Sand Sifting Goby

[ilott]

Hello,

Would you guys say my goby is healthy? I’ve never seen him look unhealthy, but i’ve seen lots of stuff about people not being able to keep them. Kinda got me worried. Just need some professional opinion, don’t want to be starving him. Looks like a chunky boy to me.

 

[DaneGer21]

For some reason I cannot view/load your pictures.

...must be my phone/mobile site

 

[X-37B]

Looks good. Just make sure it eats.
My diamond goby eats every time I feed.
Mine is in my frag tank so it easily gets food.
Their are only 2 other fish so not much competition.

 

[Rmckoy]

Can’t see the pictures

 

[X-37B]

Can’t see the pictures

I can see them?

 

[RedFrog211]

If you’re on iOS/mobile, hold down on the attachments and select “download attached files” then press the down arrow by the refresh button to access the files.

 

[RedFrog211]

I would say he’s healthy- Beautiful colors!! How long have you had him?

 

[ilott]

For some reason I cannot view/load your pictures.

...must be my phone/mobile site

I can't see them on my phone and I uploaded them aha. Must be something to do with apple or safari maybe?

 

[ilott]

I would say he’s healthy- Beautiful colors!! How long have you had him?

Thank you! October 4th was my first photo of him so I'm assuming that day. So just over 3 months now. He does have 40lbs of sand to sift through all by himself, which may be why I've been "successful" with one.

 

[ilott]

Looks good. Just make sure it eats.
My diamond gony eats every time I feed.
Mine is in my frag tank so it easily gets food.
Their are only 2 other fish so not much competition.

Thank you! He gets the odd couple of pellets/frozen food that my fish don't get, also he has a fair amount of sand to sift through. I only have 2 other fish in my tank as well, it's sort of been rough here in the UK, we've been in lockdown three times since March last year, been to my LFS once

 

[X-37B]

If your tank is 24" deep, my frag is 12", you can put some mysis in a turkey baster to get it to the bottom.
Their wont be much to eat unless your sand is live sand or the tanks a year plus old.
Making sure it get enough food will ensure its long term survival.
You can see mine in the bottom right hand corner.

 

[ilott]

If your tank is 24" deep, my frag is 12", you can put some mysis in a turkey baster to get it to the bottom.
Their wont be much to eat unless your sand is live sand or the tanks a year plus old.
Making sure it get enough food will ensure its long term survival.
You can see mine in the bottom right hand corner.

It was live sand that I placed in the tank, I wouldn't imagine starting a tank without live sand. I've just put some frozen mysis in the tank near him and he eat them all up!

 

[attiland]

If you’re on iOS/mobile, hold down on the attachments and select “download attached files” then press the down arrow by the refresh button to access the files.

Life saver. I never worked this out....

 

[ilott]

Life saver. I never worked this out....

I've always struggled as well, this is an absolute godsend.

 

[ilott]

If your tank is 24" deep, my frag is 12", you can put some mysis in a turkey baster to get it to the bottom.
Their wont be much to eat unless your sand is live sand or the tanks a year plus old.
Making sure it get enough food will ensure its long term survival.
You can see mine in the bottom right hand corner.

Quick question, in my old tank, I had lots and lots of little critters either copepods or amphipods, i’m assuming they came with the live sand. I’ve had this tank up for about 4 months and i haven’t seen any! I even come and snoop around whilst the lights are out to see if I can see any. This little guy won’t be eating them before they can grow will he? 40lbs of sand all to himself?

 

[maccyg]

I've got a Diamond Goby just like yours, I've had him for about 18 months and he's doing great - he looks very similar in size to yours so I wouldn't worry. I also have tons of critters in my sand, amphipods / copepods and some bristle worms and whilst he is constantly sifting through the sand he has never depleted the populations. My tank isn't that big either - it's a 24"x24"x24" cube. I heard a few horror stories about gobies being out competed for food but he's always managed to eat without any issues

 

[ilott]

I've got a Diamond Goby just like yours, I've had him for about 18 months and he's doing great - he looks very similar in size to yours so I wouldn't worry. I also have tons of critters in my sand, amphipods / copepods and some bristle worms and whilst he is constantly sifting through the sand he has never depleted the populations. My tank isn't that big either - it's a 24"x24"x24" cube. I heard a few horror stories about gobies being out competed for food but he's always managed to eat without any issues

Oh very nice! I’m assuming you used live sand aswell? So I imagine i’ve just been unlucky to not see them or they haven’t matured to the point that they’re visible, my tank is 36 x 24

 

[maccyg]

No I didn't use live sand but wish I had!

I started my tank with just standard 1mm grain sand (reefflowers I think it was called) and dry rock (previously live but I bought it second-hand and all life on it was dead). It took aaaaaaages for the tank to cycle and get going properly but that's understandable as I started with a complete blank slate. I dose the tank with copepods twice a week as I have a mandarin dragonet which probably helped to boost things but I think it took about 12 months before I started to see things crawling in the sand once the lights were out.

 

[Josh@BVA]

looks good. try adding some sinking pellets or something like coral gumbo to your feeding. particles will fall to the sand and he will be able to sift the sand to eat it thoughout the day

 

[ilott]

No I didn't use live sand but wish I had!

I started my tank with just standard 1mm grain sand (reefflowers I think it was called) and dry rock (previously live but I bought it second-hand and all life on it was dead). It took aaaaaaages for the tank to cycle and get going properly but that's understandable as I started with a complete blank slate. I dose the tank with copepods twice a week as I have a mandarin dragonet which probably helped to boost things but I think it took about 12 months before I started to see things crawling in the sand once the lights were out.

Same here thinking about it, it was almost the 12 month mark before I noticed critters, I hadn't dosed anything into my old tank and you have a mandarin as well? How do they get along? I really want a dragonette. Hence the urge to get this tank established.