goby stirring up tank

[sillygoose]

This weekend, we got a diamond goby to help keep our gravel clean of brown algae. It tried several times to suicide but we put our tank lids back on to discourage that behavior. Two days later our drama fish has settled in but is tearing up the tank. Everything is covered in silt. He is also undermining the rock work. Major excavation...It has gotten so bad that I took the lids off again and wouldn't be sad if it jumped out.

Any suggestions? How do those of you who have these gobies keep your tank clean - and safe. Is there a way to remove sediment without a permanent filter system? Before now, our refugium took care of it and I'm not that crazy about doing a whole canister thing.

By the way, the goby shows no interest in brown algae...

 

[ynnhoj86]

It takes time for him to settle down. He's probably very hungry because of the tank he was held at didn't have any sand or very little sand for him to sift through. If he's digging near your rock work, you can lay some egg crate near the structure of rock work and he won't be able to sift in that area. Hope that helps, but he'll definitely help keep your sand clean. Also I would put some filter socks on so all the detritus in the water column will get picked up.

 

[fishaholic911]

Unfortunately this is the only down fall to owning a sand siffting goby. My goby still make a cloud strom every now and then and blast my plate corals full of sand. As Jonny said give it some time ( 1 week ) to settle in, they will find there home and stop digging eveywhere. These goby will not eat the brown alge but the will prevent it from forming on the sand.

 

[drtrash]

I'm on day 2 with same issues

 

[sillygoose]

My fish did settle down a bit - the tank is still pretty silty though. I must say the gravel was getting whiter. Here's the kicker - just when I thought it wasn't entirely psychotic it jumped out when I wasn't paying attention. So I couldn't believe it yesterday when I decided to try another. It seemed much calmer - and smaller -than the first goby. Today I don't see it anywhere. I've checked the floor,etc.. I hope it is just hiding because it's new. sigh. Good luck with yours.

 

[drtrash]

Might leave my lid off, sand castle crap and dust storm getting old

 

[sillygoose]

I definitely got to that point. Now that my second one jumped - somehow around the lid - I think it's time to try something else. I have hope for our algal scrubber - but I'm also skimming away. I want white gravel/sand!

 

[JustAClownFish]

I’ve had mine for a couple weeks now. It’s doing the same thing. Knocking everything over, stiring up the substrate digging huge holes. I think it’s just the way they are. This was my first and last goby. They don’t even clean that much. What keeps my sand clean is low po4 and silica.