Today I learned two things.
Lesson 1. Ember Tetras are hard as nails!
During my water change, I cleaned out my Fluval 307 external filter and found 4 Ember tetras inside the filter canister! Now, bear in mind there is no actual swimming space inside these filters; I found the fish squashed flat against the lift-out flat sponge sections stuck against the plastic sides. Unbelievably, all 4 were still alive. I quickly managed to dump them into one of the breeder tanks. They started swimming and were feeding again within the hour. I will leave them in the breeder tank for a week or so just to keep an eye on them.
Lesson 2. I'm an idiot!
Every time I clean the above filter out, I always think I should look for a better solution for the intake strainer. The Fluval 307 has a rigid plastic strainer, but the gaps are still quite big. From the start, I had made a black sponge "mock-up" held on with a cable tie, but it's not perfect and is difficult to put on and off due to the tank being 24 inches deep and full of plants and wood that comes out the top of the tank. I did check on the Fluval site a while back to see if they sold a sponge strainer that could be pushed over the original strainer as an add-on, but couldn't find anything.
Can anyone recommend a slip-over strainer that would fit the Fluval 307 External Canister Filter? I forgot to mention. My filter is plumbed through the base glass of the tank, so a normal pipe-end strainer does not fit!
Lesson 1. Ember Tetras are hard as nails!
During my water change, I cleaned out my Fluval 307 external filter and found 4 Ember tetras inside the filter canister! Now, bear in mind there is no actual swimming space inside these filters; I found the fish squashed flat against the lift-out flat sponge sections stuck against the plastic sides. Unbelievably, all 4 were still alive. I quickly managed to dump them into one of the breeder tanks. They started swimming and were feeding again within the hour. I will leave them in the breeder tank for a week or so just to keep an eye on them.
Lesson 2. I'm an idiot!
Every time I clean the above filter out, I always think I should look for a better solution for the intake strainer. The Fluval 307 has a rigid plastic strainer, but the gaps are still quite big. From the start, I had made a black sponge "mock-up" held on with a cable tie, but it's not perfect and is difficult to put on and off due to the tank being 24 inches deep and full of plants and wood that comes out the top of the tank. I did check on the Fluval site a while back to see if they sold a sponge strainer that could be pushed over the original strainer as an add-on, but couldn't find anything.
Can anyone recommend a slip-over strainer that would fit the Fluval 307 External Canister Filter? I forgot to mention. My filter is plumbed through the base glass of the tank, so a normal pipe-end strainer does not fit!
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, which is why I'm looking for a better/easier solution.
