best sand sifting creatures

[Steverino]

What are the best creatures for sand sifting, getting my sand and crushed coral turned over and digging for leftover food? The sand-sifting stars for sale around here have looked terrible. I have some blue-legged hermits, but they spend time on the rocks, not as much on the sand. Any particular species of snails? What about the conchs? Any advice appreciated.

[bkbailes07]

i would look into an ORA fighting conch, they stay smaller than the queen conches and are excellent sand sifters. you can get them at ******************

[sir_dudeguy]

what the heck? i'm guessing you didnt type in all those astrics? lol.

Anyways...do you have crushed coral or sand? Or do you have both? Thats what i think you meant was that you have both.. Do you have the cc on the bottom and then sand on top? If so, how thick is the sand? If its more than an inch or 2 you could get a diamond goby. Mine cleaned my whole 55 in about 2 or 3 days..

[bkbailes07]

lets try this again www.******************

[sir_dudeguy]

try putting spaces in between the letters. I think you're posting a place that was "banned" or something here on RC....i'm guessing maybe they were a "sponsor gone wild" lol, idk.

[bertoni]

A sand-mopping cucumber might be a good idea, or a fighting conch, if there's plenty of open sand. Some cerith snails might help, too.

[bkbailes07]

[link removed], i would not go with the cucumber because if they die they can poison a whole tank very fast

[AZDesertRat]

A fighting conch, nassarius and cerith snails work best for me. I made the mistake of trying a sand sifting star and it ate every live critter out of my DSB in a couple of months. After shipping him out it took 6 months of trading cups of sand and live pod additions to get it back anywhere close to normal.

[fsn77]

We use cerith and nassarius snails to keep our sand bed mixed / clean.

[kipher]

I'd like to jump in and ask a question on the fighting conch. I have a 75G with about 1" - 1.5" of sand. 1) do I have enough of a sand bed to keep this guy well feed? eventually I'll have around 100 lbs or so of LR in the display. 2) I know they like to burry themselves at times....is my sand deep enough? (or does this not even matter?)

btw I have 12 astrea snaill and 12 hermits as well, but they both seem to prefer being on the LR and or Glass (for the snails)

[BigJPDC]

My nassarius seem to only come out when I feed, and then they roll around and fight each other for a bit before going back to sleep under the sand.
It is rare for me to see the mexican turbos on the sand.
I'll have to try getting a bunch more ceriths, I only have two right now and have seen them on the sand. If they are smaller than the hermits, they won't be killed for their shells, right?

jp

[Liquid Hobby]

My dragon goby does a fantastic job cleaning the sand. I haven't had to siphon the sand bed since his arrival...

[kau_cinta_ku]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8775775#post8775775 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bkbailes07
[link remove], i would not go with the cucumber because if they die they can poison a whole tank very fast

don't fear the cucumber as the sand sifting type will not poision the tank when they die. the bright colored ones will though but a tiger tail is completly harmless

[dwculp]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8775775#post8775775 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bkbailes07
e x t r e m e c o r a l s . c o m, i would not go with the cucumber because if they die they can poison a whole tank very fast


Tiger tail cucumbers are GREAT sand sifters and detritus eaters and will not poision your tank if they die. Many cukes will nuke your tank, but tiger tails will not. They are also VERY active.

My list of best sand stirrers and sand bed cleaners would be (in no particular order)

1. Nassarius snails
2. Tiger tail cukes
3. Fighting conchs
4. Bristle worms
5. Mini stars from ipsf.org

[Steverino]

Mini stars from the International Pharmeceutical Students Foundation? how much do they charge?

[dwculp]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8777024#post8777024 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Steverino
Mini stars from the International Pharmeceutical Students Foundation? how much do they charge?

So......um.....yeah...... How about I change that to http://www.ipsf.com

[Fiddler]

does anyone have both a fighting conch and a tiger tail?

do you think hoving both in a 75g would be too much? or would the conch kill the tiger?

[techreef]

just as a sidebar re: all the reefers loving the clean sand their sand-sifting gobies are making, let's tell any newb's reading this thread that the gobies are eating the microfauna in the sand, not just cleaning the algae and detritus off the sand. be careful that your sand stirrers aren't in effect killing off all your smaller sand stirring critters. this applies to other sand predators like the starfish too.

[Liquid Hobby]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8777668#post8777668 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by techreef
just as a sidebar re: all the reefers loving the clean sand their sand-sifting gobies are making, let's tell any newb's reading this thread that the gobies are eating the microfauna in the sand, not just cleaning the algae and detritus off the sand. be careful that your sand stirrers aren't in effect killing off all your smaller sand stirring critters. this applies to other sand predators like the starfish too.

True. A goby will only sift so far down where as a sand sifting star will actually cruise the sand bend at a lower and deeper level and consume everything in there... So I've read.

[Steverino]

Does this apply to the Scooter Blennys too?

[ToTaLCHaoS13]

If you have your rockwork setup pretty stable or glued together then there isn't much that will stir your sand better than a horshoe crab. I don't glue my rockwork together so my horseshoe stays in my refugium.

[bertoni]

Any fish that sifts sand is going to eat the animals that make sand live.

Horseshoe crabs get very big and are colder-water creatures, so I don't think they're suited to tropical reef tanks.

[Liquid Hobby]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8779225#post8779225 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bertoni
Any fish that sifts sand is going to eat the animals that make sand live.

Horseshoe crabs get very big and are colder-water creatures, so I don't think they're suited to tropical reef tanks.

Agreed! The key is to not have a lot of predators to consume more life than the sand can repopulate at the same rate, or somewhere around there.

I grew up around the water(cold water) and we had horseshoe crabs everywhere. They freaked me out as a kid... they are so prehistoric and when you'd flip them over all their legs would be reaching all around while the tail and huge spike where flailing trying to flip itself back over!

Can't ever see having a horseshoe carb much past the cure little puppy stage! Interesting design though, those horseshoe crabs...

[bertoni]

I suspect most 75g tanks are unlikely to support one sandsifter fish. I've seen horseshoe crabs in Maryland that were 8-9" across. Strange animals.

[Liquid Hobby]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8779656#post8779656 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bertoni
I've seen horseshoe crabs in Maryland that were 8-9" across. Strange animals.

...easily that big!

[ToTaLCHaoS13]

bertoni and rest - Horseshoe crabs do get large, but not overnight. They are a slow growing creature. I got mine when it was about 1.5" across and it has barely grown in 6 months. I agree they really don't belong in a display tank unless you have plenty of open sandbed area. Also, they do just fine in 78-84' water.

[Fiddler]

people say the tiger tail isn't harmful when it dies

but i see on certain sites online to buy them from say that it is potentionaly deadly

[cooksalot]

hi there...i have seen a few recommendations for cerith snails as sand sifters...i have four ceriths in my 24G and they are always on my rocks, never in my sand. is this normal?

[Fiddler]

i believe they do go on rocks or even glass, but they tend to be in the substrate

[techreef]

my ceriths are all over. i think it's just random luck. i have 10 in a 90G tank (along w/ astraea and nassarius snails, although i think the nass. snails have all been eaten) and I see my ceriths on the glass and in the sand. not so much on the rocks.

[BigJPDC]

Dude what is eating your nassarius? I think they'd be too fast for the hermits. Mine back away when those tanks come rumbling through.

Ceriths are all over everything in my tank too. I think I need more.

jp

[techreef]

i had (yes! finally i can say "had!") two very large gorilla crabs in my tank that i have observed picking up snails and eating them in front of me. i think they gave me the Italian salute too, but I'm not sure. My nass. snails were so small compared to my ceriths and astreas, i have just assumed that since I haven't seen one of the 12 i added in the past 4 weeks, even at night, that they were all snackfood for my now-gone gorillas. my hermits could catch the nass. snails too, but i haven't seen them be agressive to anything besides other hermits. :0

[littlefoot]

ive heard two sides of sand sifting star. I have one. I love him. How will I know if hes killing my sand?

[kelrn98]

I just ordered a tiger tail cucumber yesterday for my 110g with 160# LR, 2-3 inch sandbed. I did not consider the fact that it would be eating pods as well. Will this interfere with me supporting a healthy mandarin in about 6 months from now? I have a fuge with cheato/LR. Pods are everywhere now.

[techreef]

i think cukes eat detritus and maybe algae, not pods. so i think you're fine, kelrn98. i'm 1 month away from a 6 month-old tank, and I'll be getting a green mandarin then. one mistake that I started to make was buying fish that also eat pods. I have a Carpenter's flasher wrasse, and one day i was cleaning the algae off of my overflow and noticed some pods in the algae. i dropped them into the water before dumping out the algae, and promptly saw my wrasse come flying up and eat the pods. he eats all the other foods i feed the tank, but it just woke me up to the idea of other fish preying on my mandarin's food supply.

[bertoni]

Yes, the cucumber is a detritus vacuum, and can't catch amphipods or copepods.