I've just been given 2 Hillstream loaches by a friend at work. He was going to flush them as he no longer wanted a fish tank as all the fish (apart from 2 WCM's) have died. Is it possible to keep them in my 40gal tropical tank?

The tanks temp is 22/24 and houses 4 danios, 4 cories and now 2 White cloud minnows. I can't house the loaches with my goldies as they are small enough to fit in a goldies mouth.


Also I was wondering if the loaches are really Hillstreams. One is dark grey/brown with light cream/beige spots all over it's body. the other is similar but the spots stop on his side and are replaced with tiger stripes on it's back.

I have kept hillstreams they are a group fish and and thrive in acidic type water pH6.8 they also prefer fast flowing water heres a link for you with pic so you can compare with ones you have

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/Hill...streamLoach.php


You may also want to check this out as in box in right of main pic you can check pics of all varietys of Hillstream

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/Hill...streamLoach.htm