Upside-downs Vs Raphaels

[Gix]

Right now I have a 30 US gal. with a pearl gourami and 10 harlequin rasboras, and I need something for the bottom. I don't really want a cory or a pleco, and I figure with the way my tank is stocked, I should be OK with 3-4 UDC's or 2 striped raphaels.

I'm not really worried about not seeing the catfish too often. I am mainly looking for a cat that won't eat the rasboras, but will clean up some of the extra food that falls to the bottom. I was hoping for the raphaels, but maybe the UDC's would be better?

What do you think?

 

[twitchii]

Well i a bit new to the whole fish keeping thing, but I have three UPCs (really new, about a weeks worth of experience...but hey that's something!). anyway, from what i can tell they definitely will probably pick up the left over food from the other fish. mine are constantly eating algae and searching the bottom for stuff.

they will also definitely hide, so if you want a brave one i suggest the following: Find a LFS store that houses the catties with other fish AND with places to hide. That way you can see which ones tend to more comfortable with other fish and which ones are constantly out of sight.

hope that helps, i don't know anything about raphaels, but good luck!

 

[joel.uejio]

I've had 3 upside down cats in a 55g for 2 months and a raphael in a 75g for 2 weeks. I very rarely see the ud cats -- maybe just when I feed if I do that at dusk. My raphael has been much more active -- will circle the bottom of the tank as soon as food hits the surface waiting for something to drift down to the sand.

If it was me I would probably go for 1 raphael in a 30g. Actually, you could also consider kuhli loaches and go for an Asian biotope. Never kept them, but I believe they have very little bioload, so bet you could probably do 10+ no problem.

 

[Gix]

Thanks for the help! Seems like either choice will be pretty much OK.

I've kept kuhli loaches before, but this time I definitely want to try out a new catfish.