"Jim Morcombe" wrote in message
...
I always keep as many plants in a tank as I can. This seems to help
with
the nitrates, but not with the nitrites.

I do this because I like plants and the fish like the plants.

I have bought fish from people that call themselves breeders and they
have
completely empty tanks except for the fish. I couldn't ever do this.

Mind you, its pretty hard to catch fish in my tanks. It becomes quite
a
game with many people involved everytime we want to catch something.
Invariably someone gets excited and destroys a plant or something just
to
catch the fish.

Jim
snip

The technique (I use) to catching fish in planted tanks is to use 2 nets.
Enter both nets very slowly into the tank. Position the first net
between the glass and a natural obstacle (rock, plant, driftwood etc),
and keep it absolutely still. The 2nd net is the chaser, and it slowly
manoeuvres the fish into a small crowd. Push the fish forwards around
the back of the obstacle and around the front of the tank. When the
corralled fish at the front see the 2nd waiting net, gently wiggle the
chaser net behind them to push them forward. This cause the fish in the
back of the corral, to rush forward, so the whole crowd gets the extra
urgency to move forwards. Fish will always react to the moving net, and
when bunched up, will tend to continue moving as a group, because to
escape from the group can be a greater risk. Too fast and they all
scatter, too slow and they catch on, but at the right speed, you can push
most of the contents of your tank right into the waiting net. I
regularly do this at work, scooping a dozen Neons or other tetras at a
time. There are other ways (dropping your water level, using a pail and
traps, etc), everyone has their favourite techniques.

NetMax