Small Coldwater Creatures?

[Neal]

I currently have a 2.5G set up in my bedroom with a hillstream loach in it, can you recommend any small/interesting creatures to go in with it? It has natural ferns and a small house to hide in, also a light built above it. I don't want to look for something really rare that I won't find it for years. I might just make it a nice show tank, with red plants, red gravel, red lightbulb ect. All your thoughts and opinions are welcome!
Thanks in advance,
Neal

 

[Shelly_Otterkin]

Shrimp.

Do you know that your loach like fast moving water?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Shrimp would be good for a tank that size, but the hillstream loach is really not suited to it at all- trust me, it will slowly die in there. In the wild they live in fast flowing mountain streams, they require a high oxygen content content in the water plus fast flowing water to supply them with it, this is also why they have evolved the body shape they have, often the no.1 cause of hillstream loaches dying is from a long term lack of oxygen in their aquarium habitat.
This link includes an excellent article on setting up a proper habitat/tank for hillstream loaches ;

http/www.loaches.com/hillstream_loaches.html

 

[Neal]

Could I put the loach in my 15g with my 4 neons, 2 albino corys and 2 black moores in a 24oC tank?

 

[OohFeeshy]

I really don't get you. You should be getting proper tanks for the fish you have, not trying to add more to the problem. The tank doesn't even have a filter, apparently....

 

[Neal]

No, my 15G has a filter and I already have the hillstream loach wich I have had for a while. Just he will die of lack of oxygen and non-flowing water.

 

[RandomWiktor]

A 2.5g tank is basically unsuitable for anything but ghost shrimp, a single betta, or maybe one of the smaller snail species. Without a filter, bubbler, or heater, it isn't particularly suitable for anything. I would urge you to consider either buying a filter and bubbler for the loach, or rehoming it.
Furthermore, if you are looking for coldwater fish, you will probably need a bigger tank anyways. No species of goldfish can be kept in under 20 gallons (and since they are social and should not be kept alone, 30+ gallons is a more realistic estimate). And while rosie reds/minnows are small, they need to be in groups since they are a social species. Also, to the best of my knowledge, most coldwater fish have fairly high oxygen and current needs. Either way, you're going to need a bigger tank, or a filter/bubbler.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

No, my 15G has a filter and I already have the hillstream loach wich I have had for a while. Just he will die of lack of oxygen and non-flowing water.

Personally i would get it a 20gal of its own, set the temp at around 19-22 degree's and invest in some powerful filtration(filtration designed for 40gals+ would be good)- this would be the best way to go about giving him the basic requirements he needs to have a good chance of living out his natural life expectancy . Hillstream loaches are sub tropical fish, meaning they live in temps between coldwater and tropical, if you get the loach its own suitable sized tank(i.e. 20gals+), there are quite a few sub tropical fish you can put with it if you want more than just one fish in the tank- fish like WCMM(white cloud mountain minnows), zebra and leopard danios, bloodfin tetras and peppered cories are all sub tropical fish that could fit in a tank that size, as well as more hillstream loaches .
Its best to give fish the right temps they need as the temp of the water surrounding a fish effects its metabolism and life expectancy and all kinds of other things, give the fish the wrong temp or enviroment and it won't live for very long or it will encounter sickness and ill health a lot more often. I understand you are trying to help your fish out, but the more info you give us on youyr situation, the better we'll be able to help you out . How many tanks do you have, how many gallons are they, and what and how many fish do they have in each of them ?

 

[Shelly_Otterkin]

Tokis-Phoenix we have been trying to help this guy out and he is not hearing us. All of his tanks have major issues and new problems for him pop up weekly. He has 2 black moors in a heater 10 gal with other fish if I remeber right. A couple of us have given up on him until he rehouse some of his fish. Its sad he seems like a good guy if only he would hear what we are telling him.

 

[OohFeeshy]

No, my 15G has a filter

I was talking about the 2.5g...