Know nothing about fish - help me ID what I saw?

Hiya,

I have never kept fish because I until 2 years ago I lived at home and my mum had a huge phobia of them! As a result, I never really paid them much attention. But recently I was at the pet shop to buy food for my other pets and saw these really cute bottom-feeding fish amongst the others in the tanks. I've tried googling a few different bottom-feeding fish keywords but I'm not sure what they were... would anyone mind giving me an overview of the sorts of bottom feeding fish that are commonly available?

Also... out of curiosity, because I really did like them - do you need a whole ecosystem of fish or can you keep a specific type, like these little guys? I'm totally new for this, so any links or general tips really welcome thanks!

It would be helpful if you show a photo of them.

You can have just the bottom feeders in your aquarium if you wish. Although personally I prefer to have a tank full (while not overstock) of different species of fish.

As someone who has never paid attention to fish keeping, it might be more complex (but not difficult to learn) than you think to get into the fish keeping hobby.

The most important thing to begin with is fishless cycling. To learn more about the basics, I highly recommend you to read through the fish articles in our library section. We have covered most of the "must know" beginner issues.
http://petskeepersguide.com/library/fish/

If you have any more questions after read through the articles, feel free to ask.

Well, one fish that is commonly used in fresh water aquarium tanks to clean the algae off the sides is called a Plecostomus (pleco). I don't know if I'd call it cute, but they do a good job. Other fish ignore it and it pays no attention to the fish inside the tank.

Whew, I'm real glad that I'm not the only person with a phobia of fishes... It stems from being grossed out by some pf the fish types and the horror stories of fishes constantly dying, killing and consuming each other. How do you guys deal with it? Having an fishbowl seems so stressful!

Is it normal for Plecostomus to have giant, bulging eyes that almost fall out out of their heads? I've seen one like this in a shop and felt horrified. Other than that, those are adorable. They can get huge, though.