Are there any sand-sifting gobies that aren't jumpers?

[Gibbous]

Sadly I just lost a Diamond Goby that jumped out of my tank when I wasn't home. I thought I had the top of my tank pretty well covered, but it still found a way through.

I liked the job he was doing on my sand, and I'd like another fish that can serve the same purpose but I'm worried that I can't seal my tank well enough to keep a fish that tends to jump in the water over the long term. Are there any fish out there that do the same thing, but don't jump as much?

As far as sealing the tank goes, it's an acrylic bowfront and the top panel has bowed upward a little bit so it's not a flat surface, and the slot on the rear is full of piping so it would be tough to get all the gaps filled.

 

[Jack1243]

i dont know, but did you have a problem with him getting sand on your corals?

 

[Gibbous]

Not really, but it was only in there for a couple days. Most of my coral is at least 6" up from the sand so I wasn't too worried about it. It made a little cloud of sand but it wasn't too bad even though my sand is pretty fine.

 

[Catpicklesdog]

In my experience, all fish can jump (I've lost a few that way). Have you rtried eggcrate? It can easily be cut to the shape of your tank.

 

[Gibbous]

Eggcrate would probably work to fill in the gaps in the rear slot where all my plumbing runs, but I don't really want to use it over the main opening. I've heard people say it blocks light and my tank isn't terribly bright as it is. Maybe if I just cut it to rest exaclty in the opening it wouldn't block that much?

I'm also toying with some ideas of how I could build something out of clear acrylic that would effectively block off the main opening without limiting light or gas exchange.

There's another thread going in the Inverts section right now on a similar topic that made me think I should just go for some different kinds of snails instead. If the pods that live in the sand and the different layers that are created over time are that important to the function of the sandbed maybe the goby wouldn't be a good choice after all. My sand is only about 2" deep though, does anyone know if that makes a difference?

 

[7itanium]

egg crate should hardly block light TBH

the part of the crate facing upward is only like 1/32 of an inch wide

 

[Gibbous]

I picked up a sheet of eggcrate yesterday and spend a few hours cutting it up. I guess it doesn't block too much light, but I can see a little bit of a difference.

Still not sure if I'm going to stick with this and get another diamond goby, or go in another direction altogether. Decisions, decisions...