Correct.
How do I go about vacuuming the substrate in my fry tank?
- Thread starter Rocky998
- Start date
OP
OP
I know
You don't even need to suck on it to start the siphon. Take the tubing to the sink, hold both open ends higher than the rest of the tubing and run water into one end. It needs to be a thin trickle so air pockets aren't trapped as it's not easy to get them out unless you take the whole thing outdoors and swing it round your head. Once the tubing is full of water carry it to the tank, then put a thumb over each end, put one end in the tank the other in the bucket and remove the thumbs.
What fun is that?
You aren't a true fishkeeper without a taste of mulm water every once in a while....
Along with using airline tubing for a small syphon, a turkey baster makes a handy tool for puffing at the substrate to lift debris and sucking it up to dispose of. Makes it slow going, but gives you a chance to use it sorta like a leaf blower to push fry outta the way, and suck up only the area you want to. Then empty it into a jug/light coloured bucket to check you haven't accidentally sucked up any babies.
I use a very small gravel vac in my pygmy cory tank, and in the shrimp tank. It's inevitable that some tiny pygmy fry get sucked up now and again, no matter what I use, so I have white buckets to make it easier to spot them, and gradually sift through the water one jug at a time and using a turkey baster to check through the mulm and debris one turkey baster full at a time too, since pygmy fry blend into the mulm so well. Have to place a bright light over the bucket (the light bar from the tank works well) and train your eye to recognise their shape and look for any movement.
Before you ask, yes, this does add a lot of time to water changes! But there's never a time when shrimp and pygmies are not breeding, and the substrate still needs to be cleaned, so this is the best method I've found so far to be sure that I'm not gonna throw out any babies with the dirty water.
I use a very small gravel vac in my pygmy cory tank, and in the shrimp tank. It's inevitable that some tiny pygmy fry get sucked up now and again, no matter what I use, so I have white buckets to make it easier to spot them, and gradually sift through the water one jug at a time and using a turkey baster to check through the mulm and debris one turkey baster full at a time too, since pygmy fry blend into the mulm so well. Have to place a bright light over the bucket (the light bar from the tank works well) and train your eye to recognise their shape and look for any movement.
Before you ask, yes, this does add a lot of time to water changes! But there's never a time when shrimp and pygmies are not breeding, and the substrate still needs to be cleaned, so this is the best method I've found so far to be sure that I'm not gonna throw out any babies with the dirty water.
I call them "adventurers"
Don't over feed your tank and then you don't need to vacuum, there should be no bad stuff in the base of your tank. Feed only what your fish will eat, have plenty of plants and they will take care of the rest. I have never vacuumed a tank in 45 years of fish keeping.
I’ll step that up a notch
You aren’t a true fishkeeper until you have got pneumonia from inhaling water
I look at this from two angles.
1st depends on how small the fry are. I use a regular siphon hose that has good sucking power but hold a net under it to prevent accidental loss, but only if the fish are large enough to be unable to go through the net.
2nd option is to do the same thing in reverse. Just have the water pour out into a bucket through a net placed over it. If the fry are really small then you could stretch a leg from a used pair of ladies tights over the bucket.
1st depends on how small the fry are. I use a regular siphon hose that has good sucking power but hold a net under it to prevent accidental loss, but only if the fish are large enough to be unable to go through the net.
2nd option is to do the same thing in reverse. Just have the water pour out into a bucket through a net placed over it. If the fry are really small then you could stretch a leg from a used pair of ladies tights over the bucket.
I'll go with the regular siphon method with the usual narrow airline, if I have bottom oriented fry. One hand holds the siphon at the bottom, and waving fingers scare off fry. It's slow, but you're raising fry, not doing this daily.
I haven't used my mouth on airline in decades. I use @Essjay 's method. It's faster and safer. I would never use ordinary airline on a regular tank, where vaccuuming is a rare chore, but all breeding tanks produce waste. You can still lose fry with any siphon, but attention and control of the hose help.
I haven't used my mouth on airline in decades. I use @Essjay 's method. It's faster and safer. I would never use ordinary airline on a regular tank, where vaccuuming is a rare chore, but all breeding tanks produce waste. You can still lose fry with any siphon, but attention and control of the hose help.
OP
OP
Instead of wire hangars to use on the air tubes vould I use paper clips?? Dont know if I can or not...
I could try that... Thanks!
???
OP
OP
Someone mentioned about using wire hangars to keep the airline straight while vacuuming... I dont have any wire hangars so I wanted to know if paperclips could be used
That "someone" was @Slaphppy7 lol
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