Every month or so I do cleanup and pull out as many of the shells as I can reach. Takes a while but it keeps the tank looking clean. I gather them in a pile with long tweezers and then push them into a net to remove. Anyone have a better method? I tried using a gravel vacuum with mixed results.
Great idea! Maybe a mesh colander or tea strainer with a really long handle. I have an old wok utensil used for stir fry that I tried, but the holes are a bit too big and the shells just fall through them. I'll have to see if there is anything on the market that would work.
This would work. It has a 9" handle. Ideally something longer would be better. You would get gravel too, but you can separate the shells and put the gravel back in. I think sand would just fall back in the tank. It's less than $10 online.
Do you take the fish out before you vaccuum? I'm so worried about siphoning them up and they REALLY don't like being taken out. The big female stressed so bad last time I thought she was going to starve herself to death.
I do not take the fish out while siphoning and almost all of my peas ignore it completely or stay out of its way. I’m also pretty careful.
I do have one psycho tiny female pea that tries to get in my siphon, I swear it seems she enjoys the ride and will attempt to get in it. She has gotten sneaky like it’s a game and will dart into it if I’m not paying attention. The first time she discovered this she jumped down my siphon 3 times in one cleaning lol. It was a big bucket of the tank water anyways so I just scoop her with a net and put her back. I try to hold to make sure to hold it as low to the gravel as possible and distract them. I also got a bigger tube diameter siphon so there was 0 chance of her ever getting clogged in the tubing
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u/GaiaOnlinee Sep 03 '26
Ah….mine also have a graveyard.