does my goby have to go?

[reefsRcool]

i two weeks i will be setting up my new 75 with a DSB using southdown 4" in the main tank and 7" in the 15 gallon refugium. will be seeding it with a couple of cups from some local guys and probably a starter kit from inlandaquatics.com. I need to cure some rock too so i will not put fish in the new tank for a few weeks which should give the sand a head start. my only concern is about the sifting nature of my beloved brown bar goby. he has the coolest personality but as you know is a big pod muncher. I'm hoping my refugium will work well enough to compensate for whatever he munches down, but don't know if that is resonable. if you have any experiance with any sand sifting fish with a DSB please respond. just as a side note my current tank is mostly CC and the pod population is still quite large in it.

 

[SPC]

If the fish is a sand sifter then he is doing this for one reason, to eat. IMO in a 75 gallon tank this goby will have a definite impact on the sand critters.
Steve

 

[Len]

Personally, I'd remove the goby too. They're terribly efficient sifters and will make quick work of your substrate's infauna.

 

[reefsRcool]

shoot, i really like that guy. what a personality. What about a pearly jawfish do they sift or just dig? are there any fish that burrow that will not desimate sand life?

 

[SPC]

A jawfish is fine, they are not sand sifters.
Steve

 

[Mouse]

The only reason why a DSB is deep is to provide an Oxygen free layer for total denitrification. If you have a fish that burrows into that layer you will introduce Oxygen and kill all of the oxygen free de-nitrifying bacterea within. This will effectively crash the sand bed causing the release of many nutrients. If you want to have a burrow building fish i suggest you have a normal 1 inch layer of sand in the main aquarium, and where you would like the jaw fish to build, place a nice selection of broken coral bits and tiny pieces of rock. This way you can allmost select where the fish goes and you have no danger of the DSB looseing its denitrificating properties because the only one you will have is in the refugeum (in refuge from such a critter).

 

[SPC]

Good point Mouse, I was thinking of my 180 when I posted that . I am of the opinion that if you have enough sand surface then a small disturbance such as a Jawfish will be negligible.
Steve

 

[Anemone]

I agree with SPC - jawfish are fairly localized diggers, and a 75 should provide enough sand area that a jawfish won't crash the sandbed. Also, 1" of substrate isn't enough for a jawfish - 4-6" is really better.

Kevin

 

[reefsRcool]

i don't really expect the new tank to cycle very hard. if i add the jawfish relatively early before the DSB establishes then there won't be that release if he disturbs the lower layers right. am i correct to assume he will dig his home once and then leave the sand be?

 

[squeezix]

Maybe, if you are lucky. Sometimes they dig a spot, almost set it up just right.......and voila! The next day they are making a hole somewhere else. FWIW they will only make a few holes. They leave the majority of your sand bed intact. Provide lots of marble and smaller size rocks, shells, dead coral for him to build. When it looks like he's done, add more rubble.

 

[SPC]

Posted by reefsRcool:

am i correct to assume he will dig his home once and then leave the sand be?

-No, IMO there is a good chance he will dig more than one hole.
Steve

 

[lesbill]

If I had it to do over I'd have gotten rid of my Black Neon Goby (about 8"long) and a coral cat (about 5" long). I kept them 'cause I'd had them for so long and they always kept the crushed coral clean when I had the UGF. Now with a DSB it sure is clean but it gets landscaped constantly and I'm sure the little animals have been eaten...