can a few hillstream loaches live in a 10 gallon?

[Noto]

so far my other possibilities are a pair of breeding rams, or an african butterfly fish, or a cherry shrimp breeding tank, or a betta sorority.

I would definitely go with one of those options, specifically the shrimp or bettas. Wait until you have the opportunity to set up a proper stream tank for the loaches; it'll be worth it the wait!

 

[colinrobinson]

i have a 20 high with 3 hillstreams of an unknown species and filter with a marineland penguin 350 and a little rio pump that has a flow or 190 gph and in the tank are tetras mollies and eels. all of these do just fine with the current.

 

[Lupin]

I've heard that hillstream loaches can be very territorial . . . so I'm not sure how happy several would be sharing a 10 gal. tank! It might depend on the kind of hillstream loach, though. Gastromyzon have a reputation for being fairly territorial. I personally have just one sewellia in a 10 gallon tank with some Endler's livebearers and White Cloud mountain minnows. They seem to all get along pretty well.

So far just the flow from the filter has been enough to keep the sewellia happy, but that may be because the water temperature is fairly low (about 67 degrees). I'm afraid I may have to do something different when the house temperatures go up this summer. (I've only had the hillstream loach for a few months, so he hasn't been through a summer yet.)

Yes, most species tend to be territorial but I have not observed them doing any damages at all despite battling each other out for a single area for several minutes even up to an hour. It's fun to watch actually and in all honesty, if they were damaging each other, I would have considered separating them but like I said no damages are observed. Sometimes three will lock into a battle, not just two. Their colors turn palest brown or grey, the longer they lock themselves into a battle and one finally moves out.

 

[BoiseNoise]

Don't know if Prometheus is still around, but I wanted to report that my hillstream loach in the 10-gallon with only the normal filter for current is still doing just fine, and it has been a couple of years now!

This is an unheated tank that gets down to 67 sometimes during the winter (which, if I understand correctly, makes it easier for hillstreams to process oxygen and thus reduces the need for a strong current), and I do a partial water change (about 2 1/2 gallons) every week.

Last year I added a red-tailed squirrel loach to the tank, and these two loaches have become best buddies . . . they stick together all the time.