30 gallon river tank stocking advice.

[McJ]

I am currently reworking my 30 gallon tank, from a community tank to a river tank.
Over the past week or so, I have been removing a majority of the play sand, and adding gravel which will not be kicked up as easily by my powerhead (I will be installing a Aquaclear 70,with a modified rivertank manifold system) (I also have a large number of smooth rocks laid on the bottom, ranging from 1x1in to 2x3in).
The tank is moderately planted, with: 10 Anubias barteri v. nana, 1 Anubias barteri v. coffeefolia, 1 Echinodorus bleheri, 1 Echinodorus amazonicus, 3 Microsorum pteropus, some bacopa, and some Jungle val (I'm unsure of the scientific names of the last two.)

The idea with turning this into a river tank is to keep hillstream loaches. Loaches are the group that got me interested in fish keeping, so I was excited to discover such a wide variety of fish which can be kept in a tank as small as mine.

Now for the actual stocking advice. I currently have 5 white Gymnocorymbus ternetzi, and 6 Pangio kuhli in the tank. The tetras are being re-homed next week, but I plan on keeping the kuhlis.
I have done some moderately intensive reading which species of hillstreams I would like to keep, yet I found very little concerning the keeping of multiple species.

I would prefer to be able to keep a mixture of species, but if it is advisable to keep only a single colony in a tank so small, or possibly two smaller groups, I have no objections.
Here is the list of species I have read about/ are interested in.

Sewellia lineolata
Schistura carbonaria
Homaloptera smithi
or
Homaloptera confuzona

I am also interested in some Gobies, pending interaction between the species.

I will be looking at some of the sumos (Schistura carbonaria)next week, the LFS I use the most is getting a shipment. Their head fish guy swears by them, he keeps at least two personasal loach tanks, says he has bred hillstreams (did not mention which species), and has been advising me on the construction of my rivertank manifold, and the keeping of the kuhlis (although he says he would never keep them himself, he doesn't like their knack for getting into everything).
I may or may not be interested in these sumos. From my internet browsing, I really prefer the look of the lineolata and smithi or confuzona to that of the sumo, but who knows whether I will be able to resist them in person?

Seeing as I haven't asked an actual question yet, here it is.
Would LOL recommend keeping more than one species of hillstream loach in a properly set up 30g river tank? If so, which of the mentioned, or recommended species?

Thank you for your time, pics will be along as soon as I find the camera cable (odd that I have no problem seeing all of my kuhlis, yet I can't seem to find a stationary cable!)

[Diana]

Kuhlies prefer warmer water than most of the hillstream species.

I had a 20 long with several Gobies and Darter Tetras (Goby-like fish, but really Tetras) and White Cloud Mountain Minnows, as well as the Hillstream Loaches. Over the years I tried different fish in there. One of the oddballs was the Red Lizard. Peaceful, and I could usually find him, just took some looking.

I had Shistura savona in a different tank, before I got this 20 long set up. I had read they were not entirely friendly with each other, so I just had 2 in a 20 gallon (regular) so there was enough floor space for them. Yes, they would glare at each other, but not actually fight.

[Jim Powers]

You can certainly mix hillstream species. Some people have had problems with Sewellia out competing other hillstreams for food, but if you provide food at various low current areas around the tank, you should have no problem. I have not had problem mixing them with other hillstreams. I would agree that the kuhlis would not fit in this setup very well. As for the sumos, I would be sure to provide enough hiding places to prevent aggression.

[McJ]

Okay, I was unsure about the temperature factor between the kuhlis and the hillstreams. I've read conflicting information concerning temperature preferences. Some people put the kuhli's low range at the hillstreams high range. I made the assumption that they would be okay based off of this.

Hiding areas should not be a problem, I also have a cave complex made from rocks similar to those lying on the substrate, and I am currently looking for larger ones of similar texture and color.

Can you guys give a recommendation on numbers? As previously stated, its a heavily planted 30 gallon. I'm currently using two HOB filters (only one runs at night though, the other is rather noisy, and its in my room because I'm currently a college student living at home.) Once the manifold is installed, all three of the intakes will have sponge filters. I do 2-3 water changes per week, probably somewhere around 18% each time. Say I get three different species, would 3-5 each for a total of around 12 fish work? Could I get away with more? The fish would be added slowly because my LFS rarely carries hillstreams, and I have yet to try ordering online (although this is about to change, I'm ordering some Celestial pearl danios (different tank), which I will be breeding for the same fish store.)

[Jim Powers]

I would think 12 would work. Why don't you share some pics of the tank and its inhabitants when you can.