Will Kuhli loaches survive cycling a partially planted tank?

Probably but like with any fish don't put them through it.

I have never cycled a tank from scratch (I use mature substrate and/or a mature filter to populate new tanks with good bacteria) so I wouldn't be sure of how safe it is to put a kuhli in the tank.

Good fish to try would be danios, and you could also put some MTS (Malaysian trumpet snails) in there to get the tank going :)

When I got my first three Kuhlis more then a year ago, I put them in a brand new tank that was never cycled. (I didn't believe in the whole cycle thing back then...) They all lived...I still have them today... :laugh:

But like Dwarfs said...add a small school of Danios before you get Kuhlis. :)

But then I'm stuck with Danios that I don't want :laugh:

The tank will eventually have
Endlers
Bolivian Rams
Kuhlis
Clown loaches

possibly
a small shark
BN cats
small pleco


So which of these should I cycle with?

You can always catch the Danios later on...;)

Get Kuhlis then...but be sure to give them plenty of hiding spaces and keep a good eye on them for their first few days. I doubt they would die though...

And for future notice...a shark is not a great community fish...at all. Personal experiance X_x

I'm working on importing some seeded filter media so it might not be an issue.