse as they move sand around all day as well... I have 5 giant mounds of sand all over my tank lol