Reef Discussion

[mscott]

Hey guys, just wondering how many of you guys/girls have fish who just love to dig.
My pair of clownd have almost pilled alll the sand up in the corners from their digging

 

[Dr. Schell]

I too have a pair of Premnas that dig around their BTA to ensure that there are clean surfaces. My Chromis (when displaying to each other) often use their tails to kick up the substrate.

 

[Agent M]

I had 3 engineer gobies who loved excavating sand and maintaining their burrows. I used to push sand into their holes to keep them busy, otherwise they would move onto another area in the tank to satisfy their burrowing urges. They moved almost all of the sand at the front of the tank and any that was under the liverock to the back and I have left it like that so far. It was fun to watch.

 

[mscott]

haha, sounds like it megan

 

[Synodontis]

Free to good home! ;)
We have a Dragon/Reindeer Wrasse that LOVES to dig in the sand and it drives us a little insane. He'll dig anywhere, especially if we move some rock work somewhere new. He'll come over, have a bit of a sniff (like a puppy dog) then, when he thinks we're not looking, start having a dig under the newly placed rock. The bloody thing has covered our Fungia, both Lobo's, morphs and moved our Zoas. If there is a piece of rock lying on he sand bed, he'll throw it around like a play toy! He's very lucky he hasn't been filleted yet. :eek

 

[mscott]

interested lmao, how big is he??

 

[Synodontis]

He's only about 10cm or so at the moment, but he can get big - 12 inches we've read. He's quite entertaining to watch but he's a little shit!:rolleyes I guess we're just lucky all our rock is sitting on egg create below the sand, otherwise we'd have rock falls all over the place! :eek

 

[mscott]

haha niceone, shame your in ballarat, i would realy have liked to grab it lmao

 

[Dr. Schell]

Free to good home! ;)
We have a Dragon/Reindeer Wrasse that LOVES to dig in the sand and it drives us a little insane. He'll dig anywhere, especially if we move some rock work somewhere new. He'll come over, have a bit of a sniff (like a puppy dog) then, when he thinks we're not looking, start having a dig under the newly placed rock. The bloody thing has covered our Fungia, both Lobo's, morphs and moved our Zoas. If there is a piece of rock lying on he sand bed, he'll throw it around like a play toy! He's very lucky he hasn't been filleted yet. :eek

do you realise that their real name is "Rock-moving wrasse". As adults, they will lift and shift boulders larger than themselves.

 

[Synodontis]

I work in Ballarat mscott, home & the tank are in Melton ;)

 

[Synodontis]

We did find that out dr_schell, very entertaining to watch. Still has the "antler's" so still in that juvenile age. He really is like a puppy, always on the move & looking for trouble lol. I have watched him throw around a piece of rock the size of a large marble from one end of the tank to the other, just for the hell of it, or so it seemed to me. :)

 

[mscott]

haha, either way still about the same distance from me haha

 

[Dr. Schell]

these wrasses use this behaviour to search for food under the rocks. As this is an instinct, they will continue this behaviour despite being well fed. Also in the wild, they will create piles of rock each night for the purposes of sleeping. These animals form monogomous pairs in the wild that hunt and shelter together.

 

[DavidS]

My bi-colour blenny used to dig itself out burrows. After it had enough set up, it stopped unless I moved anything in the tank, in which case I'd come back to a totally rearranged nano :D

 

[192k]

I have three fish that dig. The cleaner wrasse, the ember blenny and the twinspot hogfish.

I don't mind if they dig, as all my rock structures are placed firmly on the base of the tank.

It also keeps mulm and detritus in suspension for removal, and involuntary feeding of corals :)

 

[mscott]

yea, i like that they get the crap out of the sand, i however disliked it when the decided to bury my two xenia under an inch of sand :(

 

[Synodontis]

It also keeps mulm and detritus in suspension for removal, and involuntary feeding of corals :)

I think this is a good point :)

 

[Tang]

do you realise that their real name is "Rock-moving wrasse". As adults, they will lift and shift boulders larger than themselves.

Not really, their real name is Novaculichthys taeniourus if you want to get scientific LOL.

Rock-moving wrasse is one of many common names but no, not a real name.

Most larger wrasse, will throw very large rocks around with ease (Coris comes to mind). They do this in the wild in search for food.

 

[Dr. Schell]

well if we were getting scientific, the latin should be in italics LOL

 

[VaultBoy]

I have a royal damsel in my mantis tank and since I introduced the mantis he has started digging down behind one of the rocks... There is about 100mm of sand in there and he digs about 75mm down, but I keep filling his hole in as Im slowly building up the sand bed to about 150mm where I will put a layer of heavier gravel on top to keep it all down.