# need suggestions on sand sifters



## J-Miles-21 (Sep 25, 2010)

now that my coral catshark has grown to 18 inches my fish have started to disappear. I just lost my lawnmower blenny and dragon goby this past week, just disappeared, so im assuming the shark got em.

I got a bunch of turbo snails and a tiger cowry to try and make up for the loss of the lawnmower blenny, but im looking for some suggestions to make up for the goby. The goby was great because he would clean up all the sand. So im just wondering if theres anything to make up for it, either something large enough to not get eaten, or protected enough like a certain type of snail that i can get.


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

You got a tough situation as catsharks when they do get bigger, can crush snail shells if hungry enough.

Your best bet are goatfish...not regularly seen @LFSs and rarely large enough as not to be dinner.

Good luck in your search


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Actually large goatfish would be perfect, but I've never seen them available in anything but a small size. I'm sure you could ask your LFS to see if they could order a larger one for you though, you never know.

You could also try using a strawberry conch, perhaps the size will dissuade the shark from making a meal of it?


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## Chromey (Sep 25, 2010)

Sand sifting Star...?


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

I love pairs of golden headed sleeper gobies. Beautiful, interesting, and very hardworking. Having a pair is best though. Not sure if 8" is large enough for you though. They are very quick though.

Goatfish are swesome too, so Chris did well to suggest them too.


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## adrenaline (Jan 17, 2011)

not sure if those would work or not, as I'm newer to salt (i'm a cichlid guy) but what about larger turbo snails? I have a fairly large one in my tank, and it does a great job of moving my sand around and cleaning. I actually have a few of them and a bunch of hermits.

This is also the same large turbo snail that some how caught a peppermint shrimp, again, LARGE peppermint shrimp, it was the largest one i've ever seen at big als (it was almost 3"long). And yes, it ate my shrimp. it was only a few hours after introducing the shrimp to my tank...

Needless to say i now have a shrimp free tank! It does not bother my brittle stars or hermits though. Guess it just had a taste for shrimp?


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

He's already got turbos. They aren't considered sand sifters. Opportunistic feeders sure.


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## J-Miles-21 (Sep 25, 2010)

thanks for the help, i never noticed my turbos to really stay in the sand very much. I ended up getting 3 strawberry conchs, and have been doing a pretty good job..and havn't been eaten yet


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

I had one golden headed sleeper gobie. It was doing perfect job, but there are two problems:

All corals on the sand were covered with the sand and you should clean it.
The fish is always will die from starvation, when there is nothing to eat. My last just 3 months

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