what bottom feeder do i want?

Question
hiya i need help with my tank. i have jusrt strated and in it i have
six zebra danios and five live plants, more rocks aswell. next i am
going to get three felmale dawf gournarmis. but the bottem of the
tank is getting filled with spare food. should i get a bottem feeder
who will clean up this mess? if so whta one should i get? please
help.
thanks  

Answer
Hi Katy;

Oops! You don't need a bottom feeder, you need to cut back on food. There should NEVER be food buildup on the bottom. Clean it out with a gravel vacuum right away along with a 25% water change. A bottom feeding fish can't eat a rotting mess like old food anyway. It would kill him. It's going to make the other fish sick eventually too.

Your tank may still be in the break-in period too so here are some great links on that as well as a couple of feeding guidelines pages;

http://www.xanga.com/Expert_Fish_Help
http://www.firsttankguide.net/capacity.php
http://www.firsttankguide.net/size.php
http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/aquariumstartup/a/newtankmistakes.htm
http://www.bestfish.com/overfeed.html
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art28815.asp

Once the old food is cleaned up I can advise on what would be good to add to your tank, but I need more information about it so I can suggest something;

What size tank is it?
How long has it been set up?
Does the tank have a heater?
What is the water temperature?
What kind of filter system?

Let me know as soon as you can......

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins