# Mystery critters ?



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I know, a pic would be best, but until my new camera shows up, no can do. Found 'em in a bucket that I rinsed out a new plant in. I suspect, therefore, that they came with the plant. They seem to stick near the bottom. There are five or six, about a quarter inch long, skinny, VERY fast swimmers. Vaguely like a tadpole, but not tadpoles, [I mean baby frogs]. Dark colour, and when they touch the bucket, or a bit of gravel that's in there, they sort of curl up for a short time then take off swimming again. Look more like fish than anything but if they are fish they are tough, been in the bucket for days, no heat, no light, no food, so probably not fish. I will try to get a pic if the camera comes.. meantime, anyone have a clue what they might be and if they are dangerous ? One is smaller, and a larger one appears to be harassing it, sort of sitting on top of it as they swim. Certainly not snails. Never seen anything like them on the usual lists of pests in aquaria. I just hope they didn't get into my tank.. no doubt a faint hope. I haven't anything in there likely to eat something like this, unless maybe the kuhlis can. Don't look like any kind of insect, that I have ever seen.


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## RevoBuda (Sep 3, 2011)

Sounds like a water flea to me.


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## Darkside (Sep 14, 2009)

Possibly a type of amphipod?


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

Could even be leeches.


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Possibly Very large planaria.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

Look up Gammarus and see if that is what you have. If so, no worries. They are great algae eaters. The tip off is one riding on the other, that makes me think it might be gammarus.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

You got it Darkside, and you too BillD.. that is exactly what they are. They are kind of neat looking, once I got them into a jar so I could see them better. They have that 'crustacean' look to them once you can see the whole creature. 

I think I'd have recognized leeches. When I kept fish back in my school days, leeches were the reason I eventually quit the hobby. Had an infestation I simply could not get rid of. Tore down the tank 3 times, boiled the gravel, bleach washed everything, air dried it, tossed out the plants.. still they reappeared, waving their creepy tapey bodies from the gravel, in disturbing numbers. They totally creeped me out. Also for sure not planaria, those I would also recognize.. they get talked about a lot and there are loads of pics online. So thank you Darkside and BillD, I am pleased to know what they are and that they are not a threat to any of my fish or shrimps. 

So ,should I now go ahead and actually put them in my tank ?


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

I kept a culture of them going in a 5 gallon tanks for about 6 or 7 years. They love hair algae. As well, I used them to clean plants that had algae on the leaves. If I took a crypt with algae covered leaves and placed it in that tank, they would clean it over night. However, if you left the plant too long, and they didn't have algae they would start to eat the plant. Still, they did a great job. I lost the culture when I added a mass of thread algae that contained some Rivulus eggs. When the killies hatched they started to eat the shrimps until there were none left/ My originals came from a hornwort purchase. They do make good fish food.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Interesting. They are still in the bucket, still alive, so they seem quite hardy. Don't want them eating my plants though. I have a lot of snails, so they do a pretty fine job of cleaning algae off the plants that have any. Not much algae in my tank, and I have Ottos as well as shrimp to eat it. Can always drop in more algae tabs or even seaweed pieces for them to munch on. They do have a rather fascinating way of moving.. very quick and slick ! I wonder if the kuhli loaches would eat them ? Fresh food is always a nice treat for fish..but aside from the Ottos and 3 kuhli loaches, the only other fish are two danios, so they might not get eaten. Do they reproduce quickly ? Oh, decisions, decisions ! Maybe I should put them in my 5 G that has only plants in it and feed them algae tabs and see what happens.


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## theeyrietrainer (Dec 9, 2010)

The danios will eat them if they can see them and the kuhlis will also snack on them if their paths crossed. However, if you have enough plants, there may be enough for some to hide for a small population to exist.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Interesting to know. For now, since there are only six or so, I dumped them into a 5 G tank I'm keeping spare plants in, until I get my new hood built for the 30 G. I hope their numbers will increase, and then I'll put some in the 30 and see how they fare. There is no algae in that tank, so I think I will be best off feeding them a bit of algae tab or maybe seaweed now and then, I don't want them eating the plants. Shame they probably don't eat snails.. I have a burgeoning population of tiny ramshorn and pond snails in that tank too. Though I find some of their behaviours very interesting, I don't need thousands of the things. I can see dozens of egg masses all over the tank.. I wonder if amphipods will eat snail eggs ?

I think the kuhlies would certainly enjoy something to hunt, though I have a hard time imagining the danios eating these little beasts. Even though from above they seem quite small, being very streamlined, when you see the whole critter they are bigger than they look. They can swim really fast, but Dani's are fast as well. If they do catch some, good on 'em. Real live food is a good thing. I've also got some daphnia that I plan to try and keep producing, to feed for variety now and then - they should provoke some interest with their jerky method of getting around. I'm going to end up with a menagerie of tiny critters I'd never heard of a few months ago at the rate I'm going - daphnia, banana and micro worms, amphipods, not to mention the algae culture itself I need to replace, maybe even FW rotifers if I can find a culture of those. Heaven knows what else is going to show up !


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