Cories or Kuhli Loaches? and a BN pleco question

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abcdefghi

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Jun 6, 2007
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I am in the middle of my fishless cycle and so working on getting my stock list sorted out. I am planning on the following:

10 x glowlight tetras
10 x cherry barbs
3 x pearl gourami (1m:2f)
10 smaller cories
2 x bristlenose pleco

So I kept hearing about kuhli loaches and thought I would look up a picture. I like the look of these, but know they like to be in groups. So which would you choose? cories or kuhli loaches and why? (I really like both types of fish). If loaches how many could I keep in the 55G?

I also read about BN plecos and their ability to escape (or swim up the filter) how likely is this to happen? the hood on my tank is pretty open, so I am just curious how likely they are to escape? If its a high probability I am open to leaving them out and instead adding a couple more cories (or loaches) if I have the room.

Thanks.
 

fishorama

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Jun 28, 2006
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Tough call, I'd go with both;) 6 corys, 8 loaches, 8 corys or 12 kuhlis if only 1 of either . But wait until your tank has been up & running a few months to add them, both do better in an established tank.

I haven't kept BN but I think you can add 1, 2 will add a lot of waste. I have a clown & a scribble plec in my 55 & it's not that bad but they are both smaller species & less vegetarian.

Sounds like a nice mix of fish, any plants?
 

abcdefghi

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Jun 6, 2007
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Tough call, I'd go with both;) 6 corys, 8 loaches, 8 corys or 12 kuhlis if only 1 of either . But wait until your tank has been up & running a few months to add them, both do better in an established tank.

I haven't kept BN but I think you can add 1, 2 will add a lot of waste. I have a clown & a scribble plec in my 55 & it's not that bad but they are both smaller species & less vegetarian.

Sounds like a nice mix of fish, any plants?
Only fake plants at the moment, debating adding some real plants at a later stage. I might just skip the BN plecos and add a couple more cories/loaches instead. So would end up with:

10 x glowlights
10 x cherrybarbs
8 x cories
8 x loaches
3 x pearl gourami

Hmmm I like the sound of that actually, and I think the loaches burrow in sand so that might help with the sand churning.
 

fishorama

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Jun 28, 2006
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SF Bay area, CA
My kuhlis don't dig down in pool filter sand but some people's do. If you aren't going to have real plants you can go with a shallower depth of sand. Actually I have less than an inch in my plant & kuhli tank but some plants are kinda stunted & uproot easily, others are tied to wood & rocks.
 
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