loaches vs cories as cleanup crew

im going to my fish store sometime this week to get rid of a few problem fish (fin nippers) and maybe a few im not really happy with

aaaaanyway i have a five cories in the tank that i see less than my
raphael cat yea its that bad:thud:

i think the problem is that two of them arent actually corie but something called a emerald green catfish (Brochis splendens) they look the same as my bronze corys but they are 3x as big (3")and dont school with them if someone can guive me a way to tell them apart frome an adult corie that wuld be great (sory no cam no pics)

any way i want an opinion on cleanup crews im thinking of getting rid of my "corys" and getting some yoyo loaches or some MORE kuhli loaches
OR getting rid of the emerald green catfish(?)and getting some more bronze corries and hopefully theyl come out more often

now i have verry heavy gravel that needs a good scavenger so by experience what seems to work best kuhli, botia or cory or maybe hoplo or something else?(no snails)



my tank setup now is a 46 gallon fully cycled dont know perams fish are happy
in it i have
5 black/white skirt tetras
3 bloodfin tetras (removing)
1 plat gourami (removing)
1 pim cat
1 raphael cat
1 african butterfly
1 bn pleco
2 kuhli loaches (had 3) may get rid of)
5 "cory" catfish

i will be getting two keyhole cichlids to replace the other fish

ooooooooook so my gravel is vvvvvvvvvveeeeery heavy and large (some pebbles at 1-2") my pleco does chew up what food he can get at but a pleco head cant realy get in the nooks and crannies
wich is why i have corries but the corries are acting wierd and only comeing out at the ocasional feeding time other than that they stay perfectly still under a log at the back of my tank

so i need to improve my FOOD cleanup crew by either getting rid of the Brochis (wich do have 15 spines thanks) and adding more cories
OR getting rid of the "cories" and adding loaches or hoplo or something

as for the keyholes i just wanted to have a cichlid for once i actually wanted a red parrot but my tank may be too small/full
any recomendations for another comunity cichlid?
what are rainbow cichlids like?
flag cichlids?
i dont know my perams so i dont want to risk a ram and angels arent cichlidy enouph

DavidZ said:

get a SAE

Click to expand...

I have NNNEEEVVVAAARRR had an algae prob in ma tank
im trying to get a food eater for my heavy gravel like a cory catfish

but my cories are acting wierd so im thinking of replaceing them with yo yo loaches or hoplo

and now maybe shrimp but my fish store says shrimp dont work in a comunity tank?

maybe heavy is a bad word what i realy mean is its course there are alot of large gaps, nooks and cranys in it for food to slip into so i need something that will eat the food that slips in those gaps
wich is why i have my corries/brochis wich wer doing a good job for a month or two but are now acting strange
so i have two options i culd add to the school of cory, brochis or kuhli by lowering the diversity of my tank and removing said other fish

or i culd seek other livestock like shrimp/hoplo/chain loack

bottom line wat animals do the most rummeging/scavenging/cleaning



and yes my cories were able to lift/ move the gravel beforehand

and no i dont need an algae eater

and no i dont have a personal preference on my kuhlis vs my cories im just trying to figure out what to add more of because any food that hits the floor of my tank isnt getting eaten