gravel hoover thingies...

[jobnockey]

Are they worth it??? I never seem to be able to get all the bits off the bottom when doing a water change , theres always some left over. Wondering if its worth investing in one of the above.

Also - i am slightly confused about how much i should be feeding my 2 black moors... i've read such different advice. I feed them pellets usually, maybe 1 or 2 each twice a day but i've read both that i should be giving them more, and less. confused!!! don't want the poor little buggers to be hungry but don't want to dirty the water too much either...

thanks!

I use one of the gravel hoover things like this.
It is good as it sucks up the gravel into the bottom of it for a few seconds - then you let it fall back , and the dirt in between gets sucked up the filter. It does not get all the dirt but does make it much cleaner than it would be otherwise.

I can't help you re food - just remember that a fish has a stomach about the size of its eyes and if it eats too much it goes straight through only partly digested and will dirty the water more quickly. Also they told me at the aquarium I go to that if the fish are well fed they can survive a couple of weeks with no food at all.

Yes, you definitely need to hoover your gravel to stop anaerobic bacteria forming and to get all the poo out. You don't need to buy a special gravel vac though, you can make your own out of a plastic drinks bottle. A 300ml one is about the right size. Give it a good clean, cut the bottom off and then just feed the syphon tube through the neck. Then push it in the gravel and twist it around a bit to loosen up all the poo.

I normally feed my fish once a day, giving them what they can eat in 2-3 mins and then scooping out the rest. It depends on the fish and what they are eating so you'll have to do a bit of trial and error. Goldfish will tell you that they are always hungry so you have to learn to ignore them a bit

How big is the tank? How often do you do water changes?