Think Fish Keepers Daily News. [2016-2019]

Why did I keep old plastic plants that were falling apart,

As someone who doesn't like throwing things out as I always think there may be, and indeed often is, a future use for them, I think plastic plants have a tendency to distintegrate and look awful when they've not actually been in the tank. When they're in the tank water, they're fine, but, after a period of being in box, they tend to dry out to such an extent that they look unsightly. Having said that, the ones which haven't disintegrated entirely in that time tend to resurrect themselves when put back in again.

I've noticed my x-rays (almost 4) and harlequins (3.5) have begun to show signs of ageing recently.
The one x-ray who tends not to get interlocked in battle with the others, each of whom have eye injuries, has shown a slight struggle to maintain buoyancy this week - not floating as such but having to wade vigorously to maintain being upright.
The 4 large harlequins could scarcely be distinguished from one another; however, in the past few weeks, one has become very thin with a flat / almost concave underside which makes his face/eyes look disproportionately large, while another developed a gash which evolved into a round and deep ulcer, almost identical to the one experienced by one of the female x-rays.
In view of these, plus the ongoing raggedly tails of a couple of the neon green rasboras, I dosed some Easylife Voogle this week. That resulted in the same as happened to the female x-ray tetra in that the ulcer developed a sprout of fungus out of it. That fell off and the wound/ulcer seems to be healing, for now at least.
Water quality all normal, so it must just be signs of ageing.

Sorry to hear about your rasbora.
I can't imagine how she managed to get behind the filter.

Still struggling to fathom how the fish ended up there but can only assume it was through being chased by another and/or a possible fright reaction - I've noticed that, in the mornings, the fish's shadows look extra large against that filter and my own shadow too. In fact, it's the same in the evening - my orange nerite fell off the glass when my shadow passed the tank yesterday evening and this isn't the first time this self-defence mechanism has occurred.

Anyway:
* I have now squeezed filter wool along the edges of the filter which will hopefully prevent a recurrence;
* after some deliberation over this, I have decided to top up the shoal of neon greens and will do so tomorrow, so fingers crossed...

The microdevario are the best option. You already have some so getting more will make them 'happier'. All dwarf cories need at least 10, and that would be pushing it.
You'd need another tank for a betta as well 

Goby decided to bury himself in the sand at the front of the tank tonight!

I know I shouldn't have gobies (water flow not really high enough for them) but they are so adorable I can't help myself. Your photo is a good example of this adorableness 

I've been keeping a very close eye on the newbies. All was well until mid-morning, when I suddenly only noticed 3. All eventualities have been covered with cable holes blocked with filter wool, etc, so checked the water surface, substrate, plants, etc, to no avail - then decided worth checking behind the filter even although it's absolutely tiny and the suction cups so flat against the tank wall that the gap created by them is no more than 1-2 mm. With no wallpaper on the side walls of the tank, it was easy to see - one of the microdevarios had wedged itself in there since I'd last looked in the tank not long beforehand. Thankfully, I managed to dislodge it without any adverse consequences. If this can happen with such a tiny filter, then it's no wonder one got lodged last week in the main tank near the larger suction cups which create a wider gap of maybe double that at 3-4mm. Argh - why do they like forcing themselves into small gaps?! I reckon I'm going to be up almost constantly during the night, checking the situation by torchlight...

All I can say is that, if this doesn't work out this time round, I think I'll have to stick to larger sized fish from now on where such scenarios are less likely to occur.

Your fish are looking very perky @fcmf   

I think Matt may have a good point about the filter.

These new microdevarios have a lovely nature - all active but very harmonious so far, with no one character having taken control and sent others scattering. Tempting to keep them in the QT and have it set up as a permanent feature for well-behaved fish, potentially moving a few of similar nature across from the main tank. Not quite sure this suggestion of the QT as a permanent installation would go down very well with Mr FCMF, though.

Hello!
News update
I have now got several more debaui cats for the 240, some peppered corydoras, golden and red pencilfish and some double red apistos! 11 pearl danios complete the setup!