Request for feedback on stocking of a 10ftx4ftx22 inch aquarium

I'm working on stocking for a 'loach' aquarium and unfortunately have no first hand experience with some of the species in question so am hopeful that those more experience can provide some feedback on this stocking:

The target water condition is tds 50, gh 2, kh 1, ph whatever (probably high 6); temp 78-80.


12 clown loaches
20-30 zebra loaches
6 yoyo (left over not adding more)
8 krobia xinguensis
40 cardinals tetra (will krobia eat these) ?
maybe 1 flagtail prochilodus
4-6 laetacara species (probably curviceps)
12 Anostomus anostomus (not sure about these)
maybe a platydoras armatulus (am i over populating the aquarium; or the bottom of the aquarium?)
4 crossocheilus langei (never see these in usa but if i can get them)
Some random plecos (mostly 6 inch or smaller; L204, L397, L128, 172a,..)
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Something i could see adding at a much later date include chocolate cichild (this would eliminate all schooling fishes due to their size); this would require i remove the cardinals; this is unlikely as they could also eat the zebra loaches which would make me very sad.

Anyway if you've kept some of these fishes and can provide some insights or suggesting for tweaking the stocking appreciate it.
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substrate will be estes stoney river (black); tank will have a fair amount of planting
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The tank will be uniformly heavily planted with open areas in the middle front; drift wood and shale will make natural caves for the plecos/clown loaches - no artificial caves. I hope to have enough burried in there to keep conflict from occuring between the clowns and plecos as this can be a serious issue - usually with the pleco suffering.

loaches are territorial and you should only keep 1 (one) species of loach per tank otherwise they kill each other.

The platydorus, flagtail prochilodus and Anostomus will eat cardinal tetras and the latter 2 species will eat plants.

Colin_T said:

loaches are territorial and you should only keep 1 (one) species of loach per tank otherwise they kill each other.

The platydorus, flagtail prochilodus and Anostomus will eat cardinal tetras and the latter 2 species will eat plants.

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Ok so drop the flagtail, anostomus and cardinals. Can you suggest replacements?

As for keeping multiple species of loaches; bit surprise about this comment - i have 6 yoyo 6 clown and 10 zebra loaches in my 120 for the past 3 years with no deaths. The yoyo and zebra are adults at this point; though obviously the clowns have a long ways to go. At what point will they show aggression towards each other ?

Unlike stated, flagtail Prochilodus would very rarely eat small fish, even smaller than cardinals; mine wouldn’t even eat newborn live bearers. Also, Anostomus would not eat cardinals; they may harass them but not eat live cardinals.
Also, I currently keep both full grown flagtail x1, and Anostomus x1 in two different planted tanks. No problem at all for up to 7 different plant species.
A large school of Anostomus would be awesome and may be the only way to keep multiple Anostomus in a tank. I attempted three specimens—>dead of one to harassment; the two left were way too quarrelsome. One specimen has worked well. A large group could be awesome but risky, but not for the reasons stated.
How do you plan on getting to the water parameters you stated in such a large tank? What are you water characteristics as it comes out of the tap? Good luck!

FranciscoB said:

Unlike stated, flagtail Prochilodus would very rarely eat small fish, even smaller than cardinals; mine wouldn’t even eat newborn live bearers. Also, Anostomus would not eat cardinals; they may harass them but not eat live cardinals.
Also, I currently keep both full grown flagtail x1, and Anostomus x1 in two different planted tanks. No problem at all for up to 7 different plant species.
A large school of Anostomus would be awesome and may be the only way to keep multiple Anostomus in a tank. I attempted three specimens—>dead of one to harassment; the two left were way too quarrelsome. One specimen has worked well. A large group could be awesome but risky, but not for the reasons stated.
How do you plan on getting to the water parameters you stated in such a large tank? What are you water characteristics as it comes out of the tap? Good luck!

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How large was your aquarium? I was thinking 10-15 anostomus but maybe i would be better off with a safer specis?
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As for water parameters - tap is gh 7 kh 3 and tds 120; i will mix 2 part ro and 1 part tap. This tank will use a drip system of approx 1 gph ro and 0.5 gph tap for steady state.
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I could see dropping the cardinals because long term they are pretty small; but thinking the anostomus is pretty chancy and given their cost not sure if they are worth the risk for a group.

anewbie said:

As for keeping multiple species of loaches; bit surprise about this comment - i have 6 yoyo 6 clown and 10 zebra loaches in my 120 for the past 3 years with no deaths. The yoyo and zebra are adults at this point; though obviously the clowns have a long ways to go. At what point will they show aggression towards each other ?

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you got lucky

Colin_T said:

you got lucky

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Are you sure? I'm not trying to be difficult but when i read other sites the general description of these fishes indicate they will school with each other. The one that is most borderline are the yoyo which can be a bit unpredictable but my obvservation is they co-exist with the zebra and clown ok. Obviously you are raising an issue and I would like to confirm if your view is correct but I would also appreciate at least a pointer to something that supports this view since you are the first person to raise it with these specific species. I am aware that there are other species of loaches which are far more aggressive and cannot be safely kept either with other loaches or members of their same species in small aquariums.

I have never had success keeping more than 1 species of loach in a tank for a long time. One species always dominates the other and kills or harasses them until they are removed.

So, how are you going to build this "Tank", the construction of this tank might determine what you can keep in it.

4 20gal tanks in a square table with a sump and 3 smaller upside down tanks could work...
that way each type of loach would claim and keep to their tank...

if it was just a few and introducing them as fry so they grow together meh...maybe....in numbers like those don't think so...
this 4 tank idea could work specially if they don't see each other...put a background on each tank
this way every time they meet on the "bridge" they just take off back to their place xD

Colin_T said:

I have never had success keeping more than 1 species of loach in a tank for a long time. One species always dominates the other and kills or harasses them until they are removed.

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What species have you kept - just curious ? To be more precise - for example the description of zebra loaches schooling with other boita (seriouslyfish for example) has this phrase: "In terms of other bottom-dwellers they will do well alongside most other Botia and in very large tanks, Chromobotia macracanthus." which matches my experience of their behavior as they share common caves and will at time glass surf or school together.

Botia lohachata (yoyo or Pakistani loach)
Botia striata (striped/ zebra loach)
Botia morleti (skunk loach)
Acantopsis dialuzona (horseface loach)

I had the yoyo loaches in with some small clown loaches for a few weeks before I took them home, they didn't get along with each other.

Colin_T said:

Botia lohachata (yoyo or Pakistani loach)
Botia striata (striped/ zebra loach)
Botia morleti (skunk loach)
Acantopsis dialuzona (horseface loach)

I had the yoyo loaches in with some small clown loaches for a few weeks before I took them home, they didn't get along with each other.

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Ok; well thank you for your feedback. Not sure why your experience was different than mine - as you said maybe i just got lucky. I will say that my yoyo are a bit more stand-offish choosing to hang out in other parts of the aquarium when not schooling with them - in fact they seem to hang out apart from each other - still this is interesting feedback. I might get rid of the yoyo when i setup this aquarium and just go with the zebra/clown for which there are numerous reports that they will get alone and as i noted they will share the same cave at times in my current aquairum.

itiwhetu said:

So, how are you going to build this "Tank", the construction of this tank might determine what you can keep in it.

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I'm not going to build it' i'm going to order it from custom aquairum and they will build it. custom aquarium is a store that build custom aquariums in wi.