Should I vacuum the gravel?

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sunlioness

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Aug 28, 2011
Messages
5
Location
London, UK
Hello everyone,

I just noticed today that I have two little baby mollies in my 63 litre aquarium. It's quite planted so there's probably more as they have lots of hiding space.

Their good fortune is that my gravel is really dark and since they are black mollies, they are very difficult to notice (and get eaten).

My problem is how should I vacuum the gravel from now on? I don't want to kill them or suck them up but my mollies have quite an appetite and they leave their "stuff" everywhere, so I have to clean that up somehow.

Any suggestions are very much appreciated.
 
Dunno if this will work for you but one of my favorite ways to suck up "stuff" and not wee fish is to put the strainer end of a power filter over the hose I use to drain the tank. I use this to stir up the surface of the gravel and let the gunk go thru the holes.

It's that or vac really slowly and watch closely to see if baby mollies are being sucked up.
 
I just do it very carefully when I have babies. Check the bucket when you are done to make sure none of the fry ended up in there.
 
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