Rescued Fish, Kind Of Urgent

[NightStalker]

We just picked up some fish from a friends, his tank cracked and we quickly got them into a bag.

Heres the issue, we have a 20 gallon, that has been sitting 1/4th full for about 3 weeks, the gravel was cleaned with gravel vac 3 weeks ago but the glass is very dirty from the inside, i don't have any time to clean the glass throughly so i scrubbed most of the dirt off and its floating around in the water now, i turned the filter on in hopes of it filtering it all out in about an hour or so im not sure how long it takes.

The second option is putting these fish in my 55 gallon tank, however its pretty fully stocked and im concerned that my filter wont be able to hand the extra shall we say waste?

Im not sure what kind of fish they are, they're small is all i know and i think theres about 7, what i need to know is what is the best option, to put them in the big 55 or the 20 gallon which has about 3/4 of the water tap and 1/4 3 week old water. I should expect them to be with us for about a week or more so though temporary it may be long term.

Is it safe to keep them in my tank for about a week until i can properly clean that tank upstairs? because being honest i dont feel the best putting them in there.

 

[mommyof2bettas]

Can you get a picture of the fish?
What other fish do you have in the 55 gallon tank?

 

[Tolak]

I'm assuming the 20 gallon isn't cycled, seeing as it's 1/4 full and grungy. Fish can be bagged for a few hours without any problem, as long as they are kept at the proper temperature, and have been bagged properly, 1/3 water, 2/3 air.

I would turn off the filter on the 20 gallon, let the crud settle. After about half an hour vac the crud out of the gravel. Fill with water of the proper temperature, and take about 1/4 to 1/3 of the media out of the 55 gallon filter, add it to the 20 gallon filter. You will be cloning the 20 off of the 55.

You can also run the 20 gallon filter on the 55 & add the new fish to there, provided there aren't any compatability issues. This would buy you some time to work on the 20 if the 55 is really overstocked. Once the 20 is cleaned up you could do the same filter cloning & switch fish.

 

[NightStalker]

Can you get a picture of the fish?
What other fish do you have in the 55 gallon tank?

My 55 has

3x Bala
6x Cory
7x Ghost Shrimp
7x tiger barbs
1x yellow tetra (not sure its full name)
1x snail
2x Mollies
1x tiger plec
1x rubber nose plec

The new fish are 1x oscar, 1x jack demsy? They are all pretty small, the fish in my tank are still young and these ones are also small, the oscar atleast looks to be very young, the jack whatever ive never heard of or seen of so i cant say much about it. I guess ill try doing what Tolak said, the tank was cycled but after 3 weeks i doubt anything survivied, anyway im just wondering if those new fish will be compatible for the time being.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[Tolak]

The oscar is going to get big fast, the dempsey will get not quite as big, but can get aggressive with the oscar as they grow. At full size you might get by with a 75 gallon for those two fish, as long as they don't have aggression issues. They shouldn't stay in a 20 for long, as they won't stay small for long.

Short term they should be compatable. Once they get to about 3" they will need a larger tank.

 

[Amunet]

If you're only keeping them for a week or a little more, I'd say the 20 gallon is probably fine. Just vacuum out all the gunk, fill it with some dechlorinated tap, run the filter... as someone else suggested, take some of the filter media from the 55 and put it into the 20 to help seed it.. and yeah... everything should be ok for a week.