any aquarists here? I need some help...

[Lija]

you know what guys, I've kept fish for n years, but not anymore though as frogs and snakes took all the space lol
the thing is after reading this I'm realizing I had absolutely no idea of what I was doing hm...
thank you!

[deranged chipmunk]

i somehow find that very hard to believe

[Bolisnide]

Okay, this is what I decided:

I'm going to keep all inhabitants, including the pleco...
I'm not going to add a 5th glowlight tetra.
I have fertilized the plants with the API root tabs, and replaced my bulb (because it was 2 yrs old).
I am going to see how it goes for now, and not soften my water.

I also added 3 peacock ferns (thought they were pretty).

I tested my water at the lfs and my nitrates were at 40 ppm, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and pH came in a 7.8.

I'll post pics of the progress with the plants

AND- Thank you so much for all the info Carlos and Bill! You guys rock!

[deranged chipmunk]

you are so welcome, but you are going to hate me when i tell you that the peacock fern is a marginal and will rot and die submerged :-(

[Bolisnide]

you are so welcome, but you are going to hate me when i tell you that the peacock fern is a marginal and will rot and die submerged :-(

My lfs sucks! They said it would be a nice addition?
I have no idea what marginal means?

[deranged chipmunk]

marginal is the area between aquatic and terrestrial. otherwise knows as the bog area. java fern would be better. or an anubias species. those people at petsmart have no clue

[Bolisnide]

marginal is the area between aquatic and terrestrial. otherwise knows as the bog area. java fern would be better. or an anubias species. those people at petsmart have no clue

Erk, I guess I'll return it.
Yeah, they really have no clue! (it was the other big chain store, not that it matters, they're both equally bad).
The plant was packaged as an aquatic plant (in a tube), and when I asked about it the kid said, "Oh yeah, those are really cool in an aquarium, and they don't get too big.."