We just moved to a new home and this tank was left behind by previous inhabitors. My partner and thought it was empty and just as we were going to dump it when we noticed there are living beings in here.
It looks like there are some bottom feeders and/worm type creatures ? We counted maybe 6 different things, but more could be hiding.
How do we care for them?
I don't know anything about aquariums, other than the fact that this is provably not healthy for them to live in. It's about 3 inches of water, if that.
Can I add tap water for now until we buy tank stuff? Do I wait for the water to dechlorinate before I pour it in? Will that harm them? What do we do?
I don't want to harm them. Please help us figure out what to do in the mean time before we can upgrade tank measures.
Neither of us have had fish before and neither of us were planning on having fish, but will do what is needed for them to have a happy life. Any advice on these specific type of creatures is welcome.
Thanks!
Posted by infinitesimalFawn
6 Comments
I think those are Kuhli loaches, the worm like things and the transparent ones might be amano shrimp.
Its great that you and your partner are willing to take care of them.
My opinion, buy a dechlorinator, it treats the water so it makes it safe for the fish and buy a sponge filter and an air pump with a check valve, this gives beneficial bacteria somewhere to live. I think its better not to dump the water out and just add more to your liking, this will help to cycle the tank.
Hopefully all goes well
kuhli loaches and what looks like might be glass catfish? i could be wrong on the second ID, but poor little fellas!! thank you so much for helping them out; your first instinct about the water needing to potentially dechlorinate is spot on, so kudos to you for even thinking of that!! however these guys need more water ASAP, so your best bet until you can get some tap water conditioner is to get out your biggest pot, and fill it all the way up. boil the water for 15-20 minutes, then let it cool to room temperature, and that will be safe!
You need instant dechlorinator before you add any water.
They look like shrimps (either neocaridina, caridina, or amanos, hard to tell from the pic) and possibly some type of loach? Possibly an eel loach, but I’m very unsure.
it’s actually not a bad place to start, appears to be two kuhli loaches and three amano shrimp in a ~20 gal (i’m sure someone else can correct me).
you can let the water dechlorinate naturally over a few days like you said or buy a dechlor liquid. id add water very very slow, over the course of multiple days/weeks, and consider using some soft water (RO/RODI) depending on the hardness of the water you live in.
don’t mess with the substrate for now, just slowly fill and eventually add some sort of filtration (i like a sponge filter on that size tank). once filters ran for a few weeks id add more plants then either replace or sand cap the substrate.
do some research on the species and the nitrogen cycle, get a few more kuhlis and don’t crash the cycle.
smart not to dump chlorinated water in there right away, i believe you have a very cool tank in the making 👍
Proud of you two for that!!! this will be beautiful you earned my follow!
At a minimum you’ll need to get
some water conditioner (aka dechlorinator – it is needed to remove chloramine from the water supply, as it won’t leave just by sitting out).
A heater (prob best to google based on tank size, usually dimensions are pretty standard so you can compare to other tanks to get a size estimate)
A filter
A test kit
What you’ll want to do is top off the water in the tank with dechlorinated tap water (using the water conditioner). Add the heater and filter and just let it run for a bit. Stir up a small section of dirt so any of the bacteria in there can gloat around and seed the filter.
Eventually you’ll also want to get some plants and some driftwood (wood will grow biofilm, shrimp love it).
The two species there are kuhli loaches and amano shrimp. They’re both relatively easy to care for, but also consider their tank size requirements and what they are currently in.
You shouldn’t worry too much about adding more water, the parameters for the water they’re in is probably pretty close to whatever the supply is coming from the tap. You can feed them algae wafers from the pet store (sinking wafers, both these species like to hang near the bottom) and/or you can feed them blanched zucchini or blanched squash.
Finally, if you have anything you can put in to make a little “cave”, they will both like that. Being small species, they like to have places to hide and feel safe. This could be simply a plant pot you set in the water, a bit of PVC pipe, or even leaf litter (Indian almond leaves are what I suggest, not just random ones from outside as they can carry parasites)