Sandsifting Blennines and Gobies

[LittleParr]

Which of the blennies and gobies are best to keep in a smaller size beginner aquarium (33-50g)? I am afraid of keeping species that sandsift alot because I won't be able to meet their dietary needs.

 

[TCTFish]

One of my favorite gobies is the Yellow watchman. Have a picture of one in my gallery. There's a wide variety of species. Some of the favorites are shrimp gobies...those that pair up with pistol shrimp. They form interesting symbiotic relationships. The shrimp digs the home and maintains it. The goby gets the food. A cute little shrimp goby is the filament goby. Perfect for smaller reefs. The shrimp we had pair with one of ours was a little red and white striped pistol. I don't remember the name of the shrimp, but they did well in a 35 hex reef.

A good blenny and a must in reef tanks is the lawnmower blenny...aka algae blenny. Bite for bite, these guys do a good job. Funny when they leave lip marks across the glass...LOL.

There are so many species of both types of fish...it'd take too long to list them all. Best thing to do is get yourself a good ID book on aquarium SW fish and inverts. I like the pocket expert guides. Easy to follow...outlined format information with good photos. They include compatibility and adult sizes. Two of the most important 'must know before purchasing' info.

BTW...are you building a reef?

 

[LittleParr]

I'm just having a fish-only tank. Will there be enough microorganisms and algae in the rocks for the lawnmower blenny in a 33g?

 

[TCTFish]

Lawnmower blennies are not restricted to algae for food. They will eagerly take other flake and frozen as well. Just make sure you have supplimental algae food like Formula Two. A few pieces of LR would help too. If you don't want to take that route, you can use regular aquarium rock like lace and/or lava rock to create LR. Don't need corals and special lighting to have a good fish only system. The rock will serve a number of purposes. Natural bio bacteria as well as natural shelter and help promote natural growth. The only downfall to LR whether fish only or those with inverts is that LR cannot be exposed to chemically based medications without losing the growth. Though eventually the growth that is lost on the rocks would return once the medications are removed from the system.

 

[melosu58]

I`d have to disagree. Today alone there are 3 post on people that lost there Lawnmowers. Most are restricted to eating algea and will die from starvation when it does run out. Read this post from earlier. and I dont doubt there are the few that do adapt to other forms of food but as Steve said they are the exception. This of course is IMO.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=69288

 

[TCTFish]

Every algae blenny I ever fed ate a variety of different foods. Algae of course is the main source of nutrition for them and there should always be supplimental algae food like Formula Two as mentioned in my previous post. Algae strips also make a good supplimental algae diet for when natural algae growth is low.

In my experience, if a lawnmower blenny dies of starvation, there are other causes like stress from being in a new environment and refusing to eat and internal parasites robbing the fish of it's nutrients...and of course if the care giver lags on feeding enough food, the fish can starve.

 

[AndyH5512]

I have had 2 yellow watchman gobies jump to their death. Unless you can cover your tank without overheating issues, beware that some fish are jumpers.....

 

[steve r]

i mentioned this another blenny/goby post as well. some jumping can be attributed to the sand and other rubble/substrate you have. goies and blennies are tide pool fish. if they dont like thier current enviroment ( no rubble ,wrong sand ) they will jump in an attempt to get into another near by tide pool

steve r

 

[melosu58]

We will just have to agree to disagree. For every story like the one your telling me I can show you 5 that were not a happy ending. I dont think that the stories that we have seen over the last couple days including that of Steve`s were not because of stress or bad conditions. I`ll match the water conditions of my tank with anybody on this site. You just got a lucky break by having yours make the switch.

 

[cmor1701d]

I have to agree with you. I had a bad case of hair algae a few months back. I got some big turbo grazers and a lawnmower blenny. Some oif the snails are still around but I have't seen the blenny in couple of months. He did a great job on the algae. I never did see him eat anything else

 

[oyf709]

sandshifting would be the dargon goby, it cleaned my sandbed in 2 days (75g)
its also call Sleeper Banded Goby (Amblygobius phalaena), and its very hardy.