Thanks everyone. Honestly. I've been staring at the rank an hour each evening and get pretty upset when it's gone wrong so thanks so much for the advice and help.
We've only 2 fish shops in my nearest city but I'm sure they'll have some of plants mentioned. I really regret not looking up this stuff before buying the tank & fish and cycling the tank right.
Hopefully I can turn it around now. Cheers
Chin up, you can totally turn it around now. Many of us have been in your shoes, and it's a super steep learning curve, made so much worse when you're given bad advice. It makes sense to trust the fish store people about how to care for fish/tanks etc, who else to trust, right? They keep them and sell them, they should know!
But one of the first things we end up learning is that there's a lot of misinformation out there, and many fish stores (especially the big chain ones) will hire people who really don't know much about fish, but don't want to admit it. They also want to sell you the fish. So many people walk into pets at home or whatever and want a tank and fish on the same day. They won't sell them the fish then, tell them to go away for a week and "let the tank run" but don't even tell them to look up how to cycle a tank. A box of water sitting there is just a box of water. It doesn't magically grow the bacteria needed for a cycle without a food source for the bacteria in there, and it's a bit too complicated for them to bother explaining. If they say "come back next week, and the week after, and the week after to get whatever fish you want" then most people are willing to wait a week. If they say it could take a month or more to cycle, and not to add fish until then, plus do these water tests - they know that most people will leave the store and go buy fish elsewhere. Not to mention that even if your fish die, that just makes you a repeat customer.
Most local fish stores (LFS) that are privately owned are run by the owner, who is more likely to be a hobbyist and to be honest. But not always. Don't add any more fish to the tank, it sounds pretty stocked already, and you might need to return at least one of the plecos if you can't find space for a larger tank, I'm sorry. Are they still pretty small right now? It might be possible to wait a month or two for the kids to lose some interest (maybe) so they're not devastated by losing one. Plecos can get fairly big, and they eat a lot and poop tons, which can be a problem in a smaller tank with a lot of other fish, because poop turns to ammonia. But if they're still small (photos?) and you keep on top of water changes, it might be okay for a short while, or to keep one of them maybe, depending on the stocking levels overall and how often you'll have time to do water changes with a toddler on your hands
I thought this would be a relaxing hobby
This was the biggest we have space for. Every other surface it hogged by the toddler.
It can be a relaxing hobby, I promise! But the learning curve is very steep at first, and you'll probably want rid of it at some points. But if you're staring at for an hour a day, you've probably already got the bug and want to keep going! You're doing the right things to care for the fish and sought help when one became ill, so you're doing alright. This size tank doesn't work for some fish, like angels, but you can make a lovely tank out of a 15 gallon. I have two the same size.
I know a great source for buying some stem plants cheaply on Amazon. No one I know, I promise, lmao. But they're much cheaper to buy some cuttings from than a store, about £13-14 for 50 stems and I've used them twice, arrived quickly and plants were healthy, and instantly filled out my tank. Planning to use them again when I set up the next one.
Just checked, they also do 25 stems for a tenner:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07HVRS99R/?tag=
I'm sure that last time I got some, the leaflet said that they can't promise specific plants, but they will try to work with you if you want a specific type. So you could try emailing them and asking if they can just do fast growing, easy stem plants.
