most benifical fish

[stonepilot]

which do you feel is the most benifical fish to a sand bottom reef tank no sps, and why. thank you and God bless.

 

[mmkeeper]

Are you looking to clean and mix up the sand bed?

A goby works weel for that. They will move the bed where ever they want it.

 

[stonepilot]

in general for the whole tank

 

[Jiddy]

Starfish filter the sand, Mandarians eat pods and CBButterflies eat aptasia

 

[Elmo18]

which do you feel is the most benifical fish to a sand bottom reef tank no sps, and why. thank you and God bless.

IMO, I don't think there is such a fish....but just my opinion...

If you're talking gobies, or any other sand dwelling fish, they eat and sift through sandbed creatures...

Best,
Ilham

 

[Gimpster]

Since getting my Decorated Goby my sand and rocks look spotless. There is absolutly no algea. The little guy sifts the sand, eats algea off the rocks, cruises for pods and has generaly improved the appearance and health of my tank IMO. As for eating benificial things in the sand, I am sure he gets his fare share but he only ever sift the top 1/4" of sand other then the tunnels he builds.

 

[steve-s]

Best thing isn't a fish but as Jiddy pointed out above, starfish. There are few if any sifting gobies I would suggest for a 29 gal tank. Look for instead black/orange brittle stars or banded serpent stars. They are of no risk to corals or fish and can be effectively target fed. Do not buy sandsifting stars.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Jiddy]

Why shouldnt you buy Sand Sifting stars Steve? Say that 10 times fast

 

[Krish]

I'd put a Tunze 3 inches from the bottom...That'll mix up some sand Other than that, I had a brittle star. He use to mix it up a bit, but I got rid of him when I got rid on the sand

 

[steve-s]

Why shouldnt you buy Sand Sifting stars Steve?

They'll just starve to death for the most part. That and you'll have a barren sandbed in pretty short order. :shock:

Say that 10 times fast

Before or after a bottle of red wine.... :lol:

Cheers
Steve

 

[Krish]

Before or after a bottle of red wine....

ROFL...:lol:

 

[NaH2O]

which do you feel is the most benifical fish to a sand bottom reef tank no sps, and why. thank you and God bless.

in general for the whole tank

That's a tough one for me to answer, because I think it depends on what you are targetting. Beneficial against algae, or stirring up substrate, or eating aiptasia, or just for viewing enjoyment. I think it all depends on what you like, and what is appropriate for the tank size and other inhabitants.

 

[MarineTeng]

what's good for algae? in terms of fish, i've heard lawnmower blennies are pretty good

 

[NaH2O]

Lawnmower blennies are fine, provided they have enough of a food source to keep them healthy, OR they are eating prepared foods (so when the nuisance algae is gone the fish will not starve). Depending on the tank size, rabbitfish are another good fish for algae.

 

[fishermann]

Like nikki says, you want to make sure the lawnmower blenny is eating prepared food because for sure there well not be enough algae in a 29 to sustain it unless it is out of control. A fox face is a good eater and doesn't get as big as a rabbit. I just gor rid of my virgate rabbit in my 230, he was getting big and had a very large appetite and would eat the majority of the food fed and in a hurry, and I believe to the detrement of some of the smaller fish which was afraid to get in his way. Even a foxface is pretty large for a 29 IMO. A flame angel is a very pretty fish, if you aren't going to have sps as you stated, and they well browse on the reef and don't require alot of food so you shouldn't have an algae issue.

 

[Sparks]

my sand sifting starfish always keel over in a few months.

i'd go with those sand-sifting snails...while they do deplete pods, they turn over sand all day and after 2 years or so, they're all still alive and eat everything ... these ones here: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1763

i had an ebili angel that, all day long, ate gobs of cynobacteria on my sand(swear on my kids life! it was nuts) when I had a bad outbreak. that was my most beneficial fish ever.

 

[Sk8r]

I think the best thing is to build up a wide variety of snails, worms, inverts in general, scarlet hermits, blues, conchs, and plan on natural things happening that this cast of characters will handle. Build up copepods, and amphipods, and so on, in populations sufficient to serve as a food reserve. Coralline. And then I'd get fish that get along together without overmuch stress---that's the healthiest kind of tank, imho, because stress brings diseases, brings medications, brings all sorts of problems which, again, just me, I'd rather not deal with.

The above said, yep, a rabbit is a good thing if there's algae, but mine's more elephant than rabbit. I have a scribbled rabbit, a little smaller than a virgate, and with a prodigious appetite. He cleaned out all the caulerpa in 2 days, and I can't believe I just bought more for him. I have a feeling he could go from 'really good idea' to 'really big fish' in my 52 real fast. The other fish (firefish, chromis) aren't spooked of him, but the big fellow just does create a bit of a wake when he goes through. I don't know what kind of a bioload in phosphate he creates when he demolishes bales of caulerpa. I fear I'm about to find out. So yes, there are valuable fish, fish that do really great jobs at certain things, and if caulerpa is your problem, a scribbled rabbit is your fish for the job, but I have this mental image of a salmon-sized fish sitting in my 52. He is at least very careful of the corals, a circumspect, well-mannered fellow. Venomous. But pleasant.