Diamond Goby making a mess

[lisaFL]

I just bought a small Diamond Goby, and he is digging, and eating and cleaning and debris is flying everywhere and my water is full of sand particles. Good idea to keep him?

[Chad Vossen]

how long has the sand been in the tank? new sand seems to remain suspended in the water longer than old sand. you could get a hang on tank magnum (H.O.T MAGNUM), i use this to clean the water when i stirr up the sandbed. it can turn dirty water crystal clear within 5 mins(on my 10 gal).

[EdKruzel]

That depends on several topics:

Do you have a shallow sand bed?
Will it eat prepared foods?
Is this a reef tank and if so, are there any corals on or near the sand bed?

Sand sifters dig too much for a DSB (3'' or deeper), not only do they disturb the chemical balance, but decimate all of the fauna required to maintain a DSB properly.

This type of goby will derive the majority of its food from the sand; the problem here is that in most average aquariums, that isn't enough sand surface area to sustain a single goby for any amount of time. If they don't accept prepared foods, it will die.

If there are corals on or near the bottom of the tank, the sifting and releasing of the sand will coat any coral under it, which can irritate and possibly kill it if not kept clean.

[PONCHDOG2000]

same thing happened to me, i attributed this sand storm to my sand being real fine. at the fish store the diamond gobies are in tanks with really large grains of sand. i got rid of mine.

[english83]

Both of my yellow watchman and diamond went crazy for flake food. They would sift but they both went nuts when it was feeding time.

[lisaFL]

He eats prepared food. I will see how he does. My coral are fine for now.