Diamond watchman goby

Care at a glance

The diamond watchman goby is white with orange spots and keeps the sand bed literally in motion: it takes mouthful after mouthful of sand, sieves out small crustaceans and spits the rest back out. That keeps the sand loose and clean, but it also regularly deposits sand on your corals.

So it needs a generous, mature sand bed with enough life already in it; in a new system it starves. Supplement with frozen food on the bottom and cover the tank, because sand-sifting gobies jump out when startled.

Good to know

• Digger — needs fine sand
• Needs a mature, stable tank

Related species

• Neon gobyElacatinus oceanops
• Yellow watchman gobyCryptocentrus cinctus
• Yellow clown gobyGobiodon okinawae
• Tailspot blennyEcsenius stigmatura
• Bicolor blennyEcsenius bicolor
• Yellowtail damselfishChrysiptera parasema