Mandarin or diamond watchman goby?

[vanceny]

I'd like to try to keep my sand clean and was thinking of getting the goby but would also like to get a mandarin, will the goby eat all the pods that the mandarin needs to stay alive? Anyone successfully keeping both of them in the same tank. BTW its a 90gal.

Vance

 

[DEEPWATER]

I have one mandarin and 4 gobies and a possum wrasse in a 90 gal ,they all are fat and dont bother eachother .I also have 200lbs of live rock ,give or take a few lbs ,lots of pods and live mysis shrimp

 

[vanceny]

Do the gobies do a good job on the sand? I probably only have about 75-90lbs of rock but there are alot of pods in the tank and refugium.

 

[House of Laughter]

Diamond gobies are one of the best sand sifters around. So are twin spots. Mandarins don't so anything but eat and look pretty.

House

 

[DEEPWATER]

Diamond gobies are one of the best sand sifters around. So are twin spots. Mandarins don't so anything but eat and look pretty.

House

yes ,,,very true ,my mandarin is just a pretty fish that eats all day .does nothing for sand sifting ,for that go with what House mentioned

 

[vanceny]

So I shouldn't keep both in the same tank? I always here that you shouldn't keep anything that will compete with the mandarin for the same food source unless the tank is large enough to sustain them.

 

[House of Laughter]

Vance, Diamond or any sifting gobies will not compete with the mandarin

for clarity:

1) Madarins eat pods and don't sift
2) Diamonds sift and don't eat pods.

Good compliments.

House

 

[tosiek]

You can train the mandarin to eat mysis and cyclo. just in case he looks a little thin.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Mandarins are tough and have a low survival rate in captivity unless you're real good. Some people here are that good and can keep them but for beginners and intermediate people like me it is usually not a good story for the fish or the reefkeeper. I would say go for the goby and let thye mandarin pass by. Maybe if people stopped buying them they wouldn't collect them anymore.

 

[scarf_ace1981]

vance you can get both for your tank

 

[DonCisco]

another great sandsifter is the strigata goby. I have one and my sand is nice and clean. ( I have a tiny tank though)

 

[vanceny]

I always thought that when the goby sifted through the sand he was looking for pods and such.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Yes but as he does he is also turning the sand over.

 

[scarf_ace1981]

I always thought that when the goby sifted through the sand he was looking for pods and such.

the sand sifting goby will only sift the sand. mandarin will eat pods off of the glass,rocks and any other surface that will host pods.

 

[vanceny]

Thanks. I will probably get them both. I also like the blue dot goby and the dragon goby.

 

[scarf_ace1981]

if it's the blue dot watchman it will eat mysis and every other thing you drop in the tank. don't know much about the dragon goby.

 

[vanceny]

I want to be able to suppliment the blue dot with other food. Do you know if it will sift the sand as well?

 

[DonCisco]

Strigatta goby eats anything I put in the tank, mysis, plankton, daphnia, and pellets, and spends all day sifting sand, just be ready to not see them too often. They just love to make their burrows and hang out by themselves.
Here's a pic of my strigatta

 

[vanceny]

Pretty fish. So he just dissappears? Maybe looking for something a little less shy.

 

[DonCisco]

most sandsifters are shy, mine swims around when I am not in his field of vision, other than that... he likes to peep out of rock crevices and stuff.