Help with my Diamond Goby!

Can gobys swim threw the sand?

So question. When i had a little tang in my tank she kind've territorially kicked my goby out of its spot. And my goby dug all the sand out from under my rocks so it doesnt really have any place for a den. But it used to burry it's self in the sand so only its head stuck up. Now when i clean the glass of my tank he gets spooked and basicly disapears. where in the world is he going? Once i couldnt find him for a few days so i pulled my rocks up and he was pinned under the rock..
So whats the deal?

 

In nature they do make holes in the sand to live in so I'm sure they can dig themselves out pretty well. Mine has cleared all kinds of caves under my rockwork and disappears days at a time

 

IMO, you will do more damage to it by looking for it and trying to rescue it. If it got there, it will get itself out. And if you just got this fishy, the first thing it is going to do is find a place to hide until it gets used to it's surroundings. So worry not young one. All will be find. Good choice in gobies BTW. Sandsifting is very important and these fish do a really, really good job at it.

 

This is not a new fish.
I've had it for a long time, and hes my favorite (Norman) lol.
Thanks guys

 

Just my 0.02$:
Every time you search for your goby and reshuffle your LR, you affect territorial preferences of your fish, and also goby! Try to avoid that. Bottom-dwelling gobies have quite complicated habitat. Whenever, I changed my aqua-scape my diamond spotted goby was not digging for few days and looked stressed a bit. Remember: action = reaction!

 

My goby is so efficient at sand-sifting under the rocks, he has sunk my base rock not once, but twice in 6 months. I gave up trying to take all the rock out, redistribute the sand, rebuild the reef, etc... Now, I just leave him be, and he's fat and happy. My rock isn't quite the way I want it to look, but that's nature for you!

 

Should have your rock sitting on bare glass then sand up around it, keeps sand sifters from shifting it, in really bad cases they can break an aquarium, think about all your live rock tumbling in a rapid fashion, it'd be bad