Bottom Dwellers Needed! (No Cories Or Plecos, Please!)

[BlueSkyy]

Hi there - I joined this forum with the hope that I could chat with others about finding a good bottom dweller (or two, or five!) for my 75g tank. It's just a plain old freshwater tank, a little on the acidic side (~6.7 or so) with hardly anything in it. Temp is usually about 80 F. So far the inhabitants consist of:
 
- 3 pearl danios (pretty old; they've got whiskers!)
- 2 dwarf honey gouramis (mated pair)
- 3 blue rams (1 male, 2 females)
- 1 opaline gourami (very old male, very peaceful and never hurts the other first even though he's huge!)
- 2 ctenopoma (approx. 1.5" long, not full size by any means, I got them as babies when they were "fingernail size")
 
Tank's been running for about a year now. Nitrates are the only thing detectable, usually less than (or equal to) 20. Everybody gets along very well and they've been stable like this for quite some time, so I'd appreciate if people don't yell at me for keeping "Big Blue" and the ctenos in there.
 
None of these fish ever go near the bottom unless they're chasing a scrap of food. I've got about 20 giant bushy fake plants throughout the tank and a few big chunks of rocks arranged to make caves and overhangs and such. The tank's set up to have a "shaded side" and a "bright side" so the fish can choose where they want to be. The shaded side has the light off most of the time and is where most of the caves are. The bright side is more open space. The substrate throughout is plain old aquarium gravel. 
 
Anyways, since the lower 30% of my tank is essentially barren, I was hoping for some suggestions as to what I should put there. I do not like cories or plecos (no offense to their fans, but I find them kinda oogly.) I really like Rafael catfish and Banjo catfish and things like that.

 

[Baccus]

Have you thought of Khuli loaches? There is quite a few types available in the trade, another option would be Hoplosternum species catfish.
 
By the way welcome to the forum

, and keep in mind we always love pictures of your fish and tank

 

[TallTree01]

Other than cories and plecos most catfish will eat your other fish.
I'd look into loaches like kuhli or Pakistani/ yoyo.
There is also other one small species that won't eat your fish, microglanis iheringi. Cute little fellow maxing out at about 2-3 inches.

 

[Ninjouzata]

My first thought was khuli loaches as well, but doesn't the gravel bother them a bit?
 
Peacock gudgeons spend a good bit of time at the bottom but I feel like they could eventually be eaten by the ctenopomas.
Maybe I'm overestimating how big their mouths get though..
 
I'd really love to see some pics of those, btw!
 

to TFF

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

What species are the Ctenopoma? It is no good us suggesting streamlined fish if these are C. acutirostre, my trio of ~12cm would try anything as "live lunch" that has a body depth <2cm eg. those Pearl Danios (that have barbels outside old age

)!
 
And two Ctenopoma is a bad idea, one is very likely to bully the other to death as they mature, get another ~3 ASAP while you can still safely add more to the group as babies.

 

[BlueSkyy]

I'd be very impressed if my ctenos could catch those danios. I can't even catch them! XD They're always at the top, darting frenetically in a little school. My two ctenos, or "leafs" as I call them, were the first things in the tank after the danios. These two remaining killed off my original third one, so I was nervous to add another third as it seems they want to stay at two. I have no idea if you can sex them or not. They are growing incredibly slowly; like I mentioned, they were fingernail size when I got them last April and now they are only 1.5" long.
 
...I hate taking pics of my tank because it is so empty! The only fish "big enough" to see in the pics is Big Blue, the gourami.
 
So people seems to like khuli loaches? I've never had one before, I'll have to do some research. The gravel is just regular chipped pet store gravel, with the biggest pieces being half the size of my pinky fingernail. It's black and white mixed, if that matters?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

That looks like a Ctenopoma acutirostre, they are slowish growers, mine have grown from 2cm to 12cm in almost four years... But they have been capable of eating anything danio sized for at least two years, when they were ~8/9cm. There are plenty of horrid youtube clips out there of bushfish owners feeding them minnows etc. unnecessarily, because like African Butterfly Fish and African Knifes, they will take plenty of prepared foods of a meaty (high protein) origin.
 
Kuhli Loaches will become live lunch, just like the danios, an old forum member on here (Mattlee) had a ~5cm bushfish try and eat an Oto almost its own length... He lost them both, as the Oto locked out its pectoral spines instead the bushfish's mouth.
 
Like a lot of African oddballs, they get spooked by zippy fish and should also not be housed with fish that are like vultures/pigs at meal times

 

[Fishmanic]

my Bolivian Rams stay on the bottom at all times and are a delightful fish to have.   They get to be about 3 to 4 inches long and like algae wafers.  They are very peaceful to other fish except after spawning.

 

[BlueSkyy]

My ctenos must be weirdos, because they are up at the top pigging out with the rest of the crowd when I feed them. The danios are Danio albolineatus (not celestial pearl danios) and are actually longer than the ctenos are at the moment. My blue rams (forgot to mention they are German blue rams, if that matters?) are never down on the bottom either, even though a lot of people say they should be. They're always in the upper 50% of the tank. The male HATES the orange light on my heater and is always displaying and trying to intimidate it. Should I "trim" my plants down so there's not plant cover in the upper parts of the tank?
 
So no khulis then... Any other ideas? There's gotta be something I can put down there that's not an ugly pleco.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

A group of 6 or so Synodontis flavitaeniata (Pyjama synos)?

 

[BlueSkyy]

Just those in particular or will most upside down catfish work? What about porthole catfish or hoplo catfish? I just found some pics of them and they're pretty cute. Kinda like bottom dwelling ctenos with their spots.

 

[MBOU]

Flagtail Porthole catfish all the way!! Stunning... and maybe a couple of tatia (wood) catfish? You don't see a whole lot of those ones unless they are feeding but worth it when you do! Especially tatia perugiae (Honeycombe catfish). I know you didn't want plecs but what about things like Whiptails? Some lovely ones out there and the little red ones are fairly easy to come by.

 

[BlueSkyy]

Rafael catfish, banjo catfish, hoplo catfish, porthole catfish... That's who i like so far. Any good fits? Is there anything like a ropefish that's not gonna grow huge and eat everyone?

 

[Tongue_Flicker]

I'm suggesting a banjo catfish as well or some medium-sized (4" max) growing freshwater gobies