Bottom Dwellers - Compatibility Questions

[mrscullen5373]

I have several questions, please answer as many as possible!

QUESTION 1 - Can I keep Kuhli Loach and Chain Loach together in a 20 gallon tank without aggression?

QUESTION 2 - Can I keep Kuhli Loach and Cory together in a 20 gallon tank without aggression?

QUESTION 3 - Can I keep Chain Loach and Cory together in a 20 gallon tank without aggression?

QUESTION 4 - Out of PANDA CORY and PYGMY CORY which are the most playful and active?

QUESTION 5 - Would a adult Chain Loach eat a Pygmy Cory?

Are Chain Loaches a playful species?

Would you say more so than Kuhli Loach?

If i had to pick between the two what would you pick?

Which Species are more playful Cory or Loaches?

Thanks
xx

 

[james_fish]

Seeing as nobody answered you, I shall re-direct you to this website.

http/aqadvisor.com

This will tell you what gets on with what. And if there is a risk anything will get eaten.

As for the playful question Im not sure.

James.

 

[Tomcat]

i think i might be able to help a little with the playful question, i did have Pygmy Corys and Panda Corys together a year or so ago, but i really wanted some bronze Cory's for the more impressive size, so to avoid overstocking on bottom feeders, the Pygmy's have been relocated to my fathers tank. The Panda Cory's when young were extremely playful spending more time jiggling up and down the glass and generally messing about than actually browsing the gravel, but this declined as they got older, and now they don't dance as often, maybe once or twice a day for a few minutes at a time, and they spend a LOT of time being plain lazy and sitting on the bottom with the bronze. i do have a little oddball panda though who prefers to be at the top of the tank, he thinks he's a surface dweller, and since they aren't the most delicate of swimmers its amusing to watch him. The Pygmy's though have lost non of their zest for life, they still play as much as they dont, they dont seem overly interested in doing the Cory dance that much though they have their moments, but they are far more active.

obviously these fish will be with you for a long time, so its important you pick the right ones, so id recommend looking at your tank, take into consideration two things, the size of the tank, and the ammount of cover availible, if your tank is up to about 3ft then Pygmy's will be perfect, if its over 3ft you may very well have a hard time spotting them and the Panda would be better suited, also the tank decor needs to be considered, plants like Ferns and grass will offer an abundance of places for them to play where they might not be visible, again the larger Panda will stand out, while broad leaf plants like Amazon swords and Anubias offer playgrounds easier to see so Pygmy's make a good choice, either way you will ideally a large area near the front for them to have space for browsing.

i hope this helps

 

[OldMan47]

James has indeed sent you to a place that will try to tell you about fish compatibility. Unfortunately, I have been on some of the sites where that place gets their information. The compatibility information may not be quite as bad as other data but advice that is easily refuted is posted on many of his source forums. I have given up even trying to help people get things straight on most of them because their advice was so far from reality.
Compatibility has another and unrelated limitation. No system can accurately predict the compatibility of fish. There are thousands that are fairly common in the hobby. Each combination has to be evaluated somewhere in an algorithm before a conclusion can be drawn. If it is not a combination that is frequently tried or is based solely on things like fish size, it will of necessity get the answer wrong as often as right. I doubt that an entire lifetime devoted to the process would ever get all of the possible combinations properly evaluated and placed into a database. The simple, straight forward compatibility errors could be easily entered, but even there, you will find plenty of half truths and misleading information on fish incompatibility. Even here, on our own forum, there are plenty of people who believe that a Betta splendens is some kind of monster that must be forced to live alone. I have one in my 45 gallon endler tank who gets along fine with the endlers, BNPs and corydorus in that tank. He is an old man at about 5 years and has never bothered anyone since I got him almost that long ago.
Back to the original subject.
Which is more playful? Let's get real, no database will ever be set up to answer questions like that.

Of the cories, I would favor the C. panda over the C. pygmaeus for playfulness. I do not keep the other fish so will leave those questions to others.

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Are you planning/already have any other fish in the 20?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi mrscullen5373

I've kept both C. pandas and C. pygmaeus. As you can see from the picture below pandas, even though they are one of the smaller corys, are still much bigger than the pygmy corys. IMHO, they are more active too but the little pygmys might just be harder to see.

Kuhli loaches are quite active and peaceful and get along fine with corys. The cory in the picture is a C. metae which is about the same size as the C. pandas.

I've never had chain loaches so I can't comment on them, but I hope this helps.

 

[roadmaster]

Have kept kuhli loaches (currently have five), pygmy cory's and panda cory's (have six). While the panda cory's are active,they tend to favor the bottom or substrate while the pygmy cory's swim at all levels ,or at least they did/do in my tanks.
Kuhli loaches seem to be a little more reserved or shy and I seldom see them except at dawn and dusk ,but the tank is heavily littered with driftwood,stones,flagstone,and sand substrate that they, and the corys appreciate. I had to move the kuhli loaches from the tank holding the cory's for the cory's were much quicker at grabbing the foods offered despite feedings after dark. After moving them, the Kuhli loaches began to get more plump, less competition for food.
wouldn't place any of these fish in anything smaller than 20 gal long tank. Opinions vary.

 

[mrscullen5373]

Wow thank you everyone for all your replys.
I have a bigger 55gallon community that is avalible now that doesnt have any bottom dwellers in their and could do with some to liven the place up abit.

I have decided I am going to have atleast 4 Kuhli Loaches to start with but my next choice is still a very hard one.

I am still very stuck between some Chain Loach Pygmy Cory or Panda.

I am thinking abit about the chain loach. I really do love them but I am wondering if they might be abit to boisterous for my Kuhli Loaches?

I might go with a shoal of Pygmy Cory but I am still very unsure.
Should I get Chain Loach or Pygmy Cory?
Which is more boisterous and more likely too scare off my kuhli's?

Another thing I have to consider is that there are 5 Pitbull Pleco (Parotocinclus Jumbo) and 4 Dwarf Gold Spot Pleco (Parotocinclus Spilosoma) in the tank already.
Which will be ok to go with the pleco's, Chain Loach or Pygmy Cory?

Thanks for all your help so far.

XXxx

 

[Inchworm]

Hi mrscullen5373

I wouldn't add either C. panda or C. pygmaeus to a tank with those plecos. They are both delicate fish and require excellent water conditions.