It's been about 10 days since I set up my aquarium and I've suffered 2 losses. After a few days I did the testing for ammonia, nitrides and nitrates and everything looked good. I put in two Bala Sharks, they died almost instantly.

What a waste. As far as I can tell, my test kit chemical had degraded and wasn't giving accurate readings. I bought a new test kit which showed a high nitrite level. The tank has since settled down and I proceeded to add more fish.

I first added two White Clouds (Tanichthys albonubes), which really are not tropical fish but minnows that come from cool streams in China. They don't seem to mind the tropical environment and they were really cheap. Next I added a Gold Gourami and a Blue Grurami, both which are doing just fine.