Sand Sifter advice needed...

[Slamajamajama]

First let me tell you that my new wrasse i got from homewrecker is real nice, its a Halichoeres nebulosus - Nebulous wrasse...i noticed it was looking especially healthy lately when BAM!...BAM!,BAM!.... there he was nailing the hell out of a nassarious snail....

so my question is, rather than get rid of the wrasse, what other sand sifters for sand maintenance can i get to co habitate with this and any future wrasses.
i have a 20g nano so cant be too big...

thxs

 

[Awibrandy]

Sandsifter star fish.

 

[JHOV2324]

get a pistol shrimp....

 

[muntai]

cucumber

sand sifter star will eat up all life(worm,amphs,codpods,etc) in the sand

 

[NYreefNoob]

Cucumber, Sand Sifting Starfish, More Hermits To Mix The Sandbed Up.

 

[drperetz]

...

yo M. I have cucumbers in every tank....They do an amazing job on sifting the bed.
I use a tigertail, and 1 in black simmilar species.

:grouphug:

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how is the guitar thing progressing?

 

[Slamajamajama]

get a pistol shrimp....

a pistol shrimp for sand sifting?...hov ur a funny guy

thxs A, might do that

ny...wrasses nail hermits as well, but others i might concider

Gene, duno about cucumbers...something bugs me about how the sand looks when it comes out the other end...lol

 

[DevIouS]

a pistol shrimp for sand sifting?...hov ur a funny guy

Actually a Pistol Shrimp & Goby will sift more sand than snails, although not all areas of the tank.

 

[Slamajamajama]

thxs filly...maybe just a nice gobie will do the job...hmmmm

 

[marrone]

Actually a Pistol Shrimp & Goby will sift more sand than snails, although not all areas of the tank.

Yes and they'll tunnel under your corals and rocks, not to mention buried some of you corals. Every morning I have to dig out some of my corals.

 

[yeahcheetah]

Does nassarious snail sift sand?

 

[caad3]

Sea cucumbers

Are they easy to care for? I heard they can be toxic if they die?

 

[Deanos]

Are they easy to care for? I heard they can be toxic if they die?

SeaCukes

 

[Deanos]

Does nassarious snail sift sand?

Depends on your definition of sift. They do not "sift" the sand looking for food, but burrow themselves in it as a means of protection from predators.

 

[fali]

Sand sifting gobies are good to get(probably one of the best sandsifters), but feeding them might be a chore if you got larger fish cause they get frightened easily. I had 1 and it died due to starvation. The reason is every time i put food(even pellets that sink to the bottom) the larger fish would go after it. Then when the goby sees this they dash into their hiding place and only come out when the fish leave but the food is devoured as well. My tank was too deep and big to spot feed them too. I got the same problem with my snails getting eaten from my yellow dottyback. I would just buy more of the ilynasa(spelling?) snails. The ones with the black olivepit-like shells. They are hardy, safe and cheap. You can get like 200 of them for 40 bucks shipping included.

 

[OctaviousMonk]

Sea Cukes:

Introduction/Acclimation:
A major area/occasion for problems/disasters with the group. Under the "wrong" conditions/circumstances like rough handling, objectionable water quality, pheromonal cue-ing, pushy tankmates, pump/siphon intakes, sea cucumbers are known to eviscerate. Hey, one of my favorite terms... basically cast out their respiratory trees, gonads, gastro-intestinal and it's contents, most everything but the kitchen sink through their mouth and anus. This can be a very big bummer as they say in the sciences, with consequent poisoning/pollution/death & destruction to all other desirable tank-system-mates. Australasian "sea-apples" species are particularly notorious for this hobby-ending activity.
Some other species have a further refinement to this anti-predation mechanism, using what are called Cuvierian Organs (shades of my favorite French paleozoologist, Georges Cuvier!). These sticky fibers being discharged out their ends onto wannabe predators.
What To Do? #1, avoid these animals altogether; #2, if you can't/won't do #1, carefully (A) choose, (B) introduce new specimens and place in (C) suitable surroundings. #1, avoid these animals altogether; #2, if you can't/won't do #1, carefully (A) choose, (B) introduce new specimens and place in (C) suitable surroundings.

This is happened to my friends tank twice...he has a very thick skull and isn't too swift

 

[Slamajamajama]

noice OM..