Need suggestions for a sand dwelling fish

[bat21]

Have a 66gal fowlr. Currently houses a pair of occ clowns, royal gramma, firefish, possum wrasse, 2 cleaner shrimp, hermits and snails.

I want to find a peaceful sand dwelling goby or blenny. I have a 1.5-2" medium grain sand bed. I don't have very much algae, so it can't be a fish that depends on that for food.

Personality is important, but peaceful nature trumps that as I have zero aggression in the tank and want to keep it that way.

[150Ron]

I have a scooter blenny that is peaceful and stays at the bottom. Love the little guy. Easy going and eats frozen foods. May be a good fit.

[bat21]

I have a scooter blenny that is peaceful and stays at the bottom. Love the little guy. Easy going and eats frozen foods. May be a good fit.

Very cool fish, would love to have one. But it's a dragonette, and I have basically zero pods. Even if it eats frozen, I don't think my tank is ideal for a dragonette at this time.

[JoeVandal49]

A shrimp Goby would be a good choice. You could pair it with a pistol shrimp.

[nitro123456789]

Diamond gobies are cool

[Betta132]

Diamond gobies eat all the critters out of your sandbed. I'd suggest a shrimpgoby and a pistol shrimp, and any of the smaller shrimpgobies are peaceful. They'll puff up their faces if something gets too close to their burrow, but aside from that, they're not aggressive.

[Stevenliu9]

+1 for shrimp goby & Pistol shrimp combo

[Shawn O]

How about a Jawfish? They remind me of little prairie dogs, for some reason.

[ajespo85]

I would do a Yasha Goby with a Candy Stripped Pistol shrimp. They are very cool. Right now I have Blue Spot Watchman Goby, or else I'd have a Yasha in there. The interaction between are very cool and neat to watch.

[eatbreakfast]

Waspfish are a peaceful, personable, interesting sand dwelling addition.

[Azedenkae]

Disappearing Wrasse maybe?

[bat21]

Thanks for the suggestions. I considered a jawfish, but I've seen them be pretty mean to any fish that goes near its home. But I guess that is the case with most of these fish.

Aren't pistol shrimp potentially dangerous to other things in the tank?

[mdelp]

Watchout about Diamond Gobies, they will jump out of the tank!! But they also do a pretty great job of cleaning the sand (at least in the area surrounding its hiding place). He hasn't ventured to the detritus in the middle, yet. For a fish that's practically white and mostly lays on the sand they are surprisingly fun to watch! Though it sounds like I would need to get rid of it once I get a Dragonnet. :(

[mdelp]

Have a 66gal fowlr. Currently houses a pair of occ clowns, royal gramma, firefish, possum wrasse, 2 cleaner shrimp, hermits and snails.

I want to find a peaceful sand dwelling goby or blenny. I have a 1.5-2" medium grain sand bed. I don't have very much algae, so it can't be a fish that depends on that for food.

Personality is important, but peaceful nature trumps that as I have zero aggression in the tank and want to keep it that way.

On an unrelated note, how do you like your possum wrasse? Does it harass the shrimp?

How about the firefish, are they worth buying or do they just hide all day?

My LFS lady told me a royal gramma would eat my shrimp, though I can't find any mention of that online, I assume you haven't had any problems?

[Genera]

Watchout about Diamond Gobies, they will jump out of the tank!! But they also do a pretty great job of cleaning the sand (at least in the area surrounding its hiding place). He hasn't ventured to the detritus in the middle, yet. For a fish that's practically white and mostly lays on the sand they are surprisingly fun to watch! Though it sounds like I would need to get rid of it once I get a Dragonnet. :(
Diamond gobies are cool
Diamond gobies are sand-sifting gobies, and they slowly deplete the sandbed of beneficial microfauna, which is a death wish for a deep sand bed. If you have a shallow sandbed, they are not as bad, but they still eat all the tiny little things you don't normally notice. On a side note, they also jump, a lot. And sometimes starve after eating everything in the sand.

On an unrelated note, how do you like your possum wrasse? Does it harass the shrimp?
No
How about the firefish, are they worth buying or do they just hide all day?
They stay out in the open, but aren't exactly active fish.
My LFS lady told me a royal gramma would eat my shrimp, though I can't find any mention of that online, I assume you haven't had any problems?
No.
Thanks for the suggestions. I considered a jawfish, but I've seen them be pretty mean to any fish that goes near its home. But I guess that is the case with most of these fish.
Most jawfish are fairly timid, and you must have a deep-ish sandbed.
Aren't pistol shrimp potentially dangerous to other things in the tank?
Some are, some aren't.

Diamond gobies eat all the critters out of your sandbed. I'd suggest a shrimpgoby and a pistol shrimp, and any of the smaller shrimpgobies are peaceful. They'll puff up their faces if something gets too close to their burrow, but aside from that, they're not aggressive.
Yup, and for the pistol shrimp, A. randalli.

[oldbones]

My vote is for a Pearly Jawfish, or better yet, Blue Spot Jawfish. They might bluff like they're tough, but they are actually peaceful fish. Blue spot has LOTS of fun personality, really fun fish to watch, and amazing coloration. He'll be a busy bugger keeping his den looking good.

You MUST have a very well fitted lid though, or you will find him of the carpet, but not until you get well and truly attached.

[mdelp]

Diamond gobies are sand-sifting gobies, and they slowly deplete the sandbed of beneficial microfauna, which is a death wish for a deep sand bed. If you have a shallow sandbed, they are not as bad, but they still eat all the tiny little things you don't normally notice. On a side note, they also jump, a lot. And sometimes starve after eating everything in the sand.


Is a 1.5-2 inch sand bed considered deep or shallow for the purposes of this post?

So basically if my ambition is to have a dragonet one day, I need to get rid of the Goby long before?

[webslinger]

diamond goby is my favorite fish I have. If you don't mind occasionally blowing the sand off your corals and LR. my sand is always white and i never have to clean it.

[lorrie.kaluzny]

I love my diamond goby! I started with 2 but on jumped out =(. If he is hungry he will eat whatever food I'm feeding , mysis, flakes, whatever ... He's fun to watch!

[ginpang]

Wheeler's and pink bar are pretty cool ... But I would side with *oldbones and say jawfish ! They're very interesting being mouth brooders , also a bit show offs but your clowns ( the female mostly) will make the law... Besides I think your royal gramma is probably your meanest !

[mdelp]

diamond goby is my favorite fish I have. If you don't mind occasionally blowing the sand off your corals and LR. my sand is always white and i never have to clean it.

oh good, feeling better about my purchase, and someone (I'm assuming the diamond goby) cleaned all the sand in my tank today so it's looking good! (there were interesting criss crossing patterns of tracks in the sand, is that the work of a Goby?)