Which 'loach' To Choose

[boonc]

I am after some ideas on a couple of loaches for my 350 litre community tank.

I want something that will clean the glass but doesn't get too big and is friendly - any suggestions??

 

[Davo86]

I am after some ideas on a couple of loaches for my 350 litre community tank.

I want something that will clean the glass but doesn't get too big and is friendly - any suggestions??

ok, firstly a few Questions,

By your term 'loach' do you mean any sucker fish?
are you wanting the loach for a purpose? i.e. to eat green algae, brown algae, etc.
(if your having lots of algae on the glass, then you may need to look at why its growing so much, i.e. too much light etc.)

ok, to start with you could look at a group of 6 otocinclus, or maybe a pair of smaller plecs, i.e. bristlenose, bulldog, or even some of the more exotic species.

 

[helterskelter]

well if ant to clean the glass then goto dawft pleco's.

Bristlenose pleco's are perfect getting to 5-6" and totally harmless.
Clown pleco are even smaller 3-4" max.
Zebra's get 6" but expensive.

However theirs 100's more you can chose from and their better than the naught sucking loach that chase every thing and stress tanks!!!!

 

[boonc]

Yes I mean sucker fish - I don't currently have any algae problems I am just trying to build a balanced community.

The clown plecs sound good - how many do you think?

 

[Nim]

Well. heard the phrase: Dont fix whats not broken? I would suggest you not to venture into fish that you think will keep the glass/tank clean just because you might have the problem. It is better to learn about the problem rather then dumping all the fish that can sort various issues out (which unfortunatly is not 100% guranteed that they will).

Loaches are different fish then plecs. Plecs are catfish but loaches are more related to cyprinids.. or carps. Loaches specialize against snails and also search out uneten foods within the gravle but the later can be done by many other fish.

Plecs on the other hand can only scrap and they also produce a lot of waste for a fish their size. So unless you want to keep a single plec that you like or something that can take care of a specific algae issue then I suggest you dont go for it. They can also be slightly territorial but you can have a couple of a 350L tank.

Nim

 

[Davo86]

Yes I mean sucker fish - I don't currently have any algae problems I am just trying to build a balanced community.

The clown plecs sound good - how many do you think?

i would say 2-3 of these plecs would be fine,

With the clown plecs make sure you have a variety of bogwood in your tank and make sure you feed them a variety of green foods as well as plec wafers as this is one ype of plec that won't really touch any algae that happens to be in the tank.