Keeping with the community theme of the fish tank, I added more fish to the tank. I got an upside down catfish and a mickey mouse platy. I try not to add more than two or three fish at a time, to avoid losing fish to stress.
The upside down catfish provides a great cleaning service for accidental over-feedings. I have seen it cleaning the algae of the plastic plants in the tank. He has taken refuge in a tiny aquarium decoration that he can get inside and will not move from it even at feeding time. Mostly a night time feeder, I have rarely seen it swim around in daylight hours. It is very peaceful and plays very well with the other community fish, to the point of letting the pleco share his little "house". Its a neat little fellow, and it is fun to watch him patrol the tank upside down at night looking for food; I actually drop a couple of sinking pellets in at night. I have had a couple upside downs before, and I feel that they die very easily if the gravel is not vacuumed and the water is not changed on a regular basis.
I was expecting a peaceful personality from the little mickey mouse platy, but I ended up getting a bully. He has taking a liking to "herding" the guppies and pushing them around. I may not exchange him for another fish yet, but I will keep a close eye on him for the following week to be sure he isn't an extreme problem. He eats flake foods like the guppies and swims about mid level in the tank.
I plan on keeping more fish, but I have to remember that the tank can only support one inch of fish per gallon of water. Although that is not an exact rule, I plan on keeping below that number to be sure that all my fish are healthy, have clean water, and have plenty of oxygen.
