Fish tank advice.....

[David B]

...it may turn out to be a more acceptable hobby than my bikes

Until you develop a fascination with Koi... Retrobiking looks decidedly cheap then. :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm:

Not necessarily expensive, according to Viz Top Tips: "Throw large, peeled carrots into your garden pond. They are indistinguishable from expensive Koi carp."



David

 

[IDB1]

mummy fish died the other day
daddy fish keeps sticking his mouth up to the surface - not sure what his problem is.

Small tank messy fish most likely..

will order the seachem stuff today and add this next week - will soaking the filter cartridge in this help when i refresh the water next week?

No.. the filter should only be rinsed in mature tank water if necessary (not routinely every time).
The Seachem Prime is simply to remove chlorine, chloramines and ammonia (ammonia is present in chloramine too) and, although quite pricey, read the instructions, the amount you use is not much per litre of tap water.
You really don't want to be wasting it

All those other products (like 'cycle' and its' ilk) that claim to boost your filter and mature the tank quicker are bogus and don't work.

I think there's a high chance that you will lose all the fish in this tank..
All is not lost though - if you do.

There are other critters you can keep in it.. freshwater shrimp are pretty groovy (and easy):
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Red-Cherry-Sh ... 27d045f612
and only require a simple sponge filter like this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aquarium-Bioc ... 2a1062e09a
and a small air pump to run it.

They are tropical though so will also need a small heater too, this 50W one would be more than adequate:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Submersible-A ... 4ac20580f0

Fish would be very limited in such a small space but a male siamese fighter, on his own, would work.. as would some of the small rasbora and white cloud mountain minnows (there must be more too.. I'm just a bit out of touch with what's about).