New to Keeping Loaches, Buying a New Aquarium

[Cisom17]

I'm interested in buying a 20 or 30 gallon tank to house a species or two of loaches. I don't want to use sand so I'm looking at species that do well with gravel. I'll also be introducing a species to a newly cycled tank so I'm looking for something hardy.
I'd like to only add one species for now and leave room for further additions later. I was thinking of getting a group of zebra or yoyo loaches. Are there other species that grow to a max of 4" that would do will in a small tank like these? I'm hesitant towards buying the 20 because it's so small.
Any suggestions are appreciated!

[redshark1]

I can think of no better aquarium fish than the Clown Loach, but for a smaller tank I would whole-heartedly recommend Botia sidthimunkii / Dwarf Chain Loach. This has many of the atributes that make the Clown Loach such a wonderful aquarium fish in a miniturised package.

As you know, regarding aquariums, the bigger the better. I feel 20g is tiny and cramped for active fish.

[kimura]

20 to 30 gallons is too small for yoyo's for sure but I agree that sids would be ok however they're hard to find and expensive.
Personally I would go up to a 40 gallon breeder tank which gives you a big footprint. This gives you more surface area on top
for gas exchange and more room on the bottom which is where your loaches will be. With a 40 gallon you could swing some
striatas or kubatai as they stay smaller than yoyos and don't grow as fast. I have 8 striatas and 7 or so rummy nose tetras in a 40 gallon
breeder and they are doing great.

Also I'm not a fan of adding loaches as the first fish after a cycle. I would put what ever dither fish you want
in there first for a good month or so before adding loaches. Loaches can be pretty sensitive to new tanks
and you could very easily end up with ich right away.

I would also add some kind of live plant to your tank. Live plants cut down on some of the water quality swings you
can have. Every tank I setup now has some kind of live plant, even if it is just a bit of java moss.

Also craigs list is a great place to find cheap aquariums, then shop ebay for a good filter. Good luck with your tank,
you came to the right place for advice !

[NancyD]

Sids are wonderful, a 20g long (30 inches long) is the smallest tank I think works for them, they are very active. I wouldn't keep striatas or larger botia type loaches in such a small tank. Yoyos or kubotai get too big, a 4 ft tank is a minimum for me but maybe a "breeder tank" for striatas & sids.

Pangios (kulhis) are neat , you could keep 2 species, say 6 of a striped species with 6 "brown" or "black".

There are other non-botia loaches that are cool too. I have yunnanilus cruciatus & rosy loaches in a planted 20 long with Eco Complete. And hillstream loaches are interesting if you want to go with a river tank set up.