One more fish for my 10g?

[The Kerrnel]

My 10g I think is pretty packed with livestock. Probably about 15 or more pieces of coral (80% frags), and a false perc and a yellow-tailed blue damsel. Also a skunk shrimp.

 

Have 2 turbos, 2 reg-legged crabs, 2 blue-legged crabs, a couple of astrea and four other snails that I bought but can only ever find one or two of...have a feeling two have died.

 

Anyway, a couple of the snails were supposed to be sand guys anyway, and I've recently noticed baby snails all over the place from these absentees, which is fine. But I don't think I'm getting as much sand oxygenation as I'd like.

 

I'm wondering if the bioload in the tank is too much for a scooter blenny (there are places to hide), or if the benefit would actually outweigh the risk? I've got some hard-to-get-to places where I'd like to vacuum during water changes, but because rocks are in the way, I can't. I'm hoping the blenny might churn some stuff up into the water column that it'll get sucked out of the tank.

 

Nitrates are getting up there and I really don't think vacuuming the same spots every week or two will make much of a difference in the long run if there's still a mass of nitrate-producing gunk under the surface.

[davelin315]

The problem is not the space, it's the lack of food sources. Scooter blennies eat microfauna and your tank cannot support enough food for one of these guys. It will clean out its food source in a few days in a 10 gallon and then slowly starve. Bioload-wise, they won't produce enough waste to create an imbalance in your tank unless it's not mature enough, but it's not worth the investment as it won't survive long-term anyway.

[The Kerrnel]

The problem is not the space, it's the lack of food sources. Scooter blennies eat microfauna and your tank cannot support enough food for one of these guys. It will clean out its food source in a few days in a 10 gallon and then slowly starve. Bioload-wise, they won't produce enough waste to create an imbalance in your tank unless it's not mature enough, but it's not worth the investment as it won't survive long-term anyway.

 

Are there any other sand-sifting options out there that'll churn up the sand without the feeding requirements?

[treesprite]

tonga nassarius snails (the regular nass are a lot smaller, but those are good too, just not the "onyx" ones)

[davelin315]

In reading your post, I'm guessing you actually meant a watchman goby of some sort as the scooters don't do much to the sand, if anything. You've got a couple of options, but one that I would suggest is a cucumber if your system is stable. They can cause problems if they die, especially in such a small system, but they also will clean your sand like there's no tomorrow. They eat it and then excrete it in little "pellets" that will eventually fall apart.

 

The nassarius snails may or may not work for you. They don't always stir the sand so much as bury themselves and come out when it's time to eat. In a 10 gallon, they will be very large and the trails they leave behind may become troublesome from an aesthetic and biological point of view.

[jason the filter freak]

Get a sand sifting star fish and then a cleaner goby instead of the scooter

[treesprite]

i guess i haven't really imagined a nassarius in a such a small tank

[vaironman]

If the plan is acquiring scooter blenny, then ditto on Davelin's comment: "it's the lack of food sources". The scooter blenny will not make it after a month or two from starving and using up its body reserve.

[Brian Ward]

If the plan is acquiring scooter blenny, then ditto on Davelin's comment: "it's the lack of food sources". The scooter blenny will not make it after a month or two from starving and using up its body reserve.

 

I have to cautiously disagree on the scooter blenny. I have one in my BC29. He eats mysis and I believe that's all. I have little to no microfauna in the tank - at the very least, I can never see any of it and I don't see him striking at the rocks regularly. I've had him for probably 9 mos or so at this point and he looks and acts as healthy as he always has.

 

However, this is the exception and not the rule. The moral is, if you want a scooter blenny it may be possible but this fish is in the dragonette family (related to a mandarin) and you need to be very careful in selecting one. He will not do anything to your sand bed. Not ever. I'd recommend a diamond goby though they may get a little too big for a 10 and they absolutely will jump. You must have a closed top. My last one jumped out of QT through the eggcrate I had on the tank. He did it twice and the 2nd time I wasn't around to put him back in.

[dbartco]

Get a sand sifting star fish and then a cleaner goby instead of the scooter

 

(jason)

no to the star. will destroy all in the sand bed - per fenner on wwmedia

[davelin315]

I agree with Doug, the star is a bad idea. It would decimate your sand in a day.

[Grav]

As a general rule if nitrates are "getting up there" you are pushing the limits of bio load.

 

What type of filtration do you have? Can you upgrade it?