I got a bit of a problem...

[Wulfonce]

My 65g "heavily planted" community tank has been up and running for close to 6 months. The plants are thriving, no problems there. The problem is the current fish stock. The tanks original stock list goes as follows:

Panda Corys x12
Neon Tetras x24
Blue Gouramis x3
Red Gouramis x3
Black Platys x6
Rummynose Tetras x6
Pinapple Swords x6 (2 male, 4 female)

and the current stock...

Panda Corys x10
Neon Tetras x22
Blue Gouramis x3
Red Gouramis x3
Black Platys x5
Rummynose Tetras x4
Pinapple Swords ---> (sexually mature size x6) ---> (1" or over, x60?) (Under 1" including fry x150?) (fry in my 5g that I managed to scoop out x60?)

The pineapples are right out of hand. I've tried to net out the fry that seem to hang around the surface but I can only get a few, not nearly enough to make a dent in the overall population. Netting the rest of the tank is not an option because of the heavy plant growth. The fry I do manage to net go into a spare 5g tank, but I can only net around 25 per hour, yes I have stood there for an hour netting.

I thought I saw a few of the gouramis eating the small fry but I cant confirm this. Is there a small predatory fish out there that will take care of my fry problem without attacking the other fish? Or could I build some kind of trap to catch them maybe?

I seem to be getting around 20 new fry every 2-3 weeks. If I don't do something soon, I fear I may have to remove the plants. If the 60 one inchers (that I cant net) get to sexual maturity, I'll have one heck of a problem on my hands.

Any advice?

 

[mattybecks]

Hmmmmmm... I had a similar situation with my convicts, in a planted 60 gal. Really didn't wanna take out the plants either. Try some kind of catfish. I found my pimelodus pictus worked really well. They don't get too big either and active swimmers. Interesting to watch. Although as they approach their max size, your neon tetras might be in danger. If you don't like the idea of pictus, maybe a synodontis? But I don't know what your waters PH etc are like. As long as you keep it clean and constant it should be ok. The best fish I've had by far at keeping fry populations down is the yellow lelupi ( sorry spelling ) literally wiped out my convict fry in 3 days after I put him in. The only trouble with these guys is they can be aggressive. Good luck hope this was helpful

 

[Fish on Fire]

Anything that is predatory and would eat those fry would be capable of eating the neons as well.

 

[bbortko]

Had this problem with endlers in a planted 5g. Moover said endlers to planted 36g with angels and nukbers stay in check.

 

[Naos1984]

Vacuum them?