Freshwater fish

[SueRic]

Any ideas on small colourful freshwater fish often kept in aquariums

[molly]

Do you mean tropical fish? If so a good selection would be a few neons, some tetras (there are quite a few to chose from. Have a look in your pet shop and see which you like.) Zebra (or leopard) danios, guppies, swordtails, mollies and corydoras. Most of these are happy in small shoals. Keep away from Paradise fish, gouramis, Siamese fish,and barbs as these tend to be more aggressive and some would even kill the other fish. There are plenty of websites on google. If in doubt ask at your pet shop.

[sft42]

If you are looking for a Nemo replacement then you could od worse than botia macracantha, the clown loach which looks a little like the oceanic clown fish. When setting up a new tank you have to be aware that the water chemistry take quite a while to settle down and will actually be poisonious to most fish for the first few weeks until the ammonia, nitrates and nitrites all level off.....DON'T ask at a pet shop! I have found that most pet shops don't really care they only want to flog you a tank and some feed and fish then never see you again. Your best bet is to go to an aquarists shop only and ask for advice there.....a few pointer from my experience would be to go for the largest tank you can, the more water the more stable it is.....and remember that most beginners fish do better in 3's and 4's rather than 1's or 2's...start off with a few mollies or guppies they might die off no big shakes if you do..then you can move onto the better fish as you go on.....Aim for the following for a good community tank: Cardinals, a Plecostomus (gibbiceps variety), and a selection from the previously mentioned fish though I would say do get ONE male betta splendens Siamese fighter as they are peaceful to other fish but will fight each other to the death.

[archbishop]

Would this have anything to do with the MoS crossword?