Goby Pistol Combo

[buttered loins]

Hi Guys/Girls

Prob be answered a thousand times but whats the best combo of Pistol Shrimp & Goby for keeping a reef set up tanks sand clean. I know the yellow watchman and tiger pistol shrimp is a good combo but do they clean the entire tank sand floor.

Cheers

 

[TL1000RSquid]

none of the pairs really clean the sand, more the shrimp kicking sand up when tunneling, and for the most part stick to specific area. Decorated, Two Spot, and Sleeper gobies will sift sand but they do not pair with shrimp.

 

[buttered loins]

need some sort of gobie to sift the sand but sleeper are to hard to keep and spray gravel everywhere. Any other fish that actively sift sand but dont require it aas its only food source.

 

[greech]

Diamond gobies are probably the most popular sand sifting fish in the hobby. The sand bed is not their only food source as they will eat prepared foods as well. They will also pair with pistols. However, they will definitely will sift a ton of sand regardless of how much you feed them and they will make a mess.

As with most situations, buying a fish to serve a particular purpose is generally not a good idea as their is often a trade off for their services. I'm not sure what is in/on your sand that you want cleaned up but fighting conchs are excellent detrivors and are very low maintence. Just take your time acclimating them. The other option is to siphon your sand when you do a water change which I would do regardless of conchs, etc. Another thought is increasing flow in the tank as significant accumulation of detritus suggests insufficient water movement to suspend material where filters/skimmers can get to it.

 

[TL1000RSquid]

Just noticed your sig, greech is right about the flow in the tank it looks like you have 100g tank with around 600gph circulation, that's way to little I've run nano's with more then that.

 

[buttered loins]

Sorry yeah that sig is old. I have a Red Sea 250 Max, which has decent water flow. I was in the process of setting it up, starting from scratch, and was just thinking of stocking it with the right fish and coral.

 

[TL1000RSquid]

Ah like greech said most of the gobies that do sift make a mess of it and kick up sand all over not good if you have any coral on the surface or near. I just rely on my snails and hermits to take care of things between water changes where ill try to suck up any detris.

The redsea 250 is a nice setup but still would add an extra pump or replace the stock, its got 1200LPH return pump and 2400LPH circulation, I'd add something like a wp40 or put the 2400 away as a spare and use a WP60.

 

[buttered loins]

Thanks Squid good idea. I wont be able to access all areas with the siphon hose so I will hope these snails you guys mentioned will help out there in that regard. Also whats the limit would you say for a reef/Coral set up tank in regards to fish load. Saying that the fish are all approx. small (5cm or less)

 

[greech]

Probably 6 to 8 fish depending on size. If all you have is the stock return pump, you need more flow.

 

[TL1000RSquid]

The main problem with number of fish is finding compatible ones, many of the little nano guys are kind of loners and wont tolerate other fish of similar shape, good filtration and skimmer I'd probably stock it with a bit more then greech suggested if I was able to find the right fish.. maybe 6 misc(single species) and small school of cardinals(5-6) cardinals would all need to be added at the same time though.