Cleaning fry tank

[Abbeys_Mom]

I figured out how to change the water in my fry tank without sucking up any babies, but now I don't know how to clean up the uneaten food on the bottom of the tank. The fry are less then a millimeter long and don't swim out of the way. I have managed to keep them alive this long, I wouldn't want to doom them to swim in the toilet (had that happen with a guppy fry once). Any suggestions?

[Rue]

Good question...

...think you can put pantihose over the vaccuum...loosely so it takes up some of the dirt...and then pull it off with the dirt in it before you loose suction?

[Abbeys_Mom]

How would I separate the dirt from the fish. Seriously, they don't move out of the way. When I was changing the water they were actually getting pulled towards the end of the syphon. I would leave it till they are older, but it's only a 1g and there is not gravel. I would hate for them to make it this far only to die from toxic water.

[Drumachine09]

Use a peice of standard sized airline tubing instead of the siphon.

[crackatinny]

Just an idea here, fix a plastic soda bottle (cut in half) to the end of the syphon, spread a stocking over the mouth of bottle loosly with the toe part dangling in the bottle, after syphoning turn bottle upside down so debri settles in bottle/stocking, and in theory fry swim, then gently tip fry back in, I haven't tried it, but worth a shot:thumb:

[gm72]

I honestly am just really careful. Watch carefully and make sure no babies are sucked up into the vacuum.

[Incredulous_Ed]

When i had small fry I would put the grael vacuum in very care fully sor no fy got in and then I had start the siphon and watch carefully if any fry got scked up. If any were about to be sucked up I would then hold my thumb over the other end.

[Algenco]

I used standard airline attached to a section of rigid airline.

When siphoning hold the outlet end in the bucket, when fry get to close, put your finger over the end.

[gm72]

Maybe use a mini gravel vacuum instead of the standard size? Less suction/more control? I use one of the mini vacuums on my daughter's 5.5 gallon tank.

[Abbeys_Mom]

I managed to clean the best I could today without sucking up any fry. I uses a sponge on the end of a stick to gently "sweep" everything to one side, then I used air line to vacuum up the dirt. A fry or two got in the line, but I just let the water and fry flow back into the tank.

[gm72]

Silly fry. Good job!