Cheap and messy fry net
Description
You will need suitable mesh and either some basic sewing skills or access to a glue gun with aquarium safe glue (most hot glue is aquarium safe but some dyes in coloured glue may not be) I happened to be caught out with eggs that needed moving and no fry net to put them in. This cheap and messy net is small enough for eggs and very small fry just getting established. This is not suitable as a grow out enclosure, its too small! Its just for eggs and very young fry or shrimp. **How to print** Printing is pretty simple, you will need to print out 2 of the Base and Top', and 4 of the ‘Wall Supports’. No supports are needed, I printed with a raft and 0.1 layer thickness. They slot together quite easily, depending on your print you may want to use a bit of aquarium safe glue inside the connections to hold them together. **Choosing a hook** - Versatile U Hooks - For most aquariums two of these hooks will be the perfect solution. They are simple U hooks that go around the glass. - Magnet hook and plug - These are hooks designed to fit a 10mm circular neodymium magnet inside them. Just be careful to keep them out of the water (to avoid corrosion). The included plug in the model is enough to avoid splashes, but if you are placing it below the water level, though I am not sure why you would, you will need additional waterproofing. If your aquarium has thicker glass the magnets may not be a strong enough option. Please note its not advised to use just one magnetic hook as I show in the cover photo as that makes it much more likely to slip or dislodge. - Hook Loop with hole - This is a more fragile connection that is not compatible with already glued sides, it fits best with sewn meshes. You can either use a loop of thread or rope to tie them in place or if you have suction cups they work well with this hook (in that case make sure to orient them sideways). **Attaching the mesh** The dimensions of the cube are 80mm x 80mm x 92mm (width x depth x hight) you will need 5 pieces of mesh. Each of the four wall pieces needs to be 80mm by 92mm, the base should be 80mm x 80mm. If sewing you will want to be a little more tolerant of seam allowances, if you are glueing you can be a little less precise. I opted to use hot glue, mostly because its much faster (and I needed it yesterday). It helps a lot if you have a silicone pad to press against the glue as to cools both to flatten it and to speed up the cooling speed. Add a bead of hot glue, then take your silicone pad and lightly press down on the connection until the glue cools. Hot glue does not stick to silicone once it cools, but it will stick slightly while hot. Be careful not to try to remove the silicone pad before it has cooled, or you will end up with a stringy spaghetti mess. Doing this makes the end result a lot smoother, meaning less risk of little crevices, improved adhesion, as well as a flat end result, which is important as at least one of the faces of this will be leaning against the glass of the aquarium. If you do a better job than me, the end result will be much prettier. You can trim down excess mesh after gluing, this tends to lead to better results than trying to get it perfect while also fighting with a glue gun. Sewing is not my strong suit, so for that I will not leave instructions.
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