golden headed sleeper goby ruining my tank?

[kevin kaplan]

I purchased a golden headed sleeper goby last week, hoping he would help whiten up my sand bed. He does clean the sand, but he also makes the tank extremely cloudy. He takes a mouth full of sand and ascends to the top of the tank while he shakes the sand out of his gills. The powerheads get ahold of some of the dust and now I have an extremely cloudy tank. He does this faster than the filters can clean the stuff. I already lost an open brain coral. My live rock is all covered in sand, and my anemone has moved from a spot he was in for weeks. Does anybody know if the goby will eventually calm down and keep the sand at the bottom, or is this completely normal and consistent behavior for one of these? Should I get rid of him?

[amphirion]

it's a constant behavior for them. I had one that killed a finger leather and other little frags that I had on the bottom of the tank. Good luck to catch him, they can swim pretty fast...

[kevin kaplan]

thanks.......i guess. that is my fear. I did some research and never found that fact. I should have looked harder

[The Saltwater Kid]

You're going to have to tear your tank apart trying to catch him. Your best bet would be to try a fish trap down on the sand bed near one of his holes and bait it with some food he prefers and catch him that way. Any Sleeper Goby will sift sand so unless you want piles of sand everywhere I wouldn't get another!