what would you suggest?

Question
I set up a 5 gallon tank about 4 months ago.....finally got the water perfect....changed it about a week ago and must have measured the pre-treatment or something and my fish died.  This is not the important thing.

What I would like advise on is what kind of fish would meet these wants:

1.  Husband is tired of guppies
2.  I do NOT want a cichlid
3.  I want at least 3 fish....one being an algae/bottom feeder
4.  I want colorful....which is why I kept gravitating toward the guppies.
5.  Not interested in tetras unless you know of some that have unusual markings.

The guppies that I had....one was multi-colored and the other was yellow with black spots....hence, I named him Cheetah.  

According to these specifications what would you suggest?

Thanks.

Answer
Hi Kim;

You will probably have to get a heater because the fish I have in mind are all tropicals. Your tank can keep up to 5 inches of fish safely. You have to calculate this population based on the future adult size of the fish. Here are some possible options;

**A pair of platies, one male and one female (plan on more tanks because they breed like guppies) and an otocinclus algae eater.

**Three male platies (no breeding)

**A male betta and two cory cats (cory cats are schooling fish)

**A male dwarf gourami, one otocinclus and two cory cats. (female dwarf gouramis aren't colorful)

Keep in mind that your tank will be going through a break-in period so you should add only one small fish to get that started safely for the first few weeks. Here is a link to my web page about it to help you through that;

http://www.xanga.com/Expert_Fish_Help

It may be important to learn why your other fish died so you are more successful next time and don't risk the same trouble. Overdosing water conditioner is not usually harmful, but under-dosing is. You didn't give me much info about what happened but here are some other possible scenarios;

**If you change a lot of water all at once (more than 25%), the fish can go into shock and die.

**If the temperature of the new water is any different from the old water, the fish can go into shock and die.

**If the fish were removed from the tank and then too abruptly added back to the tank after the water change they could go into shock and die. Fish don't need to be removed when making partial changes. It's actually easier on the fish to just work around them.

**If it had been more than a couple of weeks since the last water change the new water could be enough different (chemistry wise) that the fish shock and die, even if you changed only 25%. The water chemistry changes in your aquarium over time as the fish use it.

A good maintenance schedule for any tank is to replace 25% of the water once a week, every week. It helps keep water quality good and chemistry consistent. Vacuum the gravel at the same time. Don't overfeed, don't overstock and your fish should do well. Hopefully your new fish will do much better. ;-)

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins