Diamond Sleeper or watchman?

What is the difference between and diamond sleeper goby and a diamond watchman goby? I was putting in a order at the lfs and didn't know the difference.

 

Avoid Sleeper Gobies.

They will sift sand and look like they are indeed eating, in 3 months if they last that long the fish will slowly starve. You need a larger very established tank to keep them long term.

Yellow watchman are great gobies, more of burrows than sifters though.

If you want sand sifting look at tiger tail cucumbers, some types of snails. Avoid sand sift star fish, same story as the sleeper.

Unless your sand has a lot of algae growth for some reason, hermits and some types of snails will keep the bed clean.

 

right now i have algae growth on it. The algae is going away on my rocks but not my sand. I have snails that will burrow in the sand but i need something to mix my sand up a bit and also clean it. My crabs do a good job on the rock but the snails will clean my walls more than anything. Only a couple are in the sand.

 

Sleeper gobies destroy your sandbed then starve
Too bad because they are cool to watch....

 

Hopefully mine is the exception to the rule then! My Tiger Wardi is going on 4 months, and is fatter now then when I bought him (and growing!). But I feed him pellets twice daily, and mysis a few times a week.

Even with this, I would recommend a Watchman for the issues Cheryl posted.

 

YWG, they are awesome. Get a pistol shrimp for it!

 

I have a sleeper head goby seems to be doing really good. Fat and healthy very fun to watch. He eats prepared food and always eating pods and sifting the sand.