High Tide Aquatics

Best sand sifting Goby for 40 gallon tall tank

FreahSaltyGuy

FreahSaltyGuy

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Good morning all,

I was wanting to add a orange spotted Goby to my 40 gal reef tank. Is this a good choice or is there another goby that works better? I want to be sure the goby I go with doesn't damage the coral or disturb other tank mates.
Thank you!
 

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I have a net lid yes. The only coral on the sand be but on a small rubble piece is this guy and currently these firework guys on rocks will go on the bed soon.
 

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A sand sifting goby will need a lot more area of sand as they will easily clean out all the food in your entire sand bed in less than a day as you don't have much since the rock work takes most of your floor surface and you already have a tall format tank giving a smaller than usual floor dimension than a regular 40gal 3ft wife tank. A bunch of nasarrius snails would be a better fit. Keep in mind given your tank dimensions, a lot of the rules that are usually "stretched" and searching will lead you to believe "yes I can pull that off in a 40gal, it's not that much smaller than what people recommend" will not apply to your tank due to the dimensions. (I did this quite a bit with my 45gal 3ft long tank as I was very eager, hence why I'm mentioning it)

Also this is what I was mentioning about just having proper flow along the substrate and that alone would do majority of the work of keeping the sand clean as it won't allow detritus to settle in any spot and will also keep the sand clear of cyano (in most cases) and algae.
 
Arvin R said:
A sand sifting goby will need a lot more area of sand as they will easily clean out all the food in your entire sand bed in less than a day as you don't have much since the rock work takes most of your tank. A bunch of nasarrius snails would be a better fit.

Also this is what I was mentioning about just having proper flow along the substrate and that alone would do majority of the work of keeping the sand clean as it won't allow detritus to settle in any spot and will also keep the sand clear of cyano (in most cases) and algae.
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Ok got it. Thanks glad I asked :). Man now I know why people upgrade tanks so quickly after falling in love with the hobby lol. Now just need to convince the wife that I'm not crazy in about a year or 2 lol
 
FreahSaltyGuy said:
Ok got it. Thanks glad I asked :). Man now I know why people upgrade tanks so quickly after falling in love with the hobby lol. Now just need to convince the wife that I'm not crazy in about a year or 2 lol
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It only took me half a year to go from 1 tank to 10. Then a year from starting I went from a 45gal to a 225 gal. If you end up learning quickly but making sure it's good information, follow the standard "reefing rules" by not trying to push the limits with your ideas (trust us, whatever crazy idea you're thinking that seems to work amazing in your head has been tried before and if it wasn't great results is never mentioned or talked about again in most cases), enjoy the hobby, and have the pockets to support the addiction, then you will have all the tools here you need to succeed.
 
Kensington Reefer said:
Don’t waste the funds on intermediate tanks
If you think you’re gonna get a bigger one, just get the bigger and save the money
Also...
Keep fewer fish, longer!
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This advice is definitely a great one to follow! The amount of work that goes into setting up a new tank, transferring live stock and breaking down the old tank is a task that should be limited by planning out your upgrade path.

I'd say an intermediate tank is fine if it will be kept running for 3-4 years before the next upgrade, but that usually doesn't end up happening. You'll upgrade (let's say to a 100gal as an intermediary tank, but your end game you want 200+) then within a year you'll end up overstocked the 100g and then saying I need more room now. You can see how this can be a dangerous path because then who's to say once you get the 200 you won't want bigger? Lol.
 
Has anyone kept an orange marked/crosshatch goby before?

My experience is that valencienna and amblygobius gobies sift sand. But... valencienna (like diamond) are too big and bury everything. Amblygobius (like rainfords) are too small to do any meaningful sifting with the exception of bullet/brown bar gobies which are huge and bury everything like valencienna.

Crosshatch seems to be an in-between size. Wondering if anyone has experience.
 
CaptainB said:
Has anyone kept an orange marked/crosshatch goby before?

My experience is that valencienna and amblygobius gobies sift sand. But... valencienna (like diamond) are too big and bury everything. Amblygobius (like rainfords) are too small to do any meaningful sifting with the exception of bullet/brown bar gobies which are huge and bury everything like valencienna.

Crosshatch seems to be an in-between size. Wondering if anyone has experience.
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I just had a tiger shark goby (who either jumped while the lid was off or died-no remains found) in a 55 gallon. He/she was perfect. Didn’t dig big holes in the sand and move it all around.


They will bury corals if on the sandbed however.
 
I found a crosshatch so giving it a go since I didn't want a bulldozer diamond goby, even in my 110.

Not doing much sifting yet but only been in for a day.
 

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