sand stirring vs. sand sifting gobies.

jph · 05-22-2007, 05:12 PM

can someone give me a few examples of which gobies belong to which cathegory ? i seem to keep finding conflicting information.

thanks!
J.

leveldrummer · 05-22-2007, 05:19 PM

seems like you are talking about the same catagory, sifters simply pull up sand into their mouth, and filter it through their gills as they pull food off of it. i guess a sand stirring type could be one that just makes a mess stirring up trouble. but im not aware of any that would be stirrers and not sifters.

Fly Guy · 05-22-2007, 05:25 PM

I have no idea.....but I CAN tell you that my pink spotted watchman is definitely a sifter. He hates the way i lift my rock as he can NEVER hide...lol.......but he makes huge piles of it everywhere underneath and every bit of it goes through his mouth

jph · 05-22-2007, 05:51 PM

let me try to make myself clear (and pardon me if i'm thinking that there are different types of gobies, when there are not)

sand sifter : gobie will actually eat critters found in the sand. possibility of starving if there is not enough benthic creatures available.

sand stirrer : govie just messes around with the top layer of the sand, but will not starve if it can't find enough food, it'll happily eat other things like mysis shrimp etc. that you feed your other fish.

like i said, this might be a non issue, but i keep finding conflicting information online, and would like to clear things up for myself, so i don't buy a fish that i can't keep, basically got a new tank with a DSB that only has bacteria in it, nothing else.

but i like to start out with a bobie that will keep the top layer stirred up and keep crap from settling down in one spot.

J.

leveldrummer · 05-22-2007, 06:06 PM

hmm, thats a new one to me, i believe they are all the same, but some might have a hard time adjusting or accepting prepared foods. but they will all sift looking for foods.

Geoff · 05-22-2007, 07:52 PM

yep, they are all the same. you can have some gobies that just hide in the sand. they will kinda stirr the sand when they enter and exit the sand at night.

G~

jph · 05-22-2007, 08:13 PM

so i don't have to worry about starving it to death, if i get one... no matter which one ? if i feed it every now and then.

J.

chrisjet · 05-22-2007, 08:20 PM

I have a diamond goby and he keeps the sand clear as a bell. He does also eat any kind of food i put in there. I would bet they could go awhile without any added food just stuff they filter from the sand

jph · 05-22-2007, 08:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisjet

I have a diamond goby and he keeps the sand clear as a bell. He does also eat any kind of food i put in there. I would bet they could go awhile without any added food just stuff they filter from the sand

well, my tank and sandbed are new, so there's nothin in the sand to eat yet. i'll need to get one that will happily eat other foods.

thanks everybody!

J.