Biotope advice Which loach species to pair up with my fire eels?

[DrownedFishonFire]

Loaches fit the bill for my fire eel tank for what I need them to do- go into crevices and grab that morsel that they decided to spit out when Im not home or not around to notice it and grab it. Im no longer trying to do cats with those eels- the loaches are way better adapted weaving in and out when needed and great dithers. The cats I currently have are blocky and not agile enough- My Arulius barbs are going to be a huge maybe of another species to go in there i might end up selling them. At the fence about keeping those barbs as they are really not from the same region the fire eels are caught in. Anyone have suggestions? Or a very different group of fish for the fire eels to have as a cleaner crew

 

[CrazyPhishMan]

I've been searching for sympatriotic species since reading your post and have not found anything other than chocolate gourami's, which i know is not a loach.

let me bow out and introduce you to a self-described loach-aholic @MultipleTankSyndrome have at it!

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

let me bow out and introduce you to a self-described loach-aholic @MultipleTankSyndrome have at it!

Thanks for the summon!

@DrownedFishonFire, if you want sympatric loaches that will get the food morsels in crevices, I suggest any member of the Yasuhikotakia genus available to you. All the commonly available ones overlap with the range of the fire eel according to Seriously Fish, and they tend to enjoy being in and around crevices more than most other Botia type loaches, meaning there's a pretty good chance they'll get the food in there.

Would love to see some pictures of whatever loach you get.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Modesta lived very well with my tyre track eels from small all the way to over 6” and the eels 2ft and pretty much grew up together. Only issue is that as the botia get bigger the crevices they can get in have to get bigger too.
And of course they fit the suggested genus.

 

[Midwater]

+1 for Modesta. Robust enough for a full sized fire eel. And get a lot of them.

And if you can get the yellow tail variety, they tend to get bigger than the red tails.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Just be careful though, eos I find are often confused with the yellow tail and sold as such. And they are meaner and grow smaller.