I have had corries in the past and they are AMAZING scavengers but I've been looking at kuhli loaches recently and was wondering would they make good replacement scavengers? I don't have the room for two schools of bottom based fish so I'm limited to one or the other :( They would be accompanied by a school of neons and a pair or singular other decorative fish that I can't decide upon as of right now (Probably a gourami of some type). My tank is 33 Gal and I know my water is on the harder side of the scale however I haven't had it checked lately and Ph is around 7.6 but I just added a piece of driftwood in hopes that it'll lower my Ph plus give my bristlenose something to chew on!

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30 Gal breeder: 2 Honey Gouramis, 3 Sterbai Corries, 8 Black-Skirt Tetras, 1 Albino Bristlenose Pleco, 1 Common Pleco (temporary home) and 2 Nerite Snails
10 Gal SW nano: 10 Pounds Live Rock, 2 Red Trochus

Kuhli Loaches are very shy and you won't see them very often. I think they will come out at night. I often see them at dawn.

I've come to understand that kuhlies, over time, can get used to feeding during the day if there's plenty of cover with nothing to make them feel threatened. But I don't have anyway to confirm that so I was hoping people with experience with them could give me a little insight also I'd like to know how well they scavenge. The only other fish in they're water coulum would be a bristlenose.

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30 Gal breeder: 2 Honey Gouramis, 3 Sterbai Corries, 8 Black-Skirt Tetras, 1 Albino Bristlenose Pleco, 1 Common Pleco (temporary home) and 2 Nerite Snails
10 Gal SW nano: 10 Pounds Live Rock, 2 Red Trochus

Well I have one in my tank and I rarley see it. I know there should be more of them but I adopted the tank and he was already in there. I dont do anything to feed it, its on its own and must be doing well cause its still alive. When I got the tank from my friend he said he hadn't seen it in over a year so he didnt know if it was still alive or not. After having the tank for a few months I did see it one morning swimming around so I started adding caves to my tank so he would have a nice place to hangout and I still hardly ever see the whole fish. He buries himself in the gravel. I do see parts of him from time to time (like his tail sticking out of a cave or something) so I know he's still alive. I have also started adding live plants so he could hangout there. Anyways I'd have to say they are very good scavengers since it has not been feed specifically for over a year. My friend only fed the tank tropical fish flakes, I feed: flakes, frozen blood worms and freze dried bloodworms and every couple days I throw a few algee wafers in for the shrimp and even then he never comes out to eat. I've went to the tank in the middle of the night to try and catch him swimming around but so far my timing is off I havent seem him. I'm new to fish keeping so I had some trouble keeping new fish alive so I have been afraid to get more since I never see the one I have I wouldnt know if the new ones died. Now I drip acclimate new fish and havent lost one yet so I will be adding a couple more soon.

Some say Kuhli loaches will eat shrimp and snails but so far none of my red cherry shrimp have been eaten. I also have a ton of pond snails in the tank, I kinda like them so even though most call them a pest I leave them alone and they dont seem to get eaten, some are pretty big. I do get rid of some every week with my water change but that only beacuse I am not carefull to save them.

The PH in my tank is 8.0 and he lives in that fine. He also gets along with my other fish: neon tetras, bloodfin tetras, gold tetras and one male dwarf gourami.

I'm going up too my LFS this weekend for some cardinals/neons which ever they have so I'll take a look at the variety that they have for the time being. I'll see if I can talk the manager into bringing in Sterbais because I love the little guys, they have so much enthusiasm and are constantly on the move. If not within the next month or so I'll try my hand with some Kuhlies. Give my tank sometime to build up its bio-load after the tetra addition. On a side note though, how does your gourami make out by himself? I would like to add one too my tank but I am unsure whether to get one or two, I'd prefer to just have one.

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30 Gal breeder: 2 Honey Gouramis, 3 Sterbai Corries, 8 Black-Skirt Tetras, 1 Albino Bristlenose Pleco, 1 Common Pleco (temporary home) and 2 Nerite Snails
10 Gal SW nano: 10 Pounds Live Rock, 2 Red Trochus

WAIT!!!!!!! Get the kuhli loaches!!!!!!! Best fish ever!!!!! I have mine in a group of 3 and they are confident roaming around the tank with the protection of their own kind, and knowing that if they feel harmed, they can go right into their cave. In my tank, I can always see them either out, or peeking from the cave. I promise you'll love them!

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20 gallon semi planted:
Filters: top fin 10 and 20 power filters.
Fish: 2 panda cories, 1 peppered Cory, 5 kuhli loaches, and 4 cherry barbs.

The gourami does great by himself. My tank is 29 gallons so the guy at the LFS said there might not be enough room in there for two because they can be territorial. He will chase the tertas around a little sometimes, it looks playful to me so I really think hes happy in there with the tetras. He doesnt seem to notice the neons, he has more interaction with the bloodfin tetras as the gold tetras tend to stay away from him. There is one corner of tank that he hangs out in the most but he swims all over and into every cave he can fit it. He seems to spend most of his day looking for food in between rocks at the bottom of the tank or off of a plant. He is very curious whenever I mess around with the tank, the other day I was cleaning algee off the glass he was in my way the whole time, not scared at all. He is a fun fish, he will spit water durring feeding time, try to squeze into smaller caves then he can fit into and will jump a little sometimes.

You have 3 of them, what size tank do you have? I want to get a few more so mine isnt lonely but I was afraid I would need more than 3. This is very incouraging to hear that 3 can feel confident.

What do you do to feed them? Ever see people hand feed them? I've seen a few videos on you tube and its pretty cool; they can stick their head out of the water like the loch Ness Monster and eat out of your hand. Check it out if you havent seen it.

20 gallon, but I'm sure they'll do fine in 10+. Once they get used to you, they might eat out of your hand. I posted a pic of mine nibbling on a shrimp pellet while resting on my hand, they even hide in my hand like its a cave. Their regular meals are shrimp pellets. Check out my photo galery and the "new pic of hand feeding kuhlies".

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20 gallon semi planted:
Filters: top fin 10 and 20 power filters.
Fish: 2 panda cories, 1 peppered Cory, 5 kuhli loaches, and 4 cherry barbs.

I checked out your pictures and they are cool but not exactly what I meant. Some people dont even put their hand in the water. Its crazy! They hold stuff above the water and the Kuhli Loach sticks his head out of the water and grabs it the people doing it say its really easy to train them to do it.

They never come off of the ground, they will literally watch a pellet fall to the ground, then think of eating it. I searched up videos, and I think your thinking of weather loaches.

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20 gallon semi planted:
Filters: top fin 10 and 20 power filters.
Fish: 2 panda cories, 1 peppered Cory, 5 kuhli loaches, and 4 cherry barbs.

You might be right, I searched again and couldnt find the videos I saw before. I was pretty sure they were kuhli loaches but I could be wrong.

I love all the feedback! Unfortunatly I ended up having an intense migraine Friday then got called into work all day today and I've got to go back in tomorrow so that put my LFS trip on hold this weekend but seeing as how the big "love" day is around the corner I might make a flying trip too the city this week to pick something up for the little mrs. And stop by the fish store Wish me luck! If there's no neons or cardinals then Kuhlies will be my "catch of day" as everyone seems to praise these "Kuhl" little guys! (Pun was to good to let slip away)
Thanks for the tip sschreiner, I'll most certainly add a male gourami too my final stocking list. When I'm done I'm thinking 3-5 Kuhlie loaches, 1 bristlenose pleco, 2 nerite snails, 2 sterbai corries (We'll see how they make out in low numbers before I set that in stone), 5-7 Black Skirt tetras (Also see how these guys pan out), 10-ish neon tetras, and 1 dwarf gourami. Probably take me about 6 months to finish and the gourami will be the last addition.
By all means keep firing out info! Love to learn whenever I can!

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30 Gal breeder: 2 Honey Gouramis, 3 Sterbai Corries, 8 Black-Skirt Tetras, 1 Albino Bristlenose Pleco, 1 Common Pleco (temporary home) and 2 Nerite Snails
10 Gal SW nano: 10 Pounds Live Rock, 2 Red Trochus