Yes, spook is inhabiting a lava cave at the right for another couple months, 5 inches now, and no its not a goby (although that would be nice) he's a dojo loach, needs a camera with a faster shutter.
Albino cory and the red things are swordtail or platy.
The idea is just to show new folks that you don't have to sweat the tecky stuff at the beginning, just go simple and learn from there. Later, you can use this knowledge as a base to achieve something else. I hink its more encoraging than setting up something grandiose only to run into a bunch of lost fish, time and expense.
Yes its aquarium sand, with red pebbles strewn over it. But, alas alot are covered by sand now so when I gravelvac, I siphon over them, or sift them out using my hand.