Do you have a destructive diamond goby? Heres my solution.

Juju2773 · Mar 17, 2023

Do you have a destructive diamond goby? Heres my solution. I have a 75 gallon tank with alot of live rock. My first fish was a diamond goby. He became possessive over the sandbed. I thought he was great.. keeping my sand all clean and free of algae. He is also very entertaining. He rearranges my sandscape everyday and i rake it back smooth again every evening. But now that i have decided to add corals, he is a monster! All of those same behaviors have become a nightmare. He digs under every rock until it sinks to the bottom, then he tosses sand over the top. Anyways.... after alot of frustration and a bunch of new coral frags on the way, i have finally come up with a solution that i just had to share. I basically pulled out every rock that wasnt my main structure and glued rubble rock on each, adding legs basically. So now , even if he digs them out, they will never sink below sand level. It has been about a week and so far so good. He seems to not even really bother the ones i added legs to. Only the ones sitting on the sand. So now i can put my faster growing frags on my smaller rocks! Yes! I am so happy i found a solution and still get clean sand and didnt have to rehome my fish. Here are some pictures. One, shows what he does to rocks on the sand, tossing sand on top., and the others are my rocks on legs. He just swims right past them. Now i just have to figure out how to get him to stop digging out the hole my tiny dracula goby and candycane shrimp pair all three live in! Haha.

Juju2773 · Mar 17, 2023

Heres a couple of the sandscape he creates. Notice how high he piles the sand in spots. Like big waves. Sorry about the blue and fuzzy, i dont have a filter or good camera.

Slocke · Mar 17, 2023

That is a cool solution! My Diamond was a monster when it came to burying things. He'd make a 6" hill in one day and bury an entire colony of coral.

Can I offer a suggestion? Diamond gobies have poor long term survival rates as they run out of food in the sand. Try and get him a food it can suck on. I like sinking carnivore pellets they'll keep it fed and maybe reduce the excavations. Also I always suggest a cleaner shrimp like a skunk or fire as diamonds can get irritated gills and will often like to visit a cleaner shrimp for a clean.

Juju2773 · Mar 17, 2023

Slocke said:
That is a cool solution! My Diamond was a monster when it came to burying things. He'd make a 6" hill in one day and bury an entire colony of coral.

Can I offer a suggestion? Diamond gobies have poor long term survival rates as they run out of food in the sand. Try and get him a food it can suck on. I like sinking carnivore pellets. Also I always suggest a cleaner shrimp like a skunk or fire as diamonds can get irritated gills and will often like to visit a cleaner shrimp for a clean.

Cool... i didnt know that about the gills. Thanks! I do be sure to drop pe pellets for him. Food seems to help his craziness. But Ill try both suggestions.

Mark Gray · Mar 20, 2023

Juju2773 said:
Do you have a destructive diamond goby? Heres my solution. I have a 75 gallon tank with alot of live rock. My first fish was a diamond goby. He became possessive over the sandbed. I thought he was great.. keeping my sand all clean and free of algae. He is also very entertaining. He rearranges my sandscape everyday and i rake it back smooth again every evening. But now that i have decided to add corals, he is a monster! All of those same behaviors have become a nightmare. He digs under every rock until it sinks to the bottom, then he tosses sand over the top. Anyways.... after alot of frustration and a bunch of new coral frags on the way, i have finally come up with a solution that i just had to share. I basically pulled out every rock that wasnt my main structure and glued rubble rock on each, adding legs basically. So now , even if he digs them out, they will never sink below sand level. It has been about a week and so far so good. He seems to not even really bother the ones i added legs to. Only the ones sitting on the sand. So now i can put my faster growing frags on my smaller rocks! Yes! I am so happy i found a solution and still get clean sand and didnt have to rehome my fish. Here are some pictures. One, shows what he does to rocks on the sand, tossing sand on top., and the others are my rocks on legs. He just swims right past them. Now i just have to figure out how to get him to stop digging out the hole my tiny dracula goby and candycane shrimp pair all three live in! Haha.

I

Juju2773 said:
Do you have a destructive diamond goby? Heres my solution. I have a 75 gallon tank with alot of live rock. My first fish was a diamond goby. He became possessive over the sandbed. I thought he was great.. keeping my sand all clean and free of algae. He is also very entertaining. He rearranges my sandscape everyday and i rake it back smooth again every evening. But now that i have decided to add corals, he is a monster! All of those same behaviors have become a nightmare. He digs under every rock until it sinks to the bottom, then he tosses sand over the top. Anyways.... after alot of frustration and a bunch of new coral frags on the way, i have finally come up with a solution that i just had to share. I basically pulled out every rock that wasnt my main structure and glued rubble rock on each, adding legs basically. So now , even if he digs them out, they will never sink below sand level. It has been about a week and so far so good. He seems to not even really bother the ones i added legs to. Only the ones sitting on the sand. So now i can put my faster growing frags on my smaller rocks! Yes! I am so happy i found a solution and still get clean sand and didnt have to rehome my fish. Here are some pictures. One, shows what he does to rocks on the sand, tossing sand on top., and the others are my rocks on legs. He just swims right past them. Now i just have to figure out how to get him to stop digging out the hole my tiny dracula goby and candycane shrimp pair all three live in! Haha.

How long have you been ad your hobby? I just lost mine last week, he was around 4 years old. He jumped out. They need a large amount of food. One thing the next time you set up a tank rocks first and then sand. But the way you have it may help your hobby out, if your sand is clean there is not much for it to eat due to their active nature they use a lot of energy.

ReefHog10 · Mar 20, 2023

I had one I really enjoyed. I added a qt’d starry blenny and around the same time I had a tuxedo urchin covering the whole where he always slept for about 24 hours. This was two weeks ago and haven’t seen him since. Not sure what happened. He certainly looked healthy - wondering if the blenny got after him where he couldn’t get away. Sand bed already misses him.

LeannaBanana · Mar 20, 2023

I love this! My diamond is constantly burying two of my rocks towards the front of my display (near the front of his home cave). He's well fed and thriving, but loves to mix up the sand mountains as he sees fit.

Unrelated, a couple weeks ago when I went to my LFS, their Diamond Goby had created a giant 6-8" volcano in the middle of it's tank. I almost had to sit down in the store I was laughing so hard.

I love these little fish.

Juju2773 · Mar 21, 2023

Mark Gray said:
I

How long have you been ad your hobby? I just lost mine last week, he was around 4 years old. He jumped out. They need a large amount of food. One thing the next time you set up a tank rocks first and then sand. But the way you have it may help your hobby out, if your sand is clean there is not much for it to eat due to their active nature they use a lot of energy.

Hi Mark, I think its been about 6 months. My main structure is on the bottom, but i have about 3 inches of sand and alot of smaller rocks i added around it that are sitting on top of the sand. I make sure to drop pellets for him across the sandbed everyday, twice a day plus when i feed the other fish frozen mysis and spirulena brine he swims up high and goes after that too. Hes a real piglet. His belly is actually fat. I have a glass cover so he would have a hard time jumping out if he tried.

kevgib67 · Mar 21, 2023

Mine has the biggest personality in my tank! I love the white sand but not the unlevel sanded. He/she is the only fish in my tank that allows my skunk and blood cleaner shrimp clean it. Biggest pig in the tank, it is at the top of the tank when food is going to be dumped in and gets the majority of it. Pretty sure it would eat a chicken nugget if I threw it in.

ScubaFish802 · Mar 21, 2023

One thing I thought of reading your thread that I didn't see mentioned. You said the goby digs under the rocks and they sink down in the sandbed. Ideally you want your rocks on a solid surface - it would be a shame to have the goby shift rockwork and something takes a tumble into the glass

As long as the legs are on the bottom and stable they should do it

Juju2773 · Mar 21, 2023

ReefHog10 said:
I had one I really enjoyed. I added a qt’d starry blenny and around the same time I had a tuxedo urchin covering the whole where he always slept for about 24 hours. This was two weeks ago and haven’t seen him since. Not sure what happened. He certainly looked healthy - wondering if the blenny got after him where he couldn’t get away. Sand bed already misses him.

Yeah, i really wanted to add a starry blenny, but i heard they can get very territorial, and my diamond goby is already that way so i decided not to. Maybe yours is hiding.

Juju2773 · Mar 21, 2023

kevgib67 said:
Mine has the biggest personality in my tank! I love the white sand but not the unlevel sanded. He/she is the only fish in my tank that allows my skunk and blood cleaner shrimp clean it. Biggest pig in the tank, it is at the top of the tank when food is going to be dumped in and gets the majority of it. Pretty sure it would eat a chicken nugget if I threw it in.

Haha. Yeah... mine is loke that too. He gets most of the food.

Juju2773 · Mar 21, 2023

ScubaFish802 said:
One thing I thought of reading your thread that I didn't see mentioned. You said the goby digs under the rocks and they sink down in the sandbed. Ideally you want your rocks on a solid surface - it would be a shame to have the goby shift rockwork and something takes a tumble into the glass As long as the legs are on the bottom and stable they should do it

Well, my main structure is on the bottom, but not the smaller surrounding rocks. (I want to be able to move the smaller ones around according to what the coral attached to them likes). The trouble is my sandbed is 3 inches or more thick and he likes to dig all the way to the glass bottom around the entire base everyday and clear out every spot that would create a cave. He claims all the caves and puts shells over the entrances and if another fish tries to use it, he will fill it in with sand again. Then dig it out all over again the next day. The only space he hasnt been able to claim is the small end where my dracula goby lives with a pair of candycane pistol shrimp. And it seems to drive him crazy. I have to help them out by pulling sand back in place occasionally when the diamond goby tries to dig them out, every few days.

xiongsy · Mar 21, 2023

Great idea! But what do you feed him? Drop pellets to the sand? Frozen?

Gumbies R Us · Mar 21, 2023

That's a really neat idea!!

Juju2773 · Mar 21, 2023

LeannaBanana said:
I love this! My diamond is constantly burying two of my rocks towards the front of my display (near the front of his home cave). He's well fed and thriving, but loves to mix up the sand mountains as he sees fit.

Unrelated, a couple weeks ago when I went to my LFS, their Diamond Goby had created a giant 6-8" volcano in the middle of it's tank. I almost had to sit down in the store I was laughing so hard.

I love these little fish.

Hahaha.. thats too funny. Id love to have seen that.

Juju2773 · Mar 21, 2023

xiongsy said:
Great idea! But what do you feed him? Drop pellets to the sand? Frozen?

Mostly PE pellets. And seaweed extreme for my turbos, but he eats those too.

Sleeping Giant · Mar 21, 2023

I want one of these fish soon

karsa · Mar 21, 2023

How bad is yours

Juju2773 said:
Do you have a destructive diamond goby? Heres my solution. I have a 75 gallon tank with alot of live rock. My first fish was a diamond goby. He became possessive over the sandbed. I thought he was great.. keeping my sand all clean and free of algae. He is also very entertaining. He rearranges my sandscape everyday and i rake it back smooth again every evening. But now that i have decided to add corals, he is a monster! All of those same behaviors have become a nightmare. He digs under every rock until it sinks to the bottom, then he tosses sand over the top. Anyways.... after alot of frustration and a bunch of new coral frags on the way, i have finally come up with a solution that i just had to share. I basically pulled out every rock that wasnt my main structure and glued rubble rock on each, adding legs basically. So now , even if he digs them out, they will never sink below sand level. It has been about a week and so far so good. He seems to not even really bother the ones i added legs to. Only the ones sitting on the sand. So now i can put my faster growing frags on my smaller rocks! Yes! I am so happy i found a solution and still get clean sand and didnt have to rehome my fish. Here are some pictures. One, shows what he does to rocks on the sand, tossing sand on top., and the others are my rocks on legs. He just swims right past them. Now i just have to figure out how to get him to stop digging out the hole my tiny dracula goby and candycane shrimp pair all three live in! Haha.

Do you have concerns about it dropping sand on corals near the bottom? I really want one but I'm afraid for my scolys, plates, wellsos, etc.

Juju2773 · Mar 21, 2023

karsa said:
How bad is yours

Do you have concerns about it dropping sand on corals near the bottom? I really want one but I'm afraid for my scolys, plates, wellsos, etc.

Sadly, I wont be able to sit anything directly on the sand. He will without a doubt, cover it with sand. Ive seen him even grab my snails in his mouth and fling them to a different spot , then go spit sand on them. Its a shame, because several of the corals id like sit directly on the sand or plate out on the sand. But ultimately, the fish score a little higher in rank for me so im trying to live with him and try out just placing some corals on rocks. I do have to give him credit, he does a great job of keeping my sand white and clean. Ive had diatoms and green hair algae and not even a little was able to live on my sandbed.
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