Gobies

[rjcranor]

I have a 50 gallon tank and picked up a watchman gobie, to help keep my sand clean . Its not cleaning very well. Can I put a diamond watchman in there also.

[gregr]

The Watchman doesn't do a lot of sifting- mainly they just sit there and look cool. The Orange Spot Diamond Goby will sift like crazy and should be fine with the Watchman. Watchman Gobies can be territorial- might try to chase the other one away from it's home but nothing major.

[ingtar_shinowa]

probably not.

[650-IS350]

orange diamond, dragon goby or sleeper gobies are the best sifters out there.

[rjcranor]

I used to have a diamond goby and it died. My LFS said this watchman would also clean it. But it obviously can't keep up. Kinda like the little guy and didn't know if it would get along with the diamond.

[ilikefish34]

Your LFS was wrong about the cleaning habits of a the watchman (and cause for concern for taking their advice from now on... not that they are dishonest but that they may be lacking in knowledge) as they rarely venture more than a few inches from their claimed territory. The orange-spot diamond is an excellent sifter to the point that its diet will have to be supplemented with hardy frozen food such as blood worms and mysis or/also quality pellets. What type of watchman is it? If it's a small species (yellow, high-fin, randalli, etc.), then I would get a larger orange-spot and not worry about aggression. But if it's a larger species like the pink spot then there is still a decent chance of having both but I say it with less confidence because of the tank size. Either way, they are both jumpers so please have a secure top and qt any future gobies (especially sifters) as they tend to either do great forever or waste away due to internal parasites which they are very prone to carry.

Good Luck!
Mike

[rjcranor]

My diamond ate the other food I put in also but I think it might have starved. The watchman I have now is a small yellow guy. He swims all over the tank. I have glass lids on my tank.

[ilikefish34]

There's a good chance that, since you say he was eating prepared foods, that the sifter had internal parasites. Prazipro is the medication of choice for gobies and most everything else. A glass lid is good for overall protection but make sure there are zero openings because they can find the tiniest of holes and make a leap of faith. Yellow Watchman Gobies can be aggressive but are limited by their size and you should be fine mixing the two.