Intro, need dither suggestions

[silvermoon]

Hi all, I'm new to LOL but have been reading through old posts and everyone seems friendly and very very knowledgeable.

Experience: I grew up with my father running a 20 gal. community tank with neon tetras and swordtails. Later my sister got her own 20 gal. and put in danios and black-skirt tetras, as well as dwarf gouramis at one point. They rarely did water changes, other than to replace evaporated water.

Unforunately I've kept this lazy trait though I should know better.

My husband and I had a 26 gallon (show/long) tank up for about 3 years. We've had: a pleco, rummynose tetras, Columbian blue tetras, silvertip tetras, cardinal tetras, white cloud minnows and pearl gouramis.

Then we saw some clown loaches at the fish store and stupidly took home 3 without knowing really what we were getting into. They did warn us that they would get big, but they definitely never mentioned having a minimum school size, that they are prone to ich, or that you should have at least 55 gallons of tank.

Somehow, despite the lazy tank-keeping, the loaches have doubled in size in a year and are 2.5-3" now. Never had ich, never had skinny disease. Many of our other fish mysteriously died, but not them.

We have a new 55 gallon tank now. Lots of hidey-holes, much better current than the 26 gallon. Cycled with media from the old tank. We're definitely getting 2 more little clowns to bring up our school to 5. I am definitely planning on doing water changes at least twice a month, if not every week.

Major question is what else to put in there? We found a new fish store that seems more knowledgeable, but the younger guy there was recommending Discus in with the clowns. Aside from being expensive, I have not seen one person on LOL mention having Discus.

Rasboras could work, but neither myself or my husband have ever really liked the look of them. Same thing with rainbows, I like them but he doesn't.

After looking at their stock I'm debating if angelfish would work, they had some healthy-looking juveniles. They also had some interesting rosy barbs including a gold type.

Aside from our 3 (soon to be 5) clowns we just have 3 silver-tip tetras left.

Suggestions? Sorry, this post got longer than I intended! We are in Sacramento, CA and have at least 2 decent fish shops in the area.

[Diana]

Sacramento does have some nice shops. Capitol is pretty good.

CLown Loaches are best with lots of water movement and high temperatures. There are not many other fish that really like both.
Of the fish you list I am not sure they are the best choices.
I have kept Discus and Clowns together. The Discus find the slower moving water and the Clowns find the best water flow. But this is in a much larger tank, with BIG chunks or root and rocks to create such areas.
Angels are about like Discus: Their slab sided body is not made for lots of water movement.
Rosy barbs are cool water fish.
Parbus pentazona will handle warmer water than many other Barbs, but they are not very big.
Congo Tetras may be one of the best possible dithers. They are big enough to handle some pushing around if the Clowns do get pushy, they thrive in warmer water. The pH, GH, KH requirements of Clowns and Congos are similar enough that they should work together

With your low water change requirement I would distinctly under stock this tank, as both Clowns and Congo Tetras do not like nitrate build up.