Marine aquarists looking for a sand-sifting fish to keep the top layer of their sand bed stirred often run into a dilemma. Many of the species renowned for this behavior, such as the ever-popular and commonly offered yellowheaded sleeper goby (Valenciennea strigata), have the frustrating tendency of wiping out all the benthic invertebrates in the sand bed and then proceeding to starve to death because they don’t always learn to accept the non-living food items hobbyists offer. One of the notable exceptions to this phenomenon is the brownbarred goby (Amblygobius phalaena), a.k.a. the bullet goby or sleeper banded goby. A. phalaena does a great job of sifting sand, but it’s much more inclined to accept standard non-living aquarium fare than V. strigata and many other sand-sifting species are. Physical traits A. phalaena is typically goby-shaped with a robust body, high-set eyes, and a comically oversized mouth. More: Brownbarred Goby: Sand-Sifting Species Well Suited to Aquariums… More:
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