Clean up crew ideas

[Bf92sy]

Hi ya. Can anyone tell me what kind of cleaning fish are suitable for a fry tank. By this I mean fish that will clean up any left over food and sieve through my sand substrate to prevent toxic build up, but won't eat my fry.

The tank is only small at 30 litres.

Thank you

[Rivercats]

The tank is too small for any fish. Ghost shrimp are good clean up crew but large ones would prey on fry. A snail "might" be an option.

[Bf92sy]

Yeah was thinking about red cherry shrimp? Do you think they would be ok in a small tank with fry?

[Ian086]

Originally Posted by Bf92sy

Hi ya. Can anyone tell me what kind of cleaning fish are suitable for a fry tank. By this I mean fish that will clean up any left over food and sieve through my sand substrate to prevent toxic build up, but won't eat my fry.

The tank is only small at 30 litres.

Thank you

I use corycats. I have 2 in my 15g guppy fry tank. I have NEVER witnessed them touch or even take any notice of the fry. They would be classed as none-aggressive, so you will be fine. I have sand in my tank and in the morning you can see all the potholes in the sand where the cats had a good sieve. I know they should be kept in group of 5 but mine are doing fine. If anything the fry bully the cats!!!!
Something else you should look into. I use a gel food called Repashy Gel Food. It's a powder you mix with boiling water, pour it into molds and it sets like gel. I mix some Harkari First Bites(fry food) in with the gel food. The fry love it. It means you can put a piece in and let the fry work away at it. The cats look after the rest. I find it a LOT less messy than other foods....

[Bf92sy]

Thank you for the great advice Ian. I've never heard if they type of food before. Sounds good tho!

[ddodad]

I would suggest Malaysian trumpet snails they multiply like crazy but are the only things I know that will clean the sand and eliminate the possibility of gas pockets

[Ian086]

Originally Posted by Bf92sy

Thank you for the great advice Ian. I've never heard if they type of food before. Sounds good tho!

No problem. I use both the 'community' and the 'meat pie' varieties. It is widely available on ebay/amazon....