Thanks Byron, youre a fountain of knowledge! The guy says T8 tubes. My fluval 125 has 2 tubes so I'd presume this would have them too.
Ok, so I didn't realise T8 was just a category.
I'm thinking of getting some new tubes, depending on price obviously and eventually getting some LED lights that I can change colour off . Don't know if they'll effect anything?
My last post missed some intervening posts...so will pick up on this and that.
First, the light. Personally, I like T8 lighting, and have stayed with it. LED is fine if you know exactly what you're getting, and if good it is expensive. The only problem with T8 is that it is being made less and less now (T5 and then LED are replacing it a lot) so if it fails (the ballast can go in time) it can be difficult to replace. But I now repair my old fixtures when they give out, by removing all the "workings" from the housing and inserting a "shop fixture" that you can get in home improvement and hardware type stores for very little. So, you will have very useable light.
Now we need to know the tube length; T8 comes in 18, 24, 30, 36, and 48 inch lengths. Once I know this, I can suggest suitable tubes.
Oooh ok, I do like them so wouldn't mind hearing other people's opinions? I used this -
https://www.thespruce.com/zebra-loach-1381072
I have had cories and loaches for all of my aquarium life. My personal opinion is that they are best not combined in the same tank, unless it is very large. It can work, no denying, as ShinySideUp said. But I do think that in smaller tanks (anything 4-feet and under), you are best having either cories of loaches. It also allows you to have larger groups, and this is always beneficial for the fish, and ultimately for you as it will result in more interesting behaviours.
Loaches are territorial, and hierarchical. There are several species that would work in a 4-foot tank.
Botia striata already mentioned, I had these many years ago. My particular favourite more recently is
Botia kubotai. I also have the dwarf loach,
Ambastaia sidthimunki, in with my
B. kubotai; these two species occur in the same habitat in SE Asia, so I though I would give it a try, and they have been together very peacefully for three years now. Any of these need lots and lots of chunks of wood on the substrate, with tunnels and crevices. Loaches like to select their "home" space, so providing options is good. They also love to play tag, chasing one another through the tunnels. The two species never interact, at least not in my 90g tank. And the two largest
B. kubotai will often do the "loach dance," when two loaches will "grey out" (lose most of their pattern becoming quite pale) and then chase each other around in rapidly-spinning circles, one leading, then the other in reverse. I have had these two go on like this for over two hours.
If you go with cories, in this tank you could do 20-25, one or mixed species.
