Swimming sandsifter....

pitmam01 · Sep 23, 2007

My new sandsifter hovers about 2 inches above the sandbed. While he is fabulous as far as cleaning the sand goes, he filters the sand on top of the corals that sit on the bottom of the tank. Is that bad for the corals?? Can they still send their tentacles out for feeding or does it "clog" them up, lol?? I have two fungia's and various mushrooms that are getting "dumped" on.

Snowboarda42 · Sep 24, 2007

It'll definitely irritate them, but its not too much work to blow them off with a turkey baster. Look for a way to get them off the sand, maybe with a baseball size LR or something

bbehring · Sep 24, 2007

What type of goby? My orange diamond does an excelent job and doesn't get it all over the place.

pitmam01 · Sep 24, 2007

It's some kind of blenny. Has the body type of a Striped blenny. He's about 2 inches long. Mostly grey, pink tail, blue markings on his face, big mouth.

Snowboarda42 · Sep 24, 2007

I think that blennies almost always eat (yes eat) a small amount of sand to aid in digestion. I believe this is mostly seen in algae eating blennies (Lawnmower, Starry, etc.) but I could be wrong. You might want to post up a picture of him to help ID what kind he is and we can fill you in more as to what their general behavior tends to be.

pitmam01 · Sep 25, 2007

Ok, so now that I'm off the crack pipe (lol), I found out that what I have is a Dragon Goby. I have never had cleaner sand, it looks brand new!! He is obviously an over achiever!!! He is extremely passive and just goes about doing his own thing. He likes to hover above my dragonette and dump sand on him. Maybe he's trying to bury him!!

bbehring · Sep 25, 2007

ah ha, yes, dragon gobies are natorius sand carriers. Common behavior my friend. Beautiful fish, but they disperse sand everwhere due to their hovering instincts.