Cleaning A Hatchery Net In The Fish Tank

I have always used air line tubing to clean the inside of the net. You can start the siphon in two way - put one end of the tube in the water and suck the other till the water starts to flow, or the way I prefer is to run tap water into the tubing till it is full, carry it over to the tank and with a thumb over each end put one end in the tank the other on a bucket then take the thumbs away. With the latter method, you need the tap on just a dribble because air line tubing is so narrow any air bubbles do not float to the top. If you do get bubbles in the tubing, the only way to remove them is to go outside, hold one end of the tubing and whizz it round above your head.
One thing I have learned the hard way - you will use one hand to direct the tubing, hold the tubing between the finger and thumb of the other hand. Then if you get too near the fry you can pinch the tube instantly to stop the water flow.

For the outside of the net, I just wipe it over with my hand and scrape any debris off with my finger nails. The fry will not be in there long as the small net will stunt their growth.




If there is anything in the main tank that can be moved inside the net, move it. Even a leaf from a plant. It will be covered in biofilm with all its micro-organisms for the fry to feed on.

I would say no more than a month in the net. The fastest growth is in the first few weeks.


You can squeeze the filter in the new tank but even better would be to transfer some media. It is safe to remove up to a third of the media from the existing tank. Just replace the media from the old tank with new.
It would also help cycle faster if the new tank had live plants, especially floating plants - these are known as ammonia sinks because being on the surface they are nearer the lights and can use CO2 from the air, so they process ammonia faster than plants lower in the tank.


I have to admit to being a convert to live plants after many years of not being able to keep them alive 

Thank you Littlefish, I have not got a clue how old he or she is but it's been 4 days since i found him and he seems to be doing ok.

I think the little mite could be around just over 2 weeks old but can't be 100% sure. I tried looking on the net but it's to hard to tell' and all i know is we had eggs on sunday which is the day we found him or her and before but there were some eggs on the 3rd december which seems more plausible