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Curious: How sensitive is an aquarium to the quality of the air outside of it? For example, if I spray Lysol in the room (not directly at the tank, of course) -- would it adversely affect the environment within the tank? What about cigarette smoke?

What kind of algae is this? It's clumping on decorations, plants and the gravel in a couple of places.

A couple of weeks ago, it appeared that my filter media had clogged because the water was overflowing from above the intake tube as well as flowing out from the usual place (love my grasp of terminology?). I chalked it up to needing to replace the charcoal filter insert, which was wayyyy...

OK, since I started this message, I've just named the Oto I added to the tank over the weekend -- Houdini. The name is two-fold: every time I look in the tank for him, it's a "Where's Waldo" moment. He simply disappears from wherever I saw him last and is so small he can hide right in front of...

I have a good deal of algae in my tank and just added an Oto. He's happily sucking away. Is the tank's algae enough for him? I bought spirulina discs and added one on Day One -- my three platies ate it and promptly became very bloated (I was really worried -- thought they were all coming down...

BTW, I haven't named mine, but I've been tempted to. I'm thinking that no fish receives a name unless it's been around a few months first. :|

How many of you name your fish? Why (or why not)?

When I established my first tank a couple of months ago, I went out and bought a Jungle 5-in-1 test strip kit. Shortly thereafter, I starting reading the posts on this board about strip tests being not so good, but I had them already so I continued to use them. One thing that bothered me...

What about bettas? Even the LFS I trust most has them in unheated containers. I'm talking about 68 +/- degree water in this case.

Which freshwater fish thrive (or at least benevolently tolerate) in non-heated tanks?

Thanks, both of you. Any other advice would still be greatly appreciated as it's going to be a little while before the tanks ready for more fish.

OK, my 10G (my first tank) has a gold mickey mouse platy, a sunburst platy and a plumetail platy. The tank is now two months old and has been cycled since early this month. I'm thinking of finishing my stocking by getting a small school of either neon tetras or harlequin rasboras. Couple of...

Would love to see a picture! (Of the sharks and the rock wall.)

I'm stunned and a little speechless -- I've never seen anything like it. 8O :) Way, way, WAAAAYYY out of my league (for now).

Thanks for the input. What's also interesting is the behaviorism of this. I had two platies that I used to cycle the tank -- they NEVER touched the diatoms. I recently added another platy and he went right at it -- must have been a habit from his store tank days. Anyway, now one of my other...

Unless I'm mistaken, my platies are eating the diatom algae in my tank. Is this normal? Or are they feasting on something else that I can't detect? I didn't know they did that.

Being that they're both livebearers, I assume there would be some level of compatibility. I guess what I'm concerned about is whether there's some sort of happy medium between the ideal water qualities each needs in order to thrive. Would a perfect world for mollies be too salty for platies? And...

Is this a good (i.e., non-fatal) mix? I know mollies want a slightly brackish tank -- can they do with less? Can platies deal with it? A reputable LFS has some beautiful dalmation mollies -- I already have a couple of platies (one is non-aggressive and the other is semi-aggressive).

I can now officially say that I do not understand fish. The sick platy died sometime overnight. What bothers me most is that I have no idea why he became sick so suddenly or why, after slowly but definitely showing signs of improvement over the last few days of intensive care, he just died...

Thanks for asking. He's shown minor signs of improvement, but is still in the fish ICU. Although he's slightly more mobile and and his fins look better, he's still not eating. I haven't seen him eat anything since I put him in QT. I think he now has a small chance of pulling through (I was SURE...

Thanks for the input, all. I know it's a strange question, but I just want my fish to have the best chance in their new homes. (Have I used up my allotment of newbie questions yet?) :)