Okay, I guess the title line is a bit misleading, because I am not one of those people who thinks that keeping the bottom of the tank clean is the only reason to have either of these fish, but....
I first got a school of six corys after I was sure the tank was cycled. I was so happy that I would now have room in my 37 to give them the right kind of home.. with plenty of friends. However, shortly after I got the diamond tetra group they began swimming incessantly in circles at the front of the tank. Not just a few times then back down, but so much that I could not enjoy the other fish in the tank. It started to break up the diamond school who would frequently get confused and follow the corys (green aneaus). Then my family who were just warming up to my returning aquarium obsession (I was in the hobby ten years ago before my husband and our blended family got together), began to complain to me about the hyperkinetic corys. So I wrote here, and got a few suggestions, but mostly people considered it fairly normal for corys. So I tried paring the school down to four (from six) and taking out the largest ones who seemed to be the ring leaders of the circling... and the next size down little guy became the new leader. I waited to see if maybe an itching type disease, like ich or something was emerging... nope. Then I tried various temperatures within the safe range. Then I finally got the PH down in the 7s (that was also another post, but it turned out it was my stupid water-softener processed water was driving the PH well over 8, and water changes with RO eventually did the trick). I was thinking, as someone suggested, that it might be a spanning-esque or other some such behavior that might decrease if the parameters changed. Still though the endless circling goes on.
In the meantime, I got two Pakistani (yo-yo) loaches, 'cause they are just neat fish and I have sand for them to dig in and snails that came with my live plants. I discovered online that they are also helpful bottom feeders, and I have watched them slither in and out of tight crevices to get little morsels of the live & frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp I feed most nights (I even made them a few tunnels and tight-fit tubes in the sand because this is so much fun to watch). They also swim up and down the tank some, but not non-stop for hours like the corys. Then I read that they are happier in groups of three, but that would put me too far over my space and the bio load I think the tank can support once they grow to their max size.
So I started to wonder if maybe the best solution to both issues is to get another loach and return the remaining corys for credit at my family-owned LFS. But, because I feed live/frozen food so often I think that I really need to have fish that will be sure to get all or most of the food the ends up on the bottom... I try to be careful but the frozen falls so much more quickly than the flake stuff and once it is past mid-tank the tetras don't pay much attention to it. In a 37, I am happy to do bi-weekly or monthly 25% water changes, but daily siphoning... probably not gonna happen.
SO that is my question. HOW much help ARE the loaches really as a clean-up crew. Without the corys, will just a small loach school be enough in a 37?
I first got a school of six corys after I was sure the tank was cycled. I was so happy that I would now have room in my 37 to give them the right kind of home.. with plenty of friends. However, shortly after I got the diamond tetra group they began swimming incessantly in circles at the front of the tank. Not just a few times then back down, but so much that I could not enjoy the other fish in the tank. It started to break up the diamond school who would frequently get confused and follow the corys (green aneaus). Then my family who were just warming up to my returning aquarium obsession (I was in the hobby ten years ago before my husband and our blended family got together), began to complain to me about the hyperkinetic corys. So I wrote here, and got a few suggestions, but mostly people considered it fairly normal for corys. So I tried paring the school down to four (from six) and taking out the largest ones who seemed to be the ring leaders of the circling... and the next size down little guy became the new leader. I waited to see if maybe an itching type disease, like ich or something was emerging... nope. Then I tried various temperatures within the safe range. Then I finally got the PH down in the 7s (that was also another post, but it turned out it was my stupid water-softener processed water was driving the PH well over 8, and water changes with RO eventually did the trick). I was thinking, as someone suggested, that it might be a spanning-esque or other some such behavior that might decrease if the parameters changed. Still though the endless circling goes on.
In the meantime, I got two Pakistani (yo-yo) loaches, 'cause they are just neat fish and I have sand for them to dig in and snails that came with my live plants. I discovered online that they are also helpful bottom feeders, and I have watched them slither in and out of tight crevices to get little morsels of the live & frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp I feed most nights (I even made them a few tunnels and tight-fit tubes in the sand because this is so much fun to watch). They also swim up and down the tank some, but not non-stop for hours like the corys. Then I read that they are happier in groups of three, but that would put me too far over my space and the bio load I think the tank can support once they grow to their max size.
So I started to wonder if maybe the best solution to both issues is to get another loach and return the remaining corys for credit at my family-owned LFS. But, because I feed live/frozen food so often I think that I really need to have fish that will be sure to get all or most of the food the ends up on the bottom... I try to be careful but the frozen falls so much more quickly than the flake stuff and once it is past mid-tank the tetras don't pay much attention to it. In a 37, I am happy to do bi-weekly or monthly 25% water changes, but daily siphoning... probably not gonna happen.
SO that is my question. HOW much help ARE the loaches really as a clean-up crew. Without the corys, will just a small loach school be enough in a 37?
