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You could hold the banana spray bar over a low light if you have a gas oven, then just wait until it's pliable and bend it back into shape. As soon as it's the right shape, drop it into a bowl of cold water.

Sorry to hear you're out of work, MW, I had no idea (just been off work for a fortnight). Best of luck, anyway. I sincerely hope it's not in Armley..................

But run it alongside your existing filter for a good 3-4 weeks.

I confess to being a little baffled by that advice.

Blimey, those are really helpful instructions, aren't they?. I suppose (logically) that you should treat them until there are no visible signs of illness, then dose for a couple more days, but don't take that as written in stone. You could see if any of the staff at your LFS have ever used it.

Yes, this is where breeders would cull their smaller/weaker fry, allowing the stronger ones to thrive. There will always be 'runts of the litter', so to speak.

I've never had to drop the temperature for my Corys to spawn - just had my fourth lot of eggs in four months. Just feed them well, go back to weekly water changes and they'll spawn when they want to. It WILL happen.

Breeding nets aren't always a good idea for Cory eggs; I had three consecutive lots disappear from the net. It turned out the other fish were sucking the eggs through the net. A plastic strawberry/raspberry punnet is much better. My latest lot have been hatched safely for a week now.

Swordtails can get very big surprisingly quickly. A mixture of male/female will have you overstocked and if you just have males, they can get quite aggressive with each other and that may stress your other fish. TBH, I wouldn't keep Swordtails in anything smaller than a 3ft.

Are there no specific dosing instructions, other than it treats the tank for a month?. If not, that's very unusual.

Tough call, but any water change you do will dilute the medication. Lesser of two evils, really; I think I'd complete the course.

Indeed; 'miracle in a bottle' strikes again. Even when PFK reviewed SafeStart, they said it still exposes fish to Ammonia and Nitrites, so what's the point of it?.

I hope he manages to get a refund from the John McEnroe charm school.

Using water from another tank would do absolutely nothing to cycle yours, but as you're willing to sacrifice fish needlessly, I think you're just going to carry on doing what you want and the well-being and health of your fish is of little concern to you.

As Corleone says, I'd be wary. Cichlids + Cichlids I wouldn't risk, personally. Once either started breeding, it could turn VERY nasty, and Discus need to be treated 'just-so'. If it were me, I'd keep Discus only with dither fish.

TBH, I'd be more concerned with how long the lighting unit will last.........

It was YOU who chose the fish, YOU who subjected them all to Ammonia (which will permanently damage a fishes gills, and probably contributed to their behaviour once the Ammonia poisoning kicked in, along with stress) and YOU who are willing to stand back and watch something happen in YOUR tank...

Afraid I can't help you with the Peppered Corys, fishfan; I didn't get my Bronze and Peppered Corys until about six months ago - by which time the tank had been running for nearly four years. I can't believe they'd cause trouble with other fish though. Maybe (considering the size of your tank)...

Thanks all for your good wishes/encouragement. They really have grown since they hatched last Friday - now I don't have to strain my 43-year-old eyes to see them!. Can't believe how quick they are, though - if they'd hatched in the tank I wouldn't have had a snowball in hell's chance of catching...

I don't see why Neons and Corys wouldn't mix but yes, you're right - Neons and Cardinals aren't great in a newly-cycled tank. A lot of fish are nowhere near as hardy as they used to be. A cycled tank is one thing, but a MATURED tank can take another three months (at least) to achieve. I know...

If you have a fair few plants, then some fry should survive. Around a year ago, I was just giving my fish their twice-weekly frozen Daphnia when something caught my eye, right at the top of the waterline. It was a single fry. I'd long since traded in the last of my Livebearers and hadn't seen...

Well, I got up last Wednesday morning to find a fourth batch of cory eggs deposited in the usual places around the tank. For the first three lots, I'd used a net breeder for the eggs which usually disappeared after a couple of days. My man in the LFS said it was likely that other fish in the...

But of course, if they ARE in the club, that could mean four or five lots of fry.

You know, it REALLY p****s me off when the manufacturers of small tanks and BiOrbs plaster photos all over the packaging that show around half a dozen Goldfish in the tank. It's SO misleading, and they know it. As everyone else has said, chester, it's not your fault but you're in the best place...

Bear in mind, though, that fish that are exposed to Ammonia will have permanently damaged gills. They MAY survive the cycle, but it will shorten their lifespan. Neon Tetras rarely do well in uncycled and unmatured tanks, too. Like Cardinals, waiting at least three months to introduce them would...

Just dig in to the substrate well away from the plants, skim the surface near them.

A couple of ways to go; either cut down on feeding for a couple of days, or wait until 10-15 minutes after lights out then just pick them off the glass. I'd never be without some trumpet snails. For me, they're every bit as natural as fish in an aquarium.

Bear in mind, too that we don't know the sexes of the Mollies and Platys; if there's mixed sexes in there it won't take long until it's overstocked; the law of averages says that some fry will survive.

Indeed, but I'd rather have cash....................

I see someone's recommended Neon Tetras for your tank; just be aware that there are quite a few fish that aren't suitable for a newly-cycled (but not matured) tank. Now's the time to be getting a 'wants' list together. Try not to buy without checking here first, though. Always good to see...

If you look at the top of the filter, there should be a yellow cylindrical bit that sticks out - that's a flow indicator; when the filter starts getting blocked, that yellow bit will drop down (gradually) into the filter. That's when you need to clean it. I had a Fluval 4+ on my 4 ft tank for...

I have mine on a 4ft tank. I give the media a quick swish around in old tank water every 6-8 weeks. Don't squeeze it out, you'll lose some of the good stuff. Alternatively, just do it when you notice the flow in the tank slowing down. I've had mine for 18 months and all the sponge media is still...

I think you'd be better with the 32''. I know you can reduce them, but can't remember if you can extend them, so the larger will probably be best. I think the 32'' would still give you the choice between two or three lights, so it really depends on what you want to grow. I have the 48''...

That's a decent sized tank for a new start. I'd go for one of the Arcadia overtank Luminaires. A two-light model would be ideal. If you're not after growing anything too difficult, I'd go for a base of something like Tetra Complete for the bottom layer, then you can just top it off with fine...

If the staff are too busy to get to someone right away, I can generally spot a nervy buyer and usually have a word, just something like ''what are you after?'' or ''what have you already got?''. I know the fish man at my LFS well and he doesn't mind.

Research, research then research some more. How else will you know if they're giving you verbal bullplop?.

Don't encourage her, she'll want paying next..................

I'd used Aquasafe for around four years since I set up my tank. I ran out a couple of weeks ago and had to use a different shop that didn't have any. I bought the API stuff (don't remember it's name offhand) and you only have to use 1 drop for every three litres of water (three drops per...

I'd add at least a couple more Corys; best in groups of at least 5/6. You'll love the Tetratec filter, BTW.

Neon Tetras aren't really suitable for a newly-cycled tank; waiting a good three months or so would be better. They also do better in groups of at least 5/6. With a tank that size, frequent water changes are best; once a week at least. Things can go wrong in a small tank very quickly if you...