What's In Your Filter

[sbenbow]

I did my monthly filter clean yesterday.
 
I removed 20% of water from my tank into a container (water changes weekly BTW!)
 
I then put the filter into the container to ensure the bacteria is wet and doesn't die, etc, etc...
 
When I took the filter apart in the container, lo and behold two Red Cherry Shrimp swim out (each about 1 cm long).  They looked healthy too.  They went straight back into the main tank.
 
I then took the filter sponges out in readiness to give them a quick squeeze, and lo and behold again, two more RCS swam out - again about 1cm long!  Again, healthy (one didn't want to leave the sponge - he kept on swimming back to it).
 
I'm glad that I always take my time and do things slowly with the fish tank, otherwise these four might not have been spotted!
 
It made me wonder what else people have spotted in their filters as well !!!
 
At least all the shrimp (originally 6 of them, now about 35 or more!) are fine - especially with a new plant as an early Xmas present for them to enjoy hiding / grazing on!
 

 

[Chris0422]

Everytime I take my filter apart all I find is trumpet snails! I can't seem to rid myself of those Lil guys.

 

[ShinySideUp]

I have tiny snails in my filter but none in the tank as the Clown loaches will see to them.
 
I bought some small Kuhli loaches a few months ago and found one fo those in the filter the following week. He was fine and I put him back in the main tank -- lucky he didn't make it to the impeller as an FX5 would probably make a very efficient fish-shredder.

 

[Baccus]

Thankfully the MTS don't get into my filters but the little pond snails and rams horns regularly get in there, as do my riffle shrimp, bristle nose fry and cherry shrimp.
The only other thing that I have found in a filter is hydra, which I am slowly eradicating.