Hi Janie,
Have a look here to see if you can get a name for your pleco. It's a great
site - http://planetcatfish.com/core/index.htm.
Just be aware that while he's little he probably wont do any harm. it's as
he gets bigger that the trouble might start. The other problem is that they
tend to do most of their damage at night when you can't see them so watch
out for any sort of love bite marks on your fish.
Have a good holiday! Oh and I'm in Devon by the way.
Mel.


"Janie Thomson" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 3 Sep 2003 21:58:30 +0100, Mel wrote:

Hi Janie,
First of all your tank is extremely overstocked. it is generally
recommended
that each goldfish has a minimum of 10 gallons all to itself.

Yes, I'm realising that now. And I used to wonder why my goldies died in
a
bowl half that size with no filter! You'll be pleased to hear I will no
longer be using the shop which sold me (well, my friend really but I was
there) the aquarium, told me it would house up to 8 fish, and sold me
orfes. It's a shame as it's really local and I have no transport, but a
little research has revealed a highly recommended shop (In the Practical
Fishkeeping Top 20 in UK) on the other side of the city, so I'll be taking
my business there.

Can I also
ask what kind of pleco you have as a lot of them will end up sucking on
goldfish as they get older?

I'm not sure of the exact species, but I've had one the same previously in
the little bowl I mentioned. It didn't seem to do any damage to the
goldfish, but I will keep an eye out for that now I know it's a
possibility.

As for you questions, I'd buy yourself a water conditioner called
Aquasafe
(yellow bottle) if I were you. It's very good and neutralises any
nasties
in
your water as well as having a few other benefits but I can't remember
what
they are and haven't got a bottle handy! lol

I have some Ammo Lock just now, but will look out for that one when it's
time to buy more. I just wanted to check I wasn't treating unecessarily.

As for the water parameter test kit, you absolutely need PH, ammonia,
nitrite and nitrate. I'm in the UK and have one made by Aquarium
Pharmaceuticals which is very good and included ammonia, nitrites, PH,
GH,
KH but it doesn't include nitrates for some funny reason so you need to
buy
that one seperately.

Excellent. This is the kind of advice I was looking for. When I looked
online for tests for all the stuff I'd read about, I just got confused and
didn't know what I really needed, and the cost was mounting and mounting.
I'm on a really tight budget, being on long-term Incapacity, so although I
want to do my best for the little guys I have to be sensible about costs.

Just so as you know, your PH is ok as long as it remains stable, ammonia
should read 0, nitrite 0 and nitrates below over 0 but below 20.

Noted, thanks.

As for the holiday question, everyone has different views on what you
should
do. I'd certainly advise not to buy those horrible white lumps of
holiday
food made from plaster of paris or whatever it is that most pet shops
sell.

No, I've heard very bad things about those, so wasn't considering that
one.
The orfes would probably eat it all in one day anyway. They're really
agressive feeders, so I have to crumble the flakes into tiny bits and
scatter them across the tank to make sure the other fish get a proper
share.

I have however used a holiday food made by Tetra and they are little
sticks
which float. I used them a couple of weeks ago when I was away for a
week
and the water was fine when i got back. If you are worried about your
water
condition though, perhaps you could do the envelope thing with just
enough
in for one feed and have just one envelope for every couple of days.
That
way they'd have something so you wouldn't have to worry about them
starving
(even though they'd probably be completely fine for a week with nothing
but
I know how guilty you'd feel doing that cus I would too!) and you
wouldn't
have to worry about your water quality. Make absolutely clear to the
sitter
though that under no circumstances should she give them more!

I'll hide the rest :-) He's a big sook, and though he claims not to like
the fish, I caught him giving the cat (who has a really delicate tummy)
some posh concoction with cream sauce once, instead of the perfectly good
Tesco dinner I'd left for her. Either I've educated him out of that, or
he
hides the evidence better now! I think I'll leave one fish meal for the
middle of the first week I'm away, and see how that goes. I can think
again in the 3 days I'm back before the second leg of my holiday, if
necessary.

Hope this has helped!

It's helped heaps, Mel. Thanks.

Where are you in the UK? I'm in Glasgow.

--
Janie
http://www.janie-thomson.co.uk