Favorite fish to interact with the aquascape?

I like fish that will get a lot of use out of the way an aquascape is designed. I feel like they do a lot to make a tank interesting to the eye. For instance, a school of Pygmy Cories will troop around the tank and investigate every object together, and they also like to nap on leaves. Pretty much any territorial fish is also gonna fit this category, whether it’s a Tanganyikan-only tank or just some scarlet badis to fill in a nano community. So what are your favorite fish to add to lively-up the tank?

Panda Garra interact with anything and everything and are sometimes hilarious to watch. Rope fish will also interact with their environment with a proper cave system. Plecos are cool but I don't know that they actually interact a lot as they are just feeding. Some cichlids will interact a lot such as convicts, blue acara and yellow acara but can't say if that applies to the electric blue acara as when I had my full blown cichlid tank in the 1980's I had never even heard of the electric version and don't really know if it is the same fish or an offshoot. One actual problem with blue/yellow acara as for as interacting is that they will dig up the substrate to make depressions. This is a actually a mating thing.

I never had Panda Garra’s before, and today, in all my tanks, I probably have 50 or more varieties, and the pandas are the most playful and interesting to watch… I have 3 on this pagoda right now playing tag… other fish won’t be intimidated by them, and will occasionally join in, in the play… they are a cooler water fish, I keep my Asian tank, just over 70 degrees

Actually, most any loach, will really interact with their surroundings… I have a small group of Coolie loaches, I added to a tank that had 1 inch polished rocks on the bottom… “everyone” said that was a huge mistake… they were teeny tiny little things, when they went in, they immediately went down into the gaps that the large grains of substrate made, and they have thrived and are now huge, as far as Coolies go… I only see them above the rocks, if they run to a dead end, or I watch them pass through a gap in the rocks… but they have definitely been thriving

I have had Clown Loaches 20 years ago, but I just added a small group of about 2 inch long fish, and they are really playful at this size, and have heard they remain so, even at 10 to 12 inches long

I really love loaches and want to keep one eventually, but I’ve never found a species that works in a 20 gal. (Except Kuhlis, but they need soft water and sand, two things my tank lacks)

Well… I would argue with the sand… just from experience

Magnum Man said:

WinWell… I would argue with the sand… just from experience

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So I’ve heard… However my gravel is normal gravel sized and I have a hard time seeing a Kuhli loach burrow through that

Kuhli loach is the one fish that every few weeks I think “Why didn’t I think to add one of those?” and then I check the water parameters and go “Oh that’s why”. I love my platies and shrimp but a hard water community tank can feel so limiting, especially when I know my tap water would be perfect for so many soft water fish . It’s why I want to set up a second tank, but with that planned as a South American biotope-ish apisto tank I still don’t have a place for a lot of the softwater fish I desire, like loaches and chili rasboras.

You could try some Rainbow fish, they will thrive in harder waters

Great loach for a small tank about 30in. x 12in. is Ambastaia sidthimunki aka Dwarf Chain Loach. I have had a group of these almost as long as I have had my clowns (both over 20 years). They max out at about 2.2/5 in. SL. They are active at all levels of a tank and cute as buttons.
I have them in a planted 25 gal. tank 24 x 12 x20.

https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/ambastaia-sidthimunki/

For me, watching what fish do is pair bonding dwarf Cichlid watching. Whether it's cave spawners, open spawners, or the different styles of mouthbrooding, watching what they do, and trying to understand why they do it has never gotten old. I love the way they use the cover the aquacape provides. I delight in how they modify it, and dig their own spaces.
I have a pair of Enigmatochromis lucanusii right now, and they are building a sand and gravel earthwork worthy of a medieval robber baron. They're using the planting I did as a second line of defense. We just had an enormous thunderclap right by the house - a ground shaker. While I was calming the dog, who wanted to go fight with Zeus, I was figuring that when I go out to the fishroom and have a look, a thunderstorm may well have triggered a spawning, and a good show may get better.

Fish like panda garra, or rosy barbs are always there, and are like puppies. I like them, but the crazed energy is like listening to the game shows my mother in law watches, or a basketball game. I like my moody, brooding dwarf Cichlids - unpredictable, complicated and mysterious in the right aquascape.

TwoTankAmin said:

Great loach for a small tank about 30in. x 12in. is Ambastaia sidthimunki aka Dwarf Chain Loach. I have had a group of these almost as long as I have had my clowns (both over 20 years). They max out at about 2.2/5 in. SL. They are active at all levels of a tank and cute as buttons.
I have them in a planted 25 gal. tank 24 x 12 x20.

https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/ambastaia-sidthimunki/

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How many is the minimum for a group? Those sound lovely but I don’t know if my stocking can fit a bunch of them.

Although actually… my tank as it currently sits could easily fit them. I just might not be able to get those PLUS Pygmy cories (had a group but they all died, was planning to get more but now I’m thinking… both sound so fun…)

Magnum Man said:

You could try some Rainbow fish, they will thrive in harder waters

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Are there any rainbows that are suitable for a 20 gallon?

@TwoTankAmin how many dwarf chain loaches would you recommend in a group, minimum?