FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Ok, I have about 5 killifish fry in a breeder net, though it's possible there are some free swimming in the tank which I have not yet seen. I also have some ghost shrimp in there that LOVE to jump like crazy.
How can I do a good water change and gravel vac with out risk of sucking up one of the babies, or a ghost shrimp jumping out to commit suicide?

Thanks!

Just vac into a bucket and net out any fry you suck up.

do normal water changes, before you dump the water out,
let it set for a while, then you can check the water for any frys
net them out into the tank again
the process should do no harm to your frys
but some may suffer from broken bones

or remove the fish and shrimp first, then go for it.

depends on what's easier on the day

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

or use caution and don't suck any up

It would be very hard to catch everything in the tank and remove it to a place where I could then keep them from jumping out while doing the water change. It would also be impossible to NOT suck one up, I have your average size Python tube going into this little 5.5G, the tube is as big as the tank, hee hee.

Well, get a mini siphon then man... That'd be like me racing a 4 cylinder mustang for cripes sake

I have a python and I regularly use it to gravel vac tanks with ghost shrimp. It doesn't look like there's enough suction to trap anything living, especially ghost shrimp. As soon as they are startled they shoot across the tank at nearly the speed of light.

I haven't tried this python on any fry tanks yet... that will happen today in a few hours actually, but I think it will be the same. The fry will be startled by the syphon and will get away from it.

EDIT: As expected, all of my three day old guppy fry ran for cover when I started gravel vaccing and I watched it the whole time. Didn't do anything different then usual and didn't suck one up. I would just use a bit of caution and not worry too nuch about it when you clean your tank.

Last edited by Rewd at 03-Dec-2004 00:14

"the process should do no harm to your frys
but some may suffer from broken bones"


........umm..........sounds harmful!