Warning: there's a bit of reading and I ramble a bit:
I have two black kuhli loaches in a 10-gallon planted tank with a very docile betta, and I recently came across two more black kuhlis, as well as three zebra kuhlis at a local fish store-- I say "local" because it's local to my mom's, which is where I'm staying for a couple days, but it's the only
LFS within an hour and a half from my house other than Petco or Petsmart. Of course when I found these guys actually in stock (something rare for the middle of Oklahoma), I had to snatch them up, and $35 later, I have five kuhlis temporarily held in a 1-gallon holding tank with an airstone, both kindly provided by my sister who had some extras lying around, until I can rebag them and take them home tomorrow afternoon.
My question is, will the black kuhlis and zebra kuhlis school together? I know kuhlis are supposed to be in groups of five or more, but trying to find one kuhli within a hundred miles of my house is difficult, let alone four more, so when I found five more to bring my total to seven, I was ecstatic, but I'm worried that may still not be enough if the two different types don't want to school together. In the holding tank, they're all tangled up in each other, just lounging around, but I don't know if that's because they're accepting each other or if it's circumstantial since they are in such a tiny space.
Thank you for any feedback and my apologies for the long details.