Cleaning Substrate With Fry In The Tank

[attibones]

In my ten gallon I have a bunch of molly fry (which I'm trying to rehome), but I'm having a hard time cleaning up the sand. I can't use my gravel vac because the fry are dumb and keep getting in the way. There are too many for me to net and move. Any ideas? The only thing I can think of is to pour some of the water into one of my water change buckets and catch as many as I can. We really bit off more than we can chew with this whole fry thing. I'm regretting pulling them from the main tank. My sister is out of town, so I'm considering putting a few in my 55 to see if they get eaten, but I worry she is attached to the little things now.

While I'm talking about my fry, aside from the Internet and my LFS (which will only take four at a time as "donations"), are there any other ways to get rid of these things? I live in a small town with few responsible pet owners. I'm unlikely to find anyone with a tank bigger than a ten gallon...

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Local fish clubs.

 

[attibones]

You're silly, eagles. The closest thing I have to a local fish club is a group of old guys with fishing poles. Either way, I'm less concerned about getting rid of the fry (I've several adverts on Craigslist and other places), but more concerned about the state of my tank.

Would my bucket method be the best way, or does anyone have a better idea?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Well, you ruled out the other alternatives. 
 
Bucket method should work... suck up the dirt and check for fry when you're done.  Net them out and replace in tank.

 

[attibones]

Okay cool. I just wanted to be double sure that's what I should do before I go through all that trouble. I should have only saved two or three.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

In my opinion, we all get excited by fry. But if we are honest with ourselves, we really should leave nature to deal with them in the main tank unless we have a spot to take them and grow them out. And then a place to take them when they are sufficiently grown.

 

[attibones]

Yes, well, it was my Molly's first drop (in my tank anyway) and we weren't positive they were mollies, as my female has always been really fat. We were really hoping they'd be from the barbs or the rams, but we kind of knew they were the mollies. Still, we got excited so we kept them and now I have way too many. It was a stupid mistake. We have since sold the male and one female, so it's just my girl in the big tank. I may end up keeping one or two of these fry if they are cute enough, but I'm trying to get rid of them all.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

When I was younger the same thing happened to me. It's natural.