zowie717

Okay heres the scoop. I have a 60 gallon tank. First I tried to set up a live plant tank but after a month of lighting, substrate, they just were not doing as good as i would of liked and plus I wanted cichlids. so one day i cleaned out the tank, took the plants out put them in my 10 gallon. rinsed off the substrate (ecocomplete) and put the gravel back in (it still had some of the ecocomplete substrate but only the big rock like pieces) i emptied the entire tank, and refilled. i let it start with a fishless cycle and after 1 or 2 i had nitrate readings so i got some rocks (holy rock) and put them in ( my driftwood is still in there) and then last week i got 4 juvenile cichlids. but stupid me did not really think the white little spots on the back of the tank were anything, I just wiped them off. well this week they were on the front of the tank and i got up close and personal and seen they have legs! so looking up the picture of hydra is what i have. Now i wiped what i could see away and know that these probably came from my plants and even thou washing gravel out there was still probably some in there or on driftwood.

so what do i do? my cichlids are doing okay and was going to go get more in another week (slowly adding for my bioload as my nitrate reading goes up) but do these things multiply? how big they get? anyone with experience or suggestion please direct me. I was going to stick my pleco from my other tank in this tank as he is a non stop sucker, but didnt know if that was a good idea or not. I want another pleco for the 60 gallon tank, just cant decide what kind. i want a different colored one being i have african cichlids in there which are colorful.
thanks so much guys!

cichlidsmad

Unless you are breeding fish and there will be tiny babies in there, the hydra doesn't harm anything else you have unless the victim is sick or otherwise weak in some way. There are fish that eat them, and so will mystery snails (a type of apple snails - and they don't overpopulate tanks). Gouramis, paradise fish and algae eaters will make a meal of them. Feed less food than usual so the fish will start to view the hydra as a food source. The "natural" way is much safer. Cutting back on food will help starve out the hydra too. It thrives in tanks that are overfed



http://en.allexperts.com/q/Freshwate...ters-hydra.htm