Sand Sifter Goby Food

[tatedelo]

The more I read about my new acquisitions the more confused I am getting. Some sources say the Amblygobius phalaena will eat hair algae and other alga, others I've found say it must eat meaty organisms in the sand. If it does eat the organisms from the sand, which type does it prefer to eat, and where can I get them. I have a 180 Gallon Tank that has been going for 4 months now and I am not seeing a whole lot of life in my sand bed except for algae and I am not willing to let these fish die if I can prevent it. I am already discussing a refugium set up with my shop and I would just like to know a good source of food to get the refugium stocked and to carry me until that gets going really well. Please let me know which is the case on their diet. Thank you, Tate

[Iammatt219]

check out inland aquatics tehy have all types of microfauna goodies there

[karid]

I have had an A. phalaena for a little over a year now. He eats a combination of things. He eats prepared food, green hair algae off the back of the tank or on the rocks, and also sifts sand all day long. Before we had the algae outbreak he just sifted sand and ate prepared foods. That was fine for him. I'm not sure what he gets out of the sand though - I can't see anything in the sand. Microfauna is a good word :-)

As for prepared food, he eats Emerald food, Marine Cuisine, brine shrimp, and pellet. He goes after flake food, but keeps missing it so I don't think flake works for these fish. Unless mine just happens to have poor eyesight...

Anyway, if you are worried about the fish or that your tank doesn't have enough grazing food, you could try some prepared foods.

[Iammatt219]

oops sorry I thought you were looking for a place to get the live microfauna

[tatedelo]

Thank you, I was looking for places for microfauna too. I appreciate the comments. Right now, I have a pair that get along great and they have cleaned just about every inch of sand in the tank. I just saw one of them eating some of the Mysis that I put in for the other fish, so that makes me feel better. My 29 has tons of amphipods so I may try to harvest from that tank and give my 180 a jump start on the pods. I would still appreciate suggestions on where to get microfauna, I like to shop around for the best quality, then the best deal.