Please help with a little advice...we have now got an aquarium, tropical, approx 30x30x60 cm. Thanks to the lovely people at the new shop just up the hill from the Sheaf View Pub in Heeley, we have washed gravel, treated water, inserted plants, soaked and inserted bogwood...and now we are just waiting for them to test the water for us to make sure it's perfect (should get around to it Saturday, hoorah!).

I'm sure they will be as helpful with their fish advice, and I have read books and looked at websites, but I would like to know firsthand what fish people have found easy, attractive, and nice to keep.

Bearing in mind we are new to this, and the tank is quite small, and it's primary purpose in life is to let us enjoy the fish at home instead of being dragged to the pet store to stare at them 4 times a week by our small child (don't worry, it's not a Christmas puppy situation, but a new family interest), the emphasis is on bright and colourful, hardy, not big on hiding 24 hrs a day, poo-eaters to help with cleaning, and a good size and number for a healthy tank...oh, and the OH says inexpensive, lol.

The one preference so far are cardinal tetras, which is at least a starting point. I thought perhaps six, as they like to shoal.
I thought I might be able to get away with two shoals of small fish and perhaps two larger fish.

Many thanks for any ideas!

Tetras are great as in a small tank you can have quite a few and the neons are lovely and colourful. The easiest fish I've found to keep are Black Widow Tetras, the ones we have now are the original ones we got when we first got our tank and we've had them for about 4 years. Rummy noses are nice too, they are the ones which look like they have a black and white checked tail, and (hence the name) a red nose! Again quite small fish so you can have a few. I'd say in a tank your size no more than about 12 fish. You'll be hooked and want a bigger tank in no time!

When we set up our aquarium, we lost a couple of fish to begin with, while the water balance was established. Introducing fish to a tank will inevitably change the balance of the water, however carefully you set it up and follow set up advice and instructions. Just be aware of New Tank Syndrome (http://www.bestfish.com/breakin.html) and keep in touch with your supplier for help and advice, although this doesn't always occur. You are best to begin with easy to keep, hardy fish such as tetras or platys. There are lots of websites on the .net you can read for further information......Good luck and have fun! :)

Thank you and others of you who have replied by PM.

I'm getting quite excited by the whole idea of the fish.
So any more ideas on hardy, brightly coloured little guys?

Still think it should be the OH who cleans the tank, though. Lol.

Pop a few flakes of food in to the tank to start the ammonia levels off which will kick start the bacteria etc. There is no point in them testing your water levels until you have a few fish in there.

Introuduce the fish slowly, do regular water changes etc and you should be fine.

Pop a few flakes of food in to the tank to start the ammonia levels off which will kick start the bacteria etc. There is no point in them testing your water levels until you have a few fish in there.

Introuduce the fish slowly, do regular water changes etc and you should be fine.


There is somewhere on t'internet (can't remember) a method of fishless cycling.

Alternatively you can buy live bacteria at Sheffield Aquatics, or any good fish shop will sell filter starters. Most are pretty good.

Definately introduce the fish slowly, to many at once can create an ammonia spike which definately isn't good for the fish.

I would definately recommend you getting some tester kits. The main tests are ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. It's something you have to learn to deal with as a tropical fish keeper. The water can look fantastic BUT it can be killing the fish.

Theres a great local fish group called SVAS, their weblink is http://www.svas.co.uk/

There you'll also find out where the best shops are etc.

HTH

*Smiles*

Angi

Thank you! We have put some stuff in...water conditioner. We did that Sunday. There are also plants in. Won't that be enough? We are hoping that we can start with fish on Saturday. Is there anything else we need to do? The guy at the fish shop and the books don't mention needing anything else, live bacteria and the like.

I was also wondering if we are going to need to change any of the water...

Any advice you can give is great, as we have a very small window of opportunity...we both work full time and are also both working Sheffield Fayre Sunday and Monday. I want everything to be ready to get some fish on Saturday - it's great having the tank, but the plants aren't all that lively, lol...

Thank you! We have put some stuff in...water conditioner. We did that Sunday. There are also plants in. Won't that be enough? We are hoping that we can start with fish on Saturday. Is there anything else we need to do? The guy at the fish shop and the books don't mention needing anything else, live bacteria and the like.

I was also wondering if we are going to need to change any of the water...

Any advice you can give is great, as we have a very small window of opportunity...we both work full time and are also both working Sheffield Fayre Sunday and Monday. I want everything to be ready to get some fish on Saturday - it's great having the tank, but the plants aren't all that lively, lol...

Water conditioner basically takes care of the chlorine and heavy metals found in tap water that is not good for the fish.

Bacteria start/live bacteria is needed to ensure the filtration is working correctly. Again, there is a website that shows the cycle of what is turned into what and how it affects the fish.

Plants are good, but they need to be gardened, and if they start to die, they too can poison the water.

You should do regular weekly water changes of approx 25%-33%

Overfeeding the fish is the biggest killer. The food rots and poisons the water. If you have a gravel bottom then you will need a gravel cleaner, even if you use an undergravel filter.

Any food that isn't eaten within 10 minutes or so should be removed.

I would get about 4 tetras and let them settle in and help set the bacteria up.

You can always add more fish as and when the water is up to scratch.

HTH

*Smiles*

Angi

Tetra are not the hardiest of fish to start a new tank off with. I would consider starting with no more than 6 tiger barbs or ruby barbs or zebra danios. dont feed them for the first 4 days, then feed very sparingly once daily for another week. after a week, test the water for Nitrite and ammonia, and test every couple of days after that. you will see the ammonia rise first, counter this with small regular water changes daily, with a water conditioner added (I recommend aquasafe, used it for years). Once the ammonia starts to fall (after a couple of weeks or so, the nitrite will start to rise as nitrifying bacteria start to colonise. lower the nitrite again with small water changes. Once Ammonia and nitrite reach a consistant zero, then you can add another half-dozen fish, tetra should be ok at this point. after adding these, monitor every couple of days the nitrite and ammonia, and add no more fish till levels are a constant zero. the success of any aquarium is almost totally down to maintaining good water quality.

Okay, so we start with one small shoal and see how we get on from there. With any luck as long as they stay alive, they'll be more interesting to look at than just the plants, lol.

We were told there was something we could add to the tank to make it ready sooner, but chose not to as we were in no big rush this week. Would that be this live bacteria, or similar? The OH is thinking perhaps he should get some tomorrow. We want the fish to have the best possible start.

You couldn't go wrong with some platys or guppies imo. Guppies look fancier than platys.

I started my tank off with a couple of platys and they are still doing well after nearly 5 months.

I suggest you look at the Sheaf Valley Aquarist Society's forum : http://www.svas.co.uk/index.php?pid=9

You can ask loads of questions there and look at questions others have posted.

I set my tank up in March : 1 week without fish just had the water and filters running then added two platys and let them cycle the tank through for about 6-8 weeks. I may have left them a bit longer.

The essence of tank cycling is that the fish pee ammonia which builds up in the water. The filters help breed naturally occurring bacteria which break the ammonia down into nitrite. Both ammonia and nitrite are poisonous to fish. Eventually the naturally occurring friendly bacteria start up and they convert the nitrite to nitrate which the fish are ok with.

Basically when you add fish to a tank you will get an increase in ammonia followed by an increase in nitrite as the ammonia levels drop and then this is followed eventually by an increase in nitrate levels and a drop in the nitrite levels.

Obviously the amount of ammonia and nitrite produced is related to the number of fish you have in the tank. The density of ammonia and nitrite in the water is also related to how much water you have in a tank. This is why people start off with a small number of fish and wait. I've read tetras are sensitive to nitrite levels so if you buy a huge shoal of them be aware of the tank chemistry and watch out for the nitrite spike if you add loads at once.

You need to get fish in the tank first and you need to do regular weekly water changes of at least 10% but not more than 25% to avoid stripping out the good bacteria. I change about 10 lites in a 54 litre tank - about 18%.

I'd advise against any 'difficult' fish - ones that need highly specific environments like pH levels or hardness levels - until you've mastered the basics with some hardy fellas that can take the stick a newbie will inadvertently chuck at them.

There are plenty of websites out there that detail fish. You need to stick to relatively small ones because of the size of your tank. It's no good buying some catfish, for example, because they will simply outgrow your tank and you'll have to find someone to take them on.
However there are some catfish that are small and will live quite happily in your tank.

Be aware of their habits - there are some algae eaters out there that will hook on to slow moving or sedentary fish - so you don't really want to mix some fish together at all.
Otocinclus are good algae eaters for small tanks but they often just simply pop their clogs when introduced to a new tank. No one quite knows why.

You need to know how your tank operates so that you can set the right conditions up. My tank runs hot without a heater in it - it can reach 80F on warm days so I have added extra oxygen in the shape of a Senta air pump and a Fluval 2+ to the tank.

Start simple - get some platys in and let them settle the tank before you go rushing out and fill it with all sorts of exotic things that will either outgrow your tank really quickly or keel over and die at the first sign of an ammonia or nitrite spike.

Regards

LesleyB

Thanks again, all of you.

It's a confusing business, but I'm sure we'll get the hang of it. I quite fancied some guppies - memories of childhood - perhaps I will get first choice, then, and we will leave the tetras for a little while...

I'll let you all know how we go on.

Also, don't underestimate the value of live plants in an aquarium. They're a good source of oxygen and also food for the fish and are also aesthetically pleasing. They can be introduced at any time. :)

Also, don't underestimate the value of live plants in an aquarium. They're a good source of oxygen and also food for the fish and are also aesthetically pleasing. They can be introduced at any time. :)

Got those, thanks! Some that aren't tasty and are very hardy - easier for me, lol - and some that are a bit more tasty (apparently. Haven't tried them myself...). Good cover and a nice bit of interest for me and the fish...and Hoorah! I've kept them alive for 4 whole days! (I'm not so good with houseplants, but seeing as that's because I forget to water them, that may be less of a problem in this case, lol.) I'm planning to get a few more, too. I like the plants.

Errr...you know how I said we'd managed to keep the plants alive? Well, there's been a bit of trouble with our light over the last few days...it was very dim, so we've managed to replace it. Now it's easier to see that they aren't as happy as they could be - probably due to the lack of light.
I'm quite hopeful that most will be all right, but the rubber plant has an odd film around it. Should I take it out and rinse it, or throw it? Or just give it a couple of days with the light on properly and see if it comes round? Apart from the fuzzy film, it seems all right.

Any advice gratefully received.

I like the look of tiger barbs but when I had them I was noticing that other fish - neon tetras etc - were being eaten........eventually only the tiger barbs were left and eventually only one.......if I ever keep tropicals again I will have to have a sign in the aquarium that says......THIS IS NOT A SUSHI BAR!!! :D

Uuurgh, thanks, julado...I may skirt away from the barbs in that case. Seeing as the munchkin has already named his first two fish (in their absence) Charlie and Lola, we're going to have to work a little harder to keep them alive, lol.

Well, we've done it...bought some fish yesterday!
11 baby neon tetras (the 'herd' -I know, I know)
2 salt and pepper corys (Charlie and Lola)
and a plec (Dog, or Splodge)
The names are down to my 2 year old son - don't blame me, lol.

So far so good, tested the water this morning and it was fine...will keep testing it every day. The fish have acclimatised very well and are having a good old time in there.

I know some would say it's too many to start, but we got a little bit overexcited. I'm hoping it'll be all right - the neons are so small thay hardly make up one normal sized fish together.

Got more plants, too. It looks fantastic - and we don't feel quite so idiotic about staring at the tank now it has something in it.

Watch out with the plec, unless he/she is a dwarf then they grow BIG, a friend has one (Derek ~ the fish that is, not the mate LOL) it's 14" at the moment and still growing!!

Mind you, you'll find that it gets TOTALLY addictive and you'll bigger tanks in no time.

Enjoy them :) Just watch the ammonia levels ..... there are items out there that help remove it if it gets to high.

The best advise I was given is KISS Keep It Simple Stupid. If's there's a problem, do a water change first :)

*Smiles*

Angi


Well, we've done it...bought some fish yesterday!
11 baby neon tetras (the 'herd' -I know, I know)
2 salt and pepper corys (Charlie and Lola)
and a plec (Dog, or Splodge)
The names are down to my 2 year old son - don't blame me, lol.

So far so good, tested the water this morning and it was fine...will keep testing it every day. The fish have acclimatised very well and are having a good old time in there.

I know some would say it's too many to start, but we got a little bit overexcited. I'm hoping it'll be all right - the neons are so small thay hardly make up one normal sized fish together.

Got more plants, too. It looks fantastic - and we don't feel quite so idiotic about staring at the tank now it has something in it.

Thanks, Angi.

Great advice, we got a nice gravel cleaner we can remove water with, so it now holds no fear for us. Plus have a bucket and a watering can for the whole show.

I am not much cop on fish id, but I am concerned that the plec is a spotted plec (due to get rather large) but I'm hoping it is a dwarf variety of plec that just looks like the picture of the spotted I've seen. If it is the big variety, it will be the first time the shop has let us down, and I'm sure they'll help us decide what to do for the best.
Saying that, the OH is now talking about a bigger tank for the plec if it keeps growing...he's well and truly hooked already, lol.

Thanks, Angi.

Great advice, we got a nice gravel cleaner we can remove water with, so it now holds no fear for us. Plus have a bucket and a watering can for the whole show.

I am not much cop on fish id, but I am concerned that the plec is a spotted plec (due to get rather large) but I'm hoping it is a dwarf variety of plec that just looks like the picture of the spotted I've seen. If it is the big variety, it will be the first time the shop has let us down, and I'm sure they'll help us decide what to do for the best.
Saying that, the OH is now talking about a bigger tank for the plec if it keeps growing...he's well and truly hooked already, lol.


I love the albino bristlenose's ...... the males are soooo cute

Mind you, we were lucky today and went to Sheffield Aquatics as the OH noticed that they had a bit of a sale on. Came back with 10 neon tetras, 5 glowline tetras and 5 clown loaches .... I adore the clowns, can't wait for them to grow on :D

Don't panic, you'll SOON be over run with tanks, 14 months ago we had none, the OH suggested we got one, and now we're at 5!! And planning a fish house!!

As I said before, get over to Sheaf Valley Aquatic Society http://www.svas.co.uk/ It's a local club that not only is online, but also has regular monthly meetings and outtings. We're of to the Bolton Aquarium on Tuesday.

Even if you only join the online group you will definately get great support and advise.

*Smiles*

Angi

Thanks, Angi. I'll have a look at the Forum, but might not share that info with the OH...we only have a small terrace, and I have no idea where we could put another tank, or even a bigger one, lol.
And we might have to start missing meals...money is a bit tight and this is proving an expensive hobby so far.

Yep, I like the albino bristlenoses...and these two corydoras are gorgeous, really busy and sweet.

Oh believe me, I am well aware of the cost of keeping fish LOL

Thankfully when you've set up right, the only real cost is electricity. Food lasts for ages!!!

A good tip for the plec, get a thick slice/chunk of cucumber. Weigh it down (I use some aquarium lead in the middle) and he'll scoff away, and so will plenty of the other fish.

*Smiles*

Angi


Thanks, Angi. I'll have a look at the Forum, but might not share that info with the OH...we only have a small terrace, and I have no idea where we could put another tank, or even a bigger one, lol.
And we might have to start missing meals...money is a bit tight and this is proving an expensive hobby so far.

Yep, I like the albino bristlenoses...and these two corydoras are gorgeous, really busy and sweet.

Oh dear, we lost Charlie, one of the corys. He was never exactly the life and sole (lol) of the party, and yesterday he popped his clogs.
I checked the water, and though it seemed okay (a wee bit of pink in the nitrate/nitrite bar, tho), I changed about 10% of it. We were told we should probably do so for a few days now.

Because they were the only 2 fish our child was interested in enough to name, the OH got another salt and pepper corydora on the way home (thanks again to AquaHobby, who replaced him for free!). And I think it was a blessing in disguise, because this one is as bouncy and outrageous as Lola and it seems to be love at first sight. Love, or sexual harassment...the jury is still out, lol.



And good news on the plec - he is apparently a dwarf...although possibly not quite dwarf enough for us

Sorry to hear about the Cory

I had 3 bronze, called them Curly, Larry & Mo. They were SOOO entertaining, they had us in stitches :hihi::hihi:

We have quite a few Hoplo Cats at the moment, and although they are boistrous, they again are entertaining.

Have you tried them with a piece of cucumber yet? Min LOVE it, PLUS the 2 new Bristles we got yesterday can't get enough of it either.

Thank goodness about the Plec, fingers crossed he decides to be a smaller version than he should be LOLOL

*Smiles*

Angi




Oh dear, we lost Charlie, one of the corys. He was never exactly the life and sole (lol) of the party, and yesterday he popped his clogs.
I checked the water, and though it seemed okay (a wee bit of pink in the nitrate/nitrite bar, tho), I changed about 10% of it. We were told we should probably do so for a few days now.

Because they were the only 2 fish our child was interested in enough to name, the OH got another salt and pepper corydora on the way home (thanks again to AquaHobby, who replaced him for free!). And I think it was a blessing in disguise, because this one is as bouncy and outrageous as Lola and it seems to be love at first sight. Love, or sexual harassment...the jury is still out, lol.



And good news on the plec - he is apparently a dwarf...although possibly not quite dwarf enough for us

Update: all are fine and happy. We still have 11 neon tetras despite all of our expectations to the contrary; Charlie and Lola the cuddly corys are still very into each other (and very alive); and the plec, renamed Shark by our 2 year old, is very active.
The plants are a little harder to keep alive...and here was I thinking, 'hey, if i don't have to water them...' lol.

We have checked the water every day, and have had no spikes of anything so far. We have changed the water regularly, about 10% each time.

So...any advice, once again, gratefully received!

Is it a good time to get another couple of the little swimmers?
Any more suggestions for bright, lively fish?
Would swimming frogs eat the neon tetras? If not, are they easy to keep?

Many thanks!

It's great that you are finding fish keeping enjoyable :)

We have some more additions too. We've managed to get lots of baby albino bristlenose catfish ....... just gorgeous and hopefully get a couple of breeding pairs at least.

As for other colourful fish, there are a number of different types and colours of tetras. We have a number of different types for colour variation.

As for the young one calling the fish shark, well I can certainly understand why, they do have a shark like look about them.

I have to admit that I have gotten to love Hoplo cats too. They are quite inquisitive and very active. Quite a joy to watch.

Keep us updated :)

*Smiles*

Angi


Update: all are fine and happy. We still have 11 neon tetras despite all of our expectations to the contrary; Charlie and Lola the cuddly corys are still very into each other (and very alive); and the plec, renamed Shark by our 2 year old, is very active.
The plants are a little harder to keep alive...and here was I thinking, 'hey, if i don't have to water them...' lol.

We have checked the water every day, and have had no spikes of anything so far. We have changed the water regularly, about 10% each time.

So...any advice, once again, gratefully received!

Is it a good time to get another couple of the little swimmers?
Any more suggestions for bright, lively fish?
Would swimming frogs eat the neon tetras? If not, are they easy to keep?

Many thanks!

Thanks, Angi, I'll look into those.

Keep checking the water for ammonia/nitrites for the first few weeks- if you get a spike you'll have to change up to 50% of the water every day (treated with dechlorinator) until you're through the cycle- the first few weeks of establishing a tank is frightening! After that, it should all be enjoyment and fun- it's just that it takes 4-6 weeks for the aquarium to stabilise with nitrifying bacteria.

Getting close now. Been window shopping today, just to see what kind of fish we fancy adding - not room for much more, so we really have to make it count, lol. I still like the outrageously coloured guppies...we got the tank for the little one, after all. Though today all he had eyes for were some Huuuge orandas. Wrong on 2 counts - cold water and too big. Plus I don't actually like those big bulging eyes.

Not planning on getting any, but the hoplo catfish are so cute! (too big) And I love the puffer fish (not friendly). You all might be right...if we make this tank work, we'll soon be wanting more.

Thanks for the advice, carp37. I'm getting impatient to be past this bit and getting a couple more fish in, lol.

How long has the tank been running for? I know (from personal experience- I kept fish as a teenager and in my (very) early twenties, then was unable to keep fish for 15 years and suddenly can again, and have since gone from 3 tanks to 5, with 2 more coming) how much you must want to add new fish, but I'd leave it until the tank's been running for 6 weeks plus- you should see an ammonia spike after 5-15 days, then a seemingly never ending nitrite spike until about 30-40 days from when you added fish. I thought my water parameters were never going to be come right when I set the first two tanks up (later tanks weren't a problem as you can just run an extra filter in an established tank for a week, then transfer the filter and some gravel over).

We've had neither spike so far. I don't know if it helped that the plants we filled it with all came from established tanks as did the filter. We waited over a week to put the first fish in, and they have been in for over 3 weeks now. Testing every day, and changing 10% of the water once a week (we haven't done much more because the test results have been pretty much exactly right. At the tiniest hint of a colour change, we change the water that day, too.)
I said we were close, but that is actually impatience, isn't it? It feels like ten weeks. Should I still be expecting these spikes?

Ah, sorry, no- if you're using an established filter you should be fine- you may well get very small spikes of low levels of ammonia and nitrite that show up for a few days, but nothing like the typical "new tank syndrome" as the bacteria establish themselves in a brand new tank. Personally I'd change 20% of the water weekly (I do my tanks twice weekly, but I've got more fish than I should have), but 10% may be OK if nitrates don't get too high. After 3 weeks you may be home free- the tanks I've set up with established filters tend to take a fortnight or so to stabilise.

Ooh, good news. Thanks! It'll be at least another week anyway, as we're both working this weekend, so no time.

Well, that was a short week, lol.
On Monday, which we both had off, but which turned out to be not quite the day we had planned, we ended up with 4 more fish...how did that happen? Lol.

So, joining Charlie, Lola, Sharkie and the tetras, we have: the funniest balloon mollies, Snooty and Sunshine - a male and female - tho I have to say that Snooty, the male, is a real bully. And Jelly and Jackson, two male platties, one pearl and one red with black fins and tail.

Our tank is a much livelier and more amusing place...there are even arguments about people standing in front of it too long blocking everyone else's view.

We proved our collective stupidity by telling the nice people at Aqua Hobby that our filter was very sluggish - they very kindly gave us a new airstone to try for free...When we got home we realised that, er, there was a kink in the airline, and we just hadn't noticed - how dim? Undid that, and wow! bubbles...and much clearer water.

And we finally got our spikes...whether it was the filter or the new fish, or a little bit of everything, we have a minor spike on the nitrites and are back to cleaning the tank everyday. I thought we'd got away too easily, lol.

Good luck with everything- glad you're still enjoying the tank; adding new fish might give you a mini-spike as it will take a few days for the bacteria to catch up to the extra fish, but this should only last for a few days. You shouldn't need to totally clean the tank- just change 20-40% of the water with dechlorinated tap water every day until the nitrites drop back to zero.

I've got problems with overcrowding at the moment- I came back from a fish auction with 28 new fish at the weekend- I'm supposed to be picking 2 new tanks up next week but at the moment my tanks are crowded again!

Can you overfeed? Because my fish are very, very hungry

we now have 21 fish...a full complement. 2 metallic guppies and one baby (snuck into the bag, lol), 2 platties, 2 mollies, 2 corydoras, 11 tetras, 1 beta, 1 plec. The tank looks great, and everyone seems happy and healthy, except...

we had two 'accidental' baby guppies, and one died today. I know it wasn't a fish we chose, but it was quite sweet. We wondered if perhaps it wasn't getting enough food. These fish are very greedy, and I wonder if we are feeding them enough...the tetras, at least, are definitely young, and the others are likely to be as well. At the mo we are feeding them twice a day, and trying to make sure it isn't too much...the food is gone before it hits the ground, a couple of shakes.
My OH is afraid that they will eat themselves to death, but because most are so greedy, and constantly waiting for food if you go near the tank, and now one of the babies has died...I wonder if perhaps we should be a little less cautious about overfeeding them and a little bit more about underfeeding them.

Any advice gratefully received

With baby fish you may have to crumble flake food up much smaller so they can get it in their mouths.

If the food is virtually not hitting the bottom you may have to feed more as well as the Corydoras take time to find food- they can be quite very good at detecting that food is present but pretty useless at actually locating it! Basically, I think you should feed an amount of food that takes the fish about 3 to 5 minutes to consume about 90% of it- if it ALL goes immediately dopier fish like Croydoras won't get enough, but you don't want lots of food left or it will go off and destroy your water quality.

With younger fish they may also need to be fed 3 times a day rather than twice- growing fish require more energy for their size than adult fish (just as teenagers require 50% more calories than adult humans). Whilst I try to prevent adult fish getting fat, I never worry about growing fish getting fat as they put all the extra energy into growth.

Just keep an eye on your water quality- you may have to change more water weekly if the fish are eating more, as they'll also be producing more waste.

Thanks, carp37.

The bad news is that both little ones died...to be fair, that is possibly down to the fact that we are simply not set up to deal with them. Though this won't have helped: bizarrely, our beta two days ago suddenly got fungus on him...the long, hairy spores variety - disgusting. Poor thing. I'm presuming he was attacked by one of the balloon mollies (tho I hadn't heard them described as aggressive, these two are very much so) and got the mould as a secondary consequence. It all happened very quickly, he was fine when we went to bed the night before, and mouldy in the morning.
Anyway, despite a mercy dash to Aqua Hobby to get treatment for the tank, the beta died in the night on the same day the mould appeared. I'm guessing the treatment isn't so good for teenies as the baby fish was floating face up this morning.

Happily, we are on the 3rd day of a 3 day treatment, and all the other fish appear happy and lively and fungus free.

Can anyone tell me when we will be able to clean the tank without effecting the treatment? I'm worried it will effect the balance of the tank, but obviously don't want to interfere with the treatment.

REALLY GROSS: the plec was eating the spores off the dying beta...do you think he'll survive?