what species of Starfish/snail/sand sifter of any sort?

[Fishward]

Originally Posted by kien

I assume you have considered putting a covering of some sort over your tank so that they can't jump out.. so was there are reason why you opted not to implement a cover?

I did have a lid in place for thelast one but after grazing for 20 minutes, it jumped into it. Looked really stunned, disappeared into the rock andeas never seen again. :-(

[4lti7ude]

Originally Posted by Fishward

I did have a lid in place for thelast one but after grazing for 20 minutes, it jumped into it. Looked really stunned, disappeared into the rock andeas never seen again. :-(

Sounds to me like your glass top worked then.
Fish bonked his head, but he probably learned his lesson.
If hes still in your tank, id give him a few days to see if he comes out.
From what you said, it doesnt sound like he did anything to really be taken out yet.

Sand sifter star fish will burrow themselves in your sand all the way at the bottom and starve to death when there is no more food in your sand. A high risk of poisoning your tank with a rotting starfish buried somewhere at the bottom.
I used mine for a week or two then returned him after he cleaned up. Only was $10.00 to.

[4lti7ude]

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/a...num=1&count=10

This might help if you want to stay with gobies.
I changed the settings on the right hand side to filter you
- Sand Sifting Gobies
- Minimum Size 70 Gallon Tank

Im guessing this is for your 65 Gallon tank correct?

Sand Sifting Star Fish
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...572&pcatid=572

"These peaceful omnivores are a great addition to reef aquariums. They will consume detritus and left over food. Like other starfish, this member of the Astropectinidae family also consumes small invertebrates, including shrimp, urchins, mollusks, bivalves, or other small sea stars. As such, they should be actively fed with a varied diet that mimics their natural food sources, especially in well-established marine aquariums. Otherwise, these voracious feeders can quickly clean your aquarium of detritus and then bury themselves into your substrate, starve, and eventually begin to decay."


And if your still interested in a starfish here's a bunch of them also which you can read about to pick which would be best suited to your aquarium.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/a....cfm?c=497+528

[Rogue951]

Cerith and Nassarius snails are the way to go.
Tonga Nassarius are fast moving dead matter eaters. they only start checking out corals if it's dying or dead. I usually find them on the odd fish body that dies.
but they live in the sand with only their snout sticking out and at the first smell of food (frozen, they don't seem to go after pellets unless they're hungry) they'll come boiling out of the sand.
Ceriths have a tendancy to fall off rocks and get stuck on their backs, then u gotta get in there and flip them

[Fishward]

ok so im being led towards a nassarius snail. will they stir up the sand bed and eat the algae that might grow on it? any down sides to this particular snail?

[saltwaterseahorses]

tigertail cukes clean out stuff from sand bed, I know that they do that that's why I'm getting one!

[intarsiabox]

I had 3 nassarius snails in my old tank and gave them away when I switched back to a nano without a substrate. They didn't do much of anything visually in my tank, they left my sand bed undisturbed and only came out when I fed my fish. They would then glide right over any algae without touching it and go for the food that reached the bottom before a fish got to it. I'm sure they moved the bottom layers of sand around which is good but they never touched the surface of the sand bed. If you're looking for something to clean up the visible area of your substrate I don't think you'll be happy with just these snails, if you want to prevent lower levels of sand from becoming anoxic then they have a bonafide purpose. my 2 cents.

[chandigz]

For me tiger tails are my favorite for sand bed cleaning I find they do the best job. They constantly vacuum the surface of the sand(dirty sand goes in one end and clean out the other end). I have never had a problem with one in over four years other than they tend to slowly, over a long period, move the sand to the back of the tank.

Conchs are really cool and are good for stirring the sand and eating diatoms and algae on the sand. Fighting conchs are probably the most common reef safe conch. Their are lots of different kinds some get to large, most are reef safe but some like the Crown conchs can be preditory feeding on other snails and sand bed organisms.

Nassarius snails are another favorite of mine they are great detrivores but they do not eat algea. They are like sand submerines with their periscope sticking up and with the first smell of food or dead matter they come out of the sand like surfacing subs in full attack mode.

Most starfish have low survival rates due to shipping stress, poor acclimations, and starvation.

[saltwaterseahorses]

if i got tigertail would it move back sand enough too make rocks fall over?

oops srry for hi-jacking thread.........