Best bottom feeders

Small school of corydoras (dwarf ones if you have them in your area...so you could fit several if you'd like)

Also know that if you fear your filtration is a bit powerful you can add crypts (wendtii's) for them to hide beneath...Mine absolutely love hanging out beneath them.

Ps. What is a quarry catfish? (never heard of that)

 

corydoras should be kept in groups of a minimum of 3.

They make good little bottom feeders and wouldn't harm a fly.

Provide them with shelter such as a coconut hut, crypt (wendtii), or a overhang.

Other things that come to mind are moreso for eating algae.

 

Also consider switching to a quality pelleted food.

Many flake foods are not very nutrient dense, and more goes to waste than with pellets. New Life Spectrum is a good one, also Sera makes very good pellet food. Many of them float for a while before they sink, so the top feeders have a chance to get to them.

Another thing to consider is that though a crew of bottom feeders will eat food that sinks, they also create their own waste, which would be about equal to the wasted food left behind before they arrived, so though they will eat food that is not eaten by the other fish, you are adding to the bioload anyway. If you like catfish, get catfish, certainly, but they are not going to make the tank "cleaner."

 

I opt for the tetra crisps and cichlid crisps instead of flakes. They float for a bit and when they sink, they stay together better than flake

 

sounds like what I use (Tetra Min Tropical flakes and Hikari Algae tabs --small ones and large ones).

Also, you can try frozen bloodworms (mine absolutely love them and will swim to the top for them).

 

A chinese algae eater or one of the smaller plecos, they'll definitely eat the food but you won't be able to put in more fish XD. I like ottos, they do nothing but poop and are suppose to be fragile, mine's gone through hell and come out quite undisturbed though :3 Cories and shrimp are nice small bottom cleaners too

 

cory cats

 

Not sure of you future (if any more) stocking plans...but shrimp make an excellent clean up crew. Good for a variety if you want. Otherwise...as mentioned...add a few mory cories...the one you have in there right now should have some companions.

 

Yikes! That is a pretty big detail...with the fishies in an uncycled tank. Definately don't add anything else to it until it is done.

As for cories...there are quite a few different kinds out there. Only a few that can be actully found in your LFS though. Panda's and Skunks are nice little ones too.

 

Here's an entire list of corydoras for ya!
<a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Corydoras_species" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Corydoras_species</a>

 

Instant cycling bacteria imo is so much easier, you get a head start on the cycling and save time :/ I don't think I've ever cycled my tank. My fish have to bear with it, I do enough water cleans that they don't seem to mind.

 

Every tank must cycle. It will happen unless you do something to prevent it.

 

My petco's awful it hardly ever cleans out their dead fish D: I went there with a friend once and there were dozens of dead neons stuck tot he feeder o.o scary. And yeah I've heard that every tank cycles by itself but I don't think mine's completely cycled. I mean I keep the sides unscrubbed so they'res a film of algae I think and I don't rinse the gravel, but the water's cleaned quite often, I don't trust filters XD

 

Black kuhli loaches are fun to watch and good bottom feeders as well. They have them at the Appleton petsmart. You don't always catch when your nitrites spike, they're sneaky.