which loaches for my tank?

[erloas]

I've set up a river tank to keep some Madagascar Rainbowfish. I've also added some hillstream butterfly loaches, and I also wanted to add another type of loach, I'm just trying to figure out which type.

It is a 55g with a koralia 4 pump for circulation and an Eheim Ecco 2236 for filtration. I've got some driftwood, quite a few medium sized rocks, and a moderate amount of plants, anubias, crypts, and grasses mostly.

For substrate I'm using a mix of turface and flourite dark. Which is really where my big question comes in. I was using flourite sand in my other tank and wanted something that would mix with the turface without separating and looking fairly similar in color. It wasn't until I got the flourite that I found out that it looks fairly sharp. I don't think there would be an issue with the turface because it is light and doesn't seem to bother my corys in my other tank at all (their barbels all look great). I'm not sure about the flourite though. The mix is probably about 2 to 1 turface to flourite and I tried to mix it together well.

So the main question is, will the flourite be an issue with most types of loaches?

The second part of the question is which type of loach. My plan was about 8-10 madagascar rainbowfish, 4-6 hillstream loaches, and 6-12 of another loach.
I currently have 4 madagascars and 4 hillstreams.

The yoyos are easy to find, but to get a decent size school that uses up a lot of space in the tank because they get kind of big. I like the zebra loaches but I don't know how easy they will be to find, they are also not too big so I could get a decent sized school without overloading the tank. The other option is dwarf chain loaches, but they end up being quite a bit smaller then the madagascars (though I don't think that would be much of an issue), not sure how hard they would be to find either. There might be other options that I don't know about too.
And would there be any aggression issues with any of those and what I already have. Since I know most loaches are at least semi-aggressive.


So will the substrate be an issue or is there a specific type of loach that would fit with it better? Any other types of smaller loaches that might work? How hard are the dwarf chain and zebra loaches to actually find? (preferably in Salt Lake City if anyone knows the area, its a 2 hour drive but its the closest big city I have to work with)


At this point it would be possible to re-home the fish I have and replace the substrate if that is really important, but it would be a big PITA and I would like to avoid that if at all possible. I'm also not aware of too many sandy substrates that are good for plants.

And last, here are a few pictures of the tank (though I should have done a full length one) for reference to the substrate.

[Katy]

I don't know anything about Rainbows, but I am sure one of the experts will be along soon.

We have Kubotai, Striata and Dwarf Chain (Sids) and the Sids are by far the most aggressive of them.

You might also consider Sumo loaches or Batik loaches -- our Sumo is fabulous, and when he isn't dashing around he sits at the front of the tank watching me. The batik loaches we have really like to hang out together, despite what is written about them being territorial. Maybe they are siblings ... wait, no, then they would be fighting.

[JonasBygdemo]

I'd say Kubotai. They're really beautiful fish with their own personalities They are very good for snail-control too, much better than our clowns.

[clint]

Kubotai are a nice looking fish i couldn't get my hands on any when i set my 90g up. Yoyos or Zebras would work well too, both are very good snailers in my tank. The snails can't reproduce fast enough, unfortunately.

I have a mixed tank of rainbows which include boesemani, red irian, turquoise and a lone axelrodi. In with them is a group of zebras and a group of yoyos they all seem to get along good. I've had the tank setup almost a year now with no losses due to aggression. Almost no losses at all, but we all lose a fish here and there. Now you have 3 species to choose from, i know decisions, decisions. I don't regret not getting the Kubotai's, its just i couldn't find them. They were on my stocking list and i substituted yoyos for them. They are similar in shape just different markings, good luck loach hunting.

[plaalye]

I think your stocking plans will overload a 55 gal. B. madagascariensis get 4-6 inches and mine are aggressive, espcially at feeding. 10 of those will have your tank near capacity already. You'll have to feed with a turkey baster or the like to get food down to loaches.Hillstream loaches like b. kweichowensis don't add a lot to the bioload IMO. I'd cut the number of Bedotia and if you do get a botia species, stick with the smaller ones like b. striata. Really depends on what's available to you?? Good luck!

[clint]

Nice tank by the way, looks good

[erloas]

Nice tank by the way, looks good

Thanks



As for the fish load, that can still be changed. As long as the number of madagascars is 4 or more it won't be an issue. From what I've read they are supposed to be peaceful fish. I've only had the ones in the tank for a few days now and haven't noticed anything, but there is only a couple of the butterfly hillstream loaches for them to even go after. I know at the LFS I've been watching them for a few months (waiting to get my tank set up) and they had them in with several different fish without issues that I saw.

As for the numbers, I'm not really set on any specific numbers. I came up with those mostly based on the needs to school and what AqAdvisor website figured was about 90ish percent load. But that wasn't with a specific loach picked out either, I just ran it 3 times with the dwarf chain, zebra, and yoyo to get an idea of numbers knowing it would change based on how big of a loach I ended up finding.

As for what is available to me, I've check with the LFS and the only loaches they can seem to get are yoyos. There is a larger store that carries tiger botias but I don't really like buying fish from there. So I'll end up having to drive down to Salt Lake City some weekend and see what I can find. Since it is a 2-3 hour drive I just want a good idea of what will work so I can get them if I find them since its really impractical for me to have them order any for me. Online is possible, but its going to be another 3 months before I would even think about having fish shipped to Wyoming where I live since its not uncommon to snow even into May, and once even on the 4th of July.

[plaalye]

I wouldn't hesitate to ship fish with a good supplier at this point in the year. They should be fine with heat pcaks as long as the temps aren't sustained sub-zero. Express will get them there overnight. Ask the supplier, tell them where you are. Have a look at aquabid...wetspot is in Portland and has most everything. I've also bought from invertzfactory.

[Diana]

Research the temperature requirements of the fish, too. So far, you have a cool water tank. Some of the Loaches suggested so far are better in a warmer tank.

There are a number of fresh water Gobies, Darter Tetras and similar fish that would work well in a cool water tank with a little extra water movemet.
Check out the species information here at Loaches to find out which ones are comfortable with a tank in the low 70s F, which is probably the optimum temp for the Rainbows and Loaches you have already.

[erloas]

Do you have any specific recommendations Diana?

I haven't seen any of the Botia species that are listed as anything other then about 75-82. Though I've seen some of the same on other sites listed more like 72-82.

Here the only one that isn't 75-82 (or higher) is the striata (zebra) loaches at 72-80. The only things I noticed as lower are the other types of hillstream ones.

I was hoping for some botia type loaches, because I know most loaches like more water movement and are bigger then what would work in my other tanks. I was figuring I would set the temperature in the 72-75 range because that is a temperature I should be able to keep steady all year around. I don't need to go more then that, and between summers and heating during the winter I think I can keep in that range without a cooler or doing anything special. Even in the summer here we hardly get into the 90s and it takes almost no effort to keep the house in the 70s throughout the day.

If there isn't a good species of loach to add that would work in the same temperatures I would look at adding something else instead. I just wouldn't know what that is yet.

[clint]

I don't see why striata wouldn't work, plus they tend to be a bit smaller thus you could get a good sized clan. All mine which are around a year old now are around 3", but i keep my tank around 78/79 degrees. Thats the high end for them per what i've read.