# Favourite bottom dwellers?



## Arcteryx (Nov 23, 2011)

Thought I'd pick BCA's brains as I plan out how I'm going to stock my 50G cube (24x24 footprint, 20 high) - what are your favourite bottom dwellers that aren't plecos?

It's going to be a freshwater community, I have a black sand substrate in there right now, and I'm planning to have a good number of hardy plants...

I love cory's and was thinking of having a couple of different schools of them, was going to get clown loaches but they get so big and I hate to cramp their style - I've checked out some loach fan sites and there are some neat loaches that stay small but I'm not sure where I would find them.

I've had ottocats in the past and like them, so I might get a few of those, but yeah... what are your favourites?


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

one school - metae (just because i have them)

2 schools - metae + julii (just because I have them both and both are on sale)

All kidding aside, I like one school, you can put more number of them together. Eventhough your tank is 24x24", having 2 schools is just not enough number of each school.


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## Steve (Mar 27, 2013)

Kuhli loaches are really cute


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## Gfish (Jan 28, 2014)

Sterbai Cory's would look neat in your setup the orange on their fins would really stand out against the black substrate 


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## maximusfish (Sep 2, 2014)

I have 2 schools of Cories, adolphoi and julii/leopard, that I got from April's. Both these types stay small, 2". If going with 2 groups it is nice when they are very different looking. Check the web to confirm the full grown size of whatever you choose. I have seen some really big Cories.


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## mysticalnet (Apr 22, 2010)

Kuhli Loaches are awesome, also, L144 plecos.


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## maximusfish (Sep 2, 2014)

We also added a rubbernose pleco, Farlowella cat, petricolas (my fav), gold spot and King tiger plecos. They all stay fairly small. The rubbernose and Farlowella both stay in the open so you can actually see them. We almost never see the king tigers & gold spot. Pat at Canadian Aquatics has some nice bnp, different colours and fin length, more interesting to see than your garden variety bnp.


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## Dawna (Jul 29, 2013)

Sterbai, julii cories, longfin l144. Kuhli are also cool but they prefer to hide when I had them and they come out at night because they are nocturnal scavengers.


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## Newt (Jan 28, 2015)

Petricolas are awesome, but i rarely get to see them as they like lurking in their hiding spots. Love my Cory's - newest addition to them are Sterbai Cory's and they're hanging out with the rest of the Cory group and are very active. Very attractive looking too.


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## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

My favourite bottom dweller is the CPO dwarf crayfish.


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## mikebike (Sep 8, 2010)

kuli loaches on black sand realy show well


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## Arcteryx (Nov 23, 2011)

maximusfish said:


> I have 2 schools of Cories, adolphoi and julii/leopard, that I got from April's. Both these types stay small, 2". If going with 2 groups it is nice when they are very different looking. Check the web to confirm the full grown size of whatever you choose. I have seen some really big Cories.


How many in each school?


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## Arcteryx (Nov 23, 2011)

mikebike said:


> kuli loaches on black sand realy show well


Just a little worried that they'll hide and I'll never see them... but I really like them too. They look great.


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## Arcteryx (Nov 23, 2011)

charles said:


> All kidding aside, I like one school, you can put more number of them together. Eventhough your tank is 24x24", having 2 schools is just not enough number of each school.


Yeah this line of thinking came after talking to you... thought it'd be nice to have two schools that are different from each other. If just one school, I think I'd go with the sterbai... how many would you go with?


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## maximusfish (Sep 2, 2014)

I have 12 in each school. They are so fun to watch. They don't hide like the plecos, but I do have lots of caves and plants. They also like to swim up to the surface; they are quite active. Whatever you go with, get at least 8. They are much more comfortable in groups.


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## Arcteryx (Nov 23, 2011)

maximusfish said:


> I have 12 in each school. They are so fun to watch. They don't hide like the plecos, but I do have lots of caves and plants. They also like to swim up to the surface; they are quite active. Whatever you go with, get at least 8. They are much more comfortable in groups.


I've enjoyed them whenever I see them in a tank - and yes, was planning a group of 6-10


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## hillmar (Sep 25, 2010)

Just picked up a small school of sterbai from April last week! Very active and doing great!


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## Atom (Apr 21, 2010)

I love a nice school of Pygmy Cories.


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## Arcteryx (Nov 23, 2011)

Atom said:


> I love a nice school of Pygmy Cories.


I had pygmies before and they totally hid on me... after a while I kinda even lost track of how many I had.


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## maximusfish (Sep 2, 2014)

Lots of bottom dwellers prefer low light. When I first started I focused on getting plants growing well and got 10,000 and 6700k bulbs. One day someone was selling water Lettace so I grabbed some, and it was amazing the difference it made to the fish. They coloured up much more, were more active, acted more naturally and seemed "happier". At the Vancouver Aquarium the tropical tanks are mostly low light. So now I have low to medium light plants only with a covering of water Lettace, about 2/3 of the surface, and they are doing well. I don't remember all the names but there is more than Java fern, anubias, vals and crypts. So if your bottom dwellers are always hiding it could be due to lighting.


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## Arcteryx (Nov 23, 2011)

maximusfish said:


> ...So if your bottom dwellers are always hiding it could be due to lighting.


Hmmmm! That totally makes sense.


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## Atom (Apr 21, 2010)

I moved my pgymies around a lot and I found that they were much more comfortable in subdued lighting and preferred tanks with lots of cover on the surface. They liked my tanks with driftwood and Vals, but hated when it was just a simply rock scape. 


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

+1 on Sterbais. I have 10 and really like them. They'd look gorgeous on black substrate and probably be less shy than in my tank with white sand.


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## mikebike (Sep 8, 2010)

+1 for cories


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## Arcteryx (Nov 23, 2011)

Ya I think I'm pretty set on sterbai - the more I see them the more I like'm


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## Arcteryx (Nov 23, 2011)

hillmar said:


> Just picked up a small school of sterbai from April last week! Very active and doing great!
> Aprils sterbai Cory fish quarantine tank - YouTube


Cool video


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## Goundar2010 (Jan 12, 2015)

I really like kuhli loaches, sterbai and peppered corys. I like going to Rogers Aquatics. Very polite sevice.


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## Arcteryx (Nov 23, 2011)

Goundar2010 said:


> I really like kuhli loaches, sterbai and peppered corys. I like going to Rogers Aquatics. Very polite sevice.


I'm going to check out the kuhli's too - I must've seen them before but never took note. In the videos I've seen of them they look pretty nice.


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## Goundar2010 (Jan 12, 2015)

When you got at least 5 or more. They don't hide as much. Mine always come out at water changes and at night. Rogers Aquatics have kuhli loaches often. They are very hard to catch though!


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## Arcteryx (Nov 23, 2011)

Settled on a school of 8 sterbai cories - picked them up yesterday from Canadian Aquatics, they're pretty darned cute and so active too. Thanks to everyone who helped me decide


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