Filthy Tank

[maddie]

my dwarf gouramies and I have sucessfully had babies - about 200 by the looks of it and I'm finding it impossible to keep the tank clean.
I tried syphoning through a stocking but was worried it would kill them and that did not solve the problem of all the dirt on the bottom of the tank.
I have plants but no gravel in the tank and I lowered the water level to about 6 inches.
I'm also using a foam enviro filter and feeding Small Fry liquid as I had no success with cultivating my own brine.
Can anyone suggest anything to stop it going green . Soon I won't be able to see anything and could loose them all. )

 

[sylvia]

You can syphon the tank normaly into a white (or light colored) bucket. Then scoop the fry back up and put them back in their tank.

I assume you've taken the male out by now.

Liquid food is actualy more a food for infusoria - that's tiny little micro-organisms that are largely responsible for turning your water green. If you reduce the amount of this you are putting in the tank, you only need a very tiny amount now you've got them started, it should clear a little.

Also, the fry won't be able to feed only on infusoria after about a week. If you can get some microworms or try again with the brine shrimp that would be a good idea. Another option might be vinegar eels - I'll admit I've never used them myself but there's a post in the FAQ section (I think it was there) detailing how to start a culture. If you can't manage any of these, boil some eggs and feed them the egg yolk. This is very messy though. Eventualy you can start powdering flake food. Something else to try is to get one of those catfish pellets that will slowly dissolve - rub it between your fingers to get lots of tiny pieces in the water and the fry will hopefuly feed on that as well (when they are beyong the infusoria-eating stage).

Good luck!