Sand sifters

fireFISH

New Member
Over the last few months i've noticed some extra detritus forming in the middle to upper levels of my sand bed. im lookin for an invert or possibly even a fish, that can help me mix up the sand a bit. not sure if i want a horseshoe crab b/c of the fact that you really never see em'.
Any suggestions? Personnal opinions on horseshoe crabs??
 

incysor

New Member
I haven't tried horseshoes. I've got a sandsifting star in the 75 and the 40. I've also got a couple nassarius snails in each tank. That seems to do the trick. What size tank are you wanting this for? For nano's I'd say go with nassarius. There might not be enough stuff in a small tank to keep a starfish alive. The horseshoe crabs I've seen seemed to be pretty active and fairly large so the same might go for them.

B
 

incysor

New Member
ExiledInfidel666 said:
sand sifter goby, mole crabs
A sand sifter goby would be cool, as long as you see it eat flake or mysis/brine in the store. These guys normally get all their food by filtering the sand, and most of our sandbeds don't have enough food in them to support these guys for long. But if you can find one that'll eat other food grab it, cause they're great fun to watch.

I hadn't heard of mole crabs. Did a quick search, and they sound pretty good, but I'm not finding anyplace to buy them. Do you have a link to someone that sells them EI666?
 
:D yea they dont sell them but they live naturally over here near me, when I was little what you would do is sit on the wet sand and dig a hole, youl find a ton of them anywhere from 1/4 inch up to 1" long, very funny little things youl probably never see them but thats for the better, theres one in my sand bed somewhere, if I get to the beach il look for you and can ship them over, if not or their not their because of the cold if you want to wait till the mid spring il send anybody that wants them, they are execelet airraters of the sand as they dig borrows in the sand bed and eat all the crap in there to, let me know if your interested
 

Trogdor

New Member
One of the best sifter gobies is the Orange Diamond Goby. I have one and he tears it up in the sand. He decided one day to take the majority of the sand in my front corner and push it to the sides of a piece of LR that he hides under. I came home one day and saw what he did and was amazed at how much sand he had to move to accomplish the feat. I've never had an issue with him eating brine & mysis shrimp.

Last night I was watching him tunnel under his piece of LR and this snail kept going down his hole. I saw him pick that snail up and drag it out of the hole like 4-5 times. It was rather commical to see a fish carrying a snail in its mouth.

 

Sugar Magnolia

New Member
that's cool trogdor! I have a watchman goby that is constantly excavating his tunnnels and spitting sand all over my corals. kinda annoying at times, but t least my sand is being sifted.

I also have a small army of snass snails and some ceriths too that do a great job ant keeping my sand stirred.
 

Sugar Magnolia

New Member
From what I understand those mole crabs don't last long in our tanks. 6 months at best. They are pretty cool to watch dive under the sand though.
 
they dont last long in anything, very short life span, I just know this by experience, so I dont know the exact life time, just been diggin em up since I was, well born, 6 months actually seems pretty long
 
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