See, this is why I don't do cichlids I'd have to make too many compromises and that's no fun for the fish or for me because it means more work in the long run

Let us know what your GH and KH are, there's not much point planning anything until you know exactly what's going on with your water.

Poor you please don't cry, we will try and help you out. Can you answer a few questions for us so we can figure out what's wrong?

How many fish do you have and what kind?
When did you add the new fish?
Can you remember what the water readings were last time you tested?

Water changes should help for now, I would go easy on the feeding because I suspect there might be a water quality problem.

We'll figure out the cloudiness for now and then once that is all fixed we can try and make things easier for you with your fishkeeping

Can we give the OP the benefit of the doubt please? If you think a thread is a wind up then please PM one of the mods.

Simplyobsessed- you've been given some good advice and some info to read. We'll answer any questions you've got but in the meantime please don't get any more fish!

I know it's frustrating that some shops just lie through their teeth. I'm sure there is a better shop near you, maybe some of our Northern members will be able to recommend somewhere- anyone?

I wonder if any newspapers would be interested? I know The Sun have run a couple of goldfish stories before.

Hi Daryl, nice looking tank (apart from the algae I mean!)

Some questions-

How long has the tank been set up? Did you do a fishless cycle? Can you tell us what your nitrAte and phosphate levels are? What sort of lighting do you have? Have you added any kind of plant food?

PMSL His face in the middle picture! It's like he's thinking "what kind of f*$£ery is this?!"

It is really sad though that these things are still sold. Is it OK if we use these pics and just splatter them everywhere? Like all over FB, emails, twitter, all that stuff? The more people that see these, the better I think. Howie can be the poster child fish for the campaign

Or have you got other plans for the pics? Are you making a flyer or something?

Do as Jon suggested with all of the other filters and you can get a battery-powered air pimp for the built in filter. Just tick the airstone underneath the media so that they get a good flow of air through. I'd get in a bottle of ammolock just in case.

Great article, it's nice to hear from the retailer's view point. I agree that a licence to keep fish would be totally impractical and would put off new fishkeepers.

What if shops had to follow certain guidelines like they have to recommend fishless cycling and they are not allowed to sell a fish and tank on the same day? What if they had a traffic light labelling system (like some shops have for community fish) that showed a fish's suitability for beginners?

I was in P@H (yeah, I know) the other week and saw that the sales assistant was filling in a little form with set questions for someone who was buying a fish. Something like that might work if the questions were the right ones and if the sales assistants knew what they were talking about. Also if it was standard practice to fill the form in before any fish were sold then you wouldn't get people giving it the "I've been keeping fish for years and I know what I'm doing" spiel.

The only problem I can see (and it's a biggie) is that people just can't agree on how fish should be kept. Things like tank size, water parameters, compatibility etc etc are so debatable. How would something like that be standardised?

Ooh, I love a good project

Ants eggs used to be used as fish food, they might provide some protein but it'd be tricky to come by a steady supply. What about other insect eggs? Stick insect eggs are often sold as fish/reptile food, it would be easy to keep a few stick insects and then feed the eggs to your fish. I've never fed anything of the sort to my fish so I can't vouch for it but google seems to be throwing up a lot of results.

Yes, they eat brambles, oak, ivy, eucalyptus, hawthorn, all sorts of things. Children, cats....