gobies again

hey guys
havent been on for awhile
site looks great mat

remember how i had the trouble with the goby ?
well, ive had jus two occelaris clowns for a few months now, and my sand bed is well over 6 months old, like u suggested it should b b4 i try again.
the only gobies that i have come across have been gold headed sleeper gobies and engineer gobies and as far as i have seen engineer gobies dont clean the sand in ur tank, thats mainly wat im after, something to keep the sand clean, it gets really dirty really quickly.
do u have any other suggestions ??

thanx

[Matt Rogers]

Hmmm... speaking from my experience the only one I can personally recommend is the Diamond Goby. But if you can't get it, you can't get. I am pretty sure Karla has the ones you mentioned, maybe she can tell you about those.

If you can't get any gobies from around you or shipped, there are other fish and things that may help. Some people don't like gobies because they munch on bugs. I am ok with that because I think the balance is still there, especially with a lot of rock, but others aren't. But I think I've told you that before.

(Glad you like the site! I thought you fixed your computer, what's up with the 'guest' post?)


matt

thanx mat
yeh, i thought it was fixed to, ive got no idea anymore
what other fish do u suggest ? ? ?
the only other fish ive seen that does a similar job is the blenny, not sure wat sort, but they look like boring fish ? am i right ?

[Wrassman]

What's up grasshopper?

Have you thought about some small, red-legged hermit crabs? The red-legged, or scarlet-legged variety are fairly peaceful little critters, and they do a pretty good job on your sand. I have a bunch of these guys in my tank as part of my "clean-up crew" and they do a good job of cleaning things up.

Another thing you might consider is a few Nassarius snails. Now, I know that sounds ridiculous, SNAILS Believe me, these little guys eat a ton of detritus from your sand. Most of the time they stay burrowed, underneath your sand. But, when it's feeding time, they come out and start eating, any left over food that the fish leave. Well, anything that the fish leave.[smiley=toilet.gif]
It's really cool to watch them come out of the sand too.

If no one in your area can get them, try JP at www.justphish.com. Tell him [glow=red, 3, 300]Wrassman[/glow] told you to call him and he'll treat you right.

HTH

thanx wrassman

i live in aus, so it may b a bit hard to order from that joint
but ill go for a drive out to me local reef shop an see wat hes got, an possibly if he can order some crabs or snails in for me.
im still a big fan of the goby but, there a beautiful fish an really cool to watch.
thanx guys [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

[karlas]

i like the nassarious snails also but also maby some fighting conchs they are great they burrow and suck the sand with there trunks looks like a trunk on and elephant. the engineer gobies do burrow mine seem to stay under the rock and dig they havent dug anything out from the rock. also with those guys or yellow headed sleeper gobies is your rock how did you put it in the tank? if it is on top of the sand they can burrow so much out and make your rock fall over. i had originally planned on some type of burrowing fish and had put the rock on the glass then added the sand.

[Gresham]

OK guys, he said he's an aussie, the inverts listed above, generally don't get exported to his local. *Convict blennies aka engineer gobies move plenty of sand around. *Probably the same amount as the G. H. Sleeper. *Neither actually eat the detritus, just move it under the sand or into the water colomn. *Both eat micro inverts and other lil critters in the sand, but not detritus. *I'd give the engineer a try as GHSG tend to not do to well. *But keep in mind that it may grow to a foot (couple years). *They have a "reverse" gear, swimming both forwards and backwards when needed. *I'm really surprised you (Grasshopper) can't find many gobies or blennies in your local as its got tons of different ones in it's waters(the aussies developed the current collection methods used globally to collect small fish). *keep your ear to the ground grasshopper, I bet you'll find some more. *I'll contact the aussie collectors I know and ask them what stores you (Grasshopper) should be looking for/going to. *It'll take me some time, we (well, me)are still setting up systems (14 hours a day + 2 hours of commuting), probalby 2 weeks.

Gresham

ps. *karla is right, make sure your rock work is secure.

[karlas]

i really like my engineer gobies. but they hide all the time until i get the food out then they come out to eat. there both about a foot long now and you dont even know there in there. its funny if someones looking at the tank and i put food in there like ACCK what was that because these foot long fish come out of nowhere then dissapear again. they do stay under the rock but theres always new piles of sand moved around and there constantly cleaning there burrows out. they do dig and dig and dig even with there size they are good community fish and are even being tank raised

[Anemoneman]

Foot long gobies! Do you have a pic of these monsters?

thanx guys
i dont have much live rock in my tank, its only small so there are only 2 big bits an a smaller bit. rock is expensive.i need a job, havin a license is a good way to chew up funds, lol.
since my tank is only small, how long will it take these eng gobies to grow to a foot ? theyd take up half my tank, i need somethin that aint gonna grow to rapidly.
thanx gresham, im gonna try an get out to me local lfs this week an see wat they got, i havent been to em in a few weeks
thanx again