30 gallon stocking tips

Anyone have any experiences with the compatibility of the kuhlie loaches and bolivian rams?

a 30 long, your looking at a trio of apisto's OR two pair of rams in there. Six rams are too many.

I see no reason why kuli loaches wouldnt work. I tend to keep fish from the same reason, so I would use cory catfish as my cleanup. However, the kuli's are neat....just be prepared for them to borrow and disappear for long periods of time on you.

You will also be able to add a few other fish to that tank, like a school of 6-10 tetra's.

My reply is a bit late, but if you're still looking for something extra I strongly recommend one pair of Aequidens Pulcher, a.k.a Blue Acara. Gorgeous, easy too keep and breed, fun to watch, mildly aggressive. The only downside is that they enjoy bullying dwarf cichlids, but one pair shouldn't be a problem in a 30 long.

German rams or Bolivians?

@Shawn - I have just started a similar project to yours with a 125L aquarium.

I have 18 Tetra with 4 Apisto Agassizii, and I feel certain that there will be ample room for that small group of cichlids.

There actually looks to be enough room for a few more fish (as can be seen from the photo in "my tanks" section) but I think its best to rest on the side of caution as the Apistos already seem to be considering pairing off to opposite ends of the aquarium, and I don't want to cause them any disruption.

So I would suggest similar stocking numbers for yourself.

The 30 gallon does have a small footprint so not much room for diferent territories. A harem of Apisto's would be fine, 2 pairs of GBR will be fine or (if densely planted!!!) 5 Bolivians. I recommend to put in only 1 cichlid specie becouse of the limited footprint.

I have a 29g planted SA tank stocked as follows:
2 GBRs
1 Dwarf Honey Gourami
1 Male Betta
6 Rummynose Tetra
5 White Cloud Tetra
2 Otos
1 Bamboo Shrimp
6 asst. cories
2 dwarf frogs

Aggression is only between the two rams. I still think it's possible that they are both males. The betta flares his gills at everything, but it's all show. On a side note, I think bettas are very underrated - they show very interesting behavior in a large tank.

I have a kuhli in my 29 and he gets along fine with my cory's, pleco, and rams. He does hide alot. When the tank thins out, I may get more kuhli's. I hear they don't hide as much when you have more of them, but that is just hearsay.