Newby needs help!

[Joanna]

Ok so any help would be greatly appreciated. My partner decided on tropical fish (despite us knowing nothing about them) the gentleman in the shop seems to be more intent on just selling the fish to us than the actual upkeep so here goes...

35litre tank. 28c/82f. 25w heater.Holding:-

6 x-ray tetra
1x spotted danio
2x zebra danio
2x gold danio
2x guppies
4x platies

Right so far we lost one guppy as soon as he came home from the shop (just out of the bag) the day after this I noticed one of the spotted danio had cotton wool like substance on his fins (fin rot) We treated the tank but he didn't make it. Did a 50% water change. My questions are-

- Has this one water treatment (anti-fungus and fin rot) and water change mean the fish are now protected or is there more we can do?

-One of the guppies is very small and seems quite subdued compared to the other one. He hides in the corner and doesn't seem to be eating as far as I can tell. Should we get two more? As I read they are better with 'friends'.

-How often and how much should we be water changing?

-They are being fed tropical fish flakes on the tub it says to be feeding them upto 3 times a day! That seems far too much to me as I am sure you shouldn't overfeed fish (goldfish over twelve years old). So what is the optimum amount to feed them? How often?

-The zebra and leopard danio seem quite aggresive, although the tetra's seem to have calmed them down a bit is there anything else we should be introducing to the tank?

Finally any information on the upkeep of the tank (or things we should be checking regularly) would be greatly appreciated!

Joanna x

[cichlidfish]

see reply at http://www.cichlidfish.com/post116122.html#p116122

[Supermaxi]

It's exciting that we're in this together. Really helpful