goby burrow might kill the goby iteslf?

Hey everyone,

I'm pretty new to sandsifting gobies, and i've had mine for about 2 weeks now. He all fat, eating well, and very happy. And hes digging, ALOT. He has a burrow, under a big flat rock, where he easily can make a cave. However, i'm worried if he might burrow under the rock, and somehow it could collapse on top of him and crush him to death? This has happend to me before with african cichlids, but my rocks are not entirely down to the bottom of the glass, but rather about a half centimeter above the glass. So its rather well mushed into the sand i guess you can say, but i'm still worried. Does anybody have experience with this happening, or is the goby smart enough to know where to dig? Could really use some help, thanks

 

Probably not good to keep one unless your rocks are set on the bottom of the tank. Setting them on top of the sand is a recipe for disaster. Are the rocks fastened together somehow?

 

+1, and actually whether you have a sand sifting fish or not, you should always place rocks directly on glass. Pour sand in after. You will need to do what you can to safely achieve this ASAP.

 

This is what i've done in all other of my tanks so far, but havent done it with the reef. However, i'm not to worried about the goby getting smashed by the rocks, since its a rock all by itself, with nothing stacked ontop. Also, it very wide, and fills almost the entire tank length. He only dug a a cave, that kinda looks like this: =0=

What i mean by this, is that he started out his cave with a little opening, then it gets a little wider, and then it goes out on the other side of the rock, the same way as with the entrance of his burrow. He doesnt seem to dig alot in his burrow, actually, he locks himself up in his burrow at night. When the lights turn of, he swims into the burrow, and covers the entrance with sand, and he basically just sleeps in there. So i don't think he will dig further on, if he will dig further on, and the rock might smash him down, atleast the rest of the aquariums rocks wont collapse. But, he seems to know what his doing, and hes not digging any further down there. He swims alot out in the open at the moment, with the other fish. What an awesome fish, hes probably my favorite fish in my tank

 

My diamond goby does the same, it causes much hilarity in our house. He also likes to stack snails and hermits. Very odd to see him carrying them around.

Just be careful, he can move his den at any time. My goby has several safe houses in the tank where he has found space under the rock.

I love watching him dig.

 

He will keep digging. You need to get the rocks on the glass.

 

+1, for sure he will move and it's only a matter of time.

 

Well, how can i do that without destroying the whole tank? :S

 

Me too, this guy is so cool. I can watch him all day Sometimes, you can see him catch worms, and he will go all crazy. He has moved my nassarius once, even though its almost as big as him

 

You will need to move sand from underneath the rock. Hopefully with your tank being newer this won't be an issue. But it needs to be done.