ISO a sandsfiting fish that doesnt make a mess.

Ezra · Jan 5, 2016

Hi!
I am fairly new to the hobby and this forum. I am in search of a sand sifting fish that will clean my sand bed without making a huge mess.
I have a bunch of acans, favia and other coral and hate for the fish to spray sand all over them...
Any suggestions?
Also, should I add anything to my cleanup crew?
It is a 55G tank and as far as clean up goes I have:

3 Emerald Crabs
20 Hermit Crabs
1 Halloween Hermit
1 Sandsifting Star
20 Asteria Snails
10 Margarita Snails

melypr1985 · Jan 5, 2016

Most sifting fish will make a mess for you. The ones I can think of at the moment all will. You could get a conch or two or some nassarius snails to clean the sand bed for ya. They are pretty good at it. Besides, you dont want another animal that eats the fauna in your sand, or else your starfish will starve quicker. It may starve anyway, but you can always share him with a friend.... switch him out every couple months with a friend so your tanks have time to recover the microfauna it eats before returning it to your tank. Does that make sense? Nyquil is kicking in... must go to sleep...

Ezra · Jan 5, 2016

melypr1985 said:
Most sifting fish will make a mess for you. The ones I can think of at the moment all will. You could get a conch or two or some nassarius snails to clean the sand bed for ya. They are pretty good at it. Besides, you dont want another animal that eats the fauna in your sand, or else your starfish will starve quicker. It may starve anyway, but you can always share him with a friend.... switch him out every couple months with a friend so your tanks have time to recover the microfauna it eats before returning it to your tank. Does that make sense? Nyquil is kicking in... must go to sleep...

thanks for that, i will get those snails! good to know about moving the starfish... i actually have started another tank, so i might move him over there in a few months...
good night