What Should I Do? Fish Tank Cleaning?
by Aquaboy on Friday, September 10th, 2010 | 4 Comments
I recently got 3 neon tetras. I have been experimenting with how much food to give them. I have apparently been overfeeding, and there is a collection of fish flakes at the bottom of the tank in the gravel. Is it really urgent that I clean the flakes out of the gravel or can it wait a few days. Also, will neon tetras eat the food at the bottom, or does that just go to waste.
My neons keep having trouble staying at the bottom of the tank. They have to keep swimming down. Is this from overfeeding?
Advice or suggestions?
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You shouldn’t feed your fish any more food than they can consume in two minutes. As for excess food at the bottom, the neons probably won’t swim down there much to eat it as they are a fish that likes to stay mid to upper tank level. Get a catfish or sucker fish to clean the extra food that your neons don’t eat, or just get a gravel cleaner from the pet store and clean it yourself. Lots of excess food on the bottom can breed bacteria which then cause disease just like excess fish poop.
Cleaning out the food at the bottom is not an immediate problem you need to fix but yes you should get it out as soon as possible because it will only dirty your tank and be converted into ammonia that will require more water changes. No your neons will most likley not eat the food on the bottom, so its just going to waste. You should be able to suck it up with a siphon tube ( like 4 bucks at petsmart or petco).
Your neons could have swim bladder disease which you cant do much about except water changes and keeping your water quatilty good. This could be due to overfeeding, so i would recommend feeding them minimally for a while.
Hope this helps
It would be best to feed these very small fish just a few flakes at a time,and when they get this eaten give them a few more it does not take much for just three neon tetras.Food setting on the bottom will decay and pullet the water.It would be a good idea to get a few Cory-Cat Fish to keep the bottom clean.
Get the uneaten food out ASAP. It will rot quickly in the warm water, cause a rise in the the ammonia level, and probably kill your fish.
Ian