Here little fishy, come here little fishy.... How do I catch tiny active fish in a big tank? updated 7/31

[KittenFishMom]

I'm working at taking down my 55 gallon to clean out all the leeches. I have been doing this for several days.  I took out all the floating and drifting plants, and all the fish I could catch with my feeder trap(which worded well.)

Plant wise: I am down to a huge Amazon sword plant that grow in a media bag of potting soil under sand. I will post photos in another thread.

Fish wise: I have at least 3 tiny cory fry that flit about but probably never noticed the feeder and at least 3 probably 4 khuli loaches I was sure had died that were doing zoomies yesterday morning.

I put the plants I removed through RR and and tempted to do it again in a few days just to be sure. The fish I caught are doing well in other tanks.

I'm not sure about the next step.

I think the next step will be trying to get the remaining plants and random litter out of the tank, which will muddy the water. Then set my smaller fedder traps and wait a few days, rebaiting the traps every day with bbs.  Having everyplace they like to hide is apt to stress the fish, but maybe they will try to hid in the traps if I put some bio rings and IALs in with the bbs. I could take most of the water out and use air stones, but I won't have any way to filter the water.

All ideas and advice are welcome at this point. 

Thanks so much

KittenFishMom

 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2023 by KittenFishMom

[Gwallace]

Just remove as much plants and decor as you can and lower the water level to just a few inches.  Use 2 nets...one for herding and one for scooping.  55's are very narrow so you should have no problem.  Happy catching!