Loaches Online Forum

I'm working on a river tank build. My husband did the manifold for me, the power heads just arrived, and right now I'm working on deciding on a substrate. I'm thinking small pebbles on the power head end and sand on the other end, both of which I have, and I've gathered and cleaned the other rocks that I want. I've been interested in hillstream loach species for years, so I'm excited to finally be able to keep them. I'll probably finish the setup on Sunday and get algal growth started, so it'll be at least a couple of months until it's ready for fish, but I'd like to keep an eye out now. Also, if I decide on fish for the upper level of the tank, I may go ahead and stock them to see how things look.

I don't know what species to focus on, though! I may be limited by what's available to me unless I'm able to buy shipped, and I know one shop near me stocks Sewellia Lineolata, but I was wondering if anyone here has a strong preference. There's a shop not too far from me that has been really great about ordering virtually anything I've wanted over the years, so it's not unlikely that I can get more difficult-to-find species from them, providing "difficult" doesn't actually mean "nearly impossible."

Also, for the top level, it looks like my choices are mainly to use white cloud minnows or trying to track down some Vietnamese minnows (Tanichthys micagemmae ) if I'm feeling like a challenge.

Looking around, I'm partial to pseudogastromyzon myersi, but I am seeing that you don't want to mix "more aggressive" species with "less aggressive" species, and I'm not entirely sure where the dividing line falls nor whether I'm better off doing a species only tank or maybe two different species. So, any thoughts or preferences, or should I just go with whatever species is available to me from a reputable store and stick with that?

Congratulations! Once you start keeping hillstreams, you will be hooked.
I have kept several species together and some mixes work better than others.
Sewellia are a good choice and you should be able to keep them with P. myersi. Any of the Gastromyzon species are good, too.
Some people don't like keeping the Gastros with Sewellia or P. myersi, but I think it can work provided the tank is large enough and you can spread the food around. But, a tank with all Gastromyzons (and there are several species available) would make a very good, active hillstream tank.
White clouds are always a good choice for hillstream tanks. I particularly like the Vietnamese variety but sometimes they are more shy than the standard type. Other good choices are Danio choprae, Danio kyathit, Danio roseus, and Chela dadiburjori, to name a few.

I have a 55g planted riverish tank (no manifold) with sewellia lineolata & gastro. cteno. The gastros are bigger than the not quite full grown sewellia but they don't interact much, a bit of pushiness over a favorite rock or at feeding once in a while. I have stiphodon gobies & T. micagemmae with the loaches. My white clouds are not shy or difficult at all, always hungry, & sometimes they all play in the current together. I much prefer them to the larger "regular" species that we'd kept several times over the years.

Good luck with your tank! Mine is next to my computer so I get to watch them a lot.

You can keep P. Myersi and Sewellia species together without worrying. I have kept several different combinations (including that specific combo) for years without any issues.

Thanks, guys. I'm all set up and just waiting on cycling and algae growth and I still haven't made a decision! I have time, as the tank isn't really scaped (I'm kind of sad at aquascaping) and it'll be a few weeks before I even add the minnows, let alone any loaches, but I may end up deciding between a gastromyzon tank versus a p. myersi plus s. lineolata just based on availability. I really like the look of the moving water even without fish, so I'm pleased that it is coming together.