show me the light!!!!

[philbo]

How much light does my aquarium need?thats artificial light from my tube.How long do I leave it on for per day.
Also any comments on my rather strange fish community(they all get on well,believe it or not)will be really helpfull.
My first ever post so please be gentle with me,i've only been keeping tropical fish for about 3 months.

35 gallon tank (planted)
5 neon tetras
1 pleco
2 neon gouramis
1 polka dot loach
1 fan tail guppy (one hell of a survivor)
5 pygmy puffers
2 convicts
5 ghost shrimps
1 bristle nose catfish

any feed back would be great, cheers

 

[philbo]

sorry guys with me not really knowing what to do I think I posted this in the wrong place

sorry )

 

[Angry_Platy]

I guess out of all the fish you have I would be worried about the convicts the most as they can be extremely aggressive fish.....have you noticed this yet??

I try and simulate the tropical/natural envoronment for my fish as much as possible....for me that means leaving the light on for about 10-12 hours per day....any more than this and you can get algae problems.....to make sure I remember to turn the light on and off at the right times (so fish don't get stressed from changes in routine), I have the tank light plugged into a powerpoint with a timer on it.....these are cheap....$8 from my hardware store

 

[philbo]

cheers for the advice its appreciated.
The convicts are a breeding pair and are not that agressive(surprisingly)
I had heard the rumours about these fish too,but they are behaving so far anyway

thanks again for the lighting advice

 

[Pleco-Heaven]

When I used a timer, the time kept on moving and turning off, 2 possibillitys-
1. The cats go mental around it and accidently moved it.
2. I has grown a mind of its own.