Loaches Online Forum

Okay, I'm a novice with loaches.
Heres the story;
I have five minnows in a small tank, but am looking to upgrade the tank soon (to one that's approx four ft. long), and add more fish.
I was considering adding loaches to the larger tank.

I'm particularly drawn to hillstream loaches (I had one not so long back, but it died. The guy in the shop told me it was a hardy, resilient fish that could live happily in a standard aquarium. >= I know better now.[), but I am concerned that if I set my tank up in a way that hillstream loaches would be comfortable, my minnows would not.

So I'm looking for a type of loach which is suitable to keep in coldwater with my minnows, is relatively easy to look after (I'm kinda new to keeping them, and I don't want any more fish to die because I'm uneducated), and is relatively small (maybe $ inches max).

Any suggestions?
Thanks.

Edit: Also, any tips on the actual setup of the tank would be appreciated.

Many hillstreams prefer cooler water, same as White Cloud Montain minnows and from what I understand, the minnows and the loaches come from similar (if not the same!) type of areas. A 4 ft tank is great for both species (I used to keep my hillstreams in a 4 ft tank as well), I would be looking at having the bottom sandy with large boulders and a fastish flow from one end to the other, with some plants at one end of the tank.

Watch out for the little hillstreams climbing out of the tank!