Need suggestions and advice

[Dow]

So, I recently volunteered to take care of the fish tank at my church. It currently has some lemon tetras, java fern, amazon sword and a lot of algea. I'm going to clean it up and hopefully put some more interesting fish in there. I would like a few cheap, pretty fish to put in there that will be easy to take care of and care for themselves for long periods of time. I will be doing 1-2 WC per month as well as any other care it needs. If anyone would be willing to donate, that would be great. I also need a pleco. Any cheap suggestions?

[newb]

what size is the tank??? what is the filtration on it???

[Dow]

Oh lord. It's somewhere between a 10-15 and I think the last time it had a working filter was longer than it's gone without a waterchange.

[newb]

so a 10-15gallon tank with no working filter...sounds like a problem.

[Dow]

Yes, it is. I'm going to be working on cleaning it up and making it a little prettier before I work on finding a filter for it because if I do weekly water changes until I find one, the fish should be fine. Unfortunately, I think they're so used to swampy water that a good WC will kill them.

Got any ideas? lol.

[newb]

find a filter first. get a good HOB and let that do most of the work for ya. after that...due your normal wc and they should be fine. as for pleco...I would use either an albino bristle nose or rubberlip(bulldog) pleco. they stay smaller and do a great job on algae.

[Dow]

That's what I was thinking. I'm going to completely change the gravel though 'cause you can't tell what's fish poop and what... well... isn't. So, I'm just gonna get a few cories, a little albino, rubber lip and maybe an "eel" (kids love the loaches. ;p ) Probably end up rearranging the plants and putting a driftwood hunk in it. Any small fishes that have a good personality, that are also easy to care for that you know of?

[Mzungu]

If it were me, I'd wait until next weekend and grab a filter from the GHAC auction.

I'd be worried about the water changes, too, so I'd probably start with a small one first, like 10% or so. Then move up each time you do one.

Since you said there's only a few lemon tetras in there, I think, and lots of plants, they're actually probably not bad in the filtration department, but water movement is what's lacking. Adding more fish would be a good idea after you've had a filter on there for a week or two.

I would wait on changing out the gravel until the current fish are used to water changes, though. Because, like you said, you have no idea what's in that gravel, and changing it out would almost certainly release pockets of H2S into the water, so when you do change out the gravel, it would be a good idea to take the fish out first and just empty the tank and start over. However, that means an almost 100% water change, so...

I think your fish ideas are great. You might want to consider a couple dwarf gouramis. They're pretty, and have a bit more personality than tetras (sometimes - I have some tetras that are full of personality, lol), and stay small enough for a smaller tank. :)