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Question # one: Which SCHOOLING catfish do you think is the best scavenger?
Question # two: Which NON-SCHOOLING catfish do you think is the best scavenger?

Thanks!

EDIT

Scavenger = clean up on bottom

Tank size = 55 U.S. gallons

Other Occupants = S.A. CICHLIDS

Algae Control = school of five otocinclus

best = best at getting rid of odor/cloudiness by eating fallen food FAST

Important facts about the aquarium:
Artificial plants EVERYWHERE
No live plants
Gravel is the smallest you can get before sand
Fluorecent light
8-12 hours of light a day

I moved this topic, as it's not really about "South American catfish (other families)".

The actual question(s) aare hard to answer, because it depends on what you mean by "best"...

Best looking, schooling one would be - but that's not the same as "best at cleaning up" - not sure what I would put there, perhaps (not that they're ugly or anything like that).

Non-schooling, again, depends on what you want it to clean up first of all, and second how you define "best" - I'm not sure I can write down a single one - although are always high on my list - but perhaps that's not properly a scavenger, as they are better at eating algae than other stuff (although given a chance they will eat many other food-items too). Any would also be a good Scavenger, simply because they eat just about anything (but not very good with algae-growth, so if you have algae-growth in the tank to get rid of, you'll need something else too.

are nice to look at and falls into both categories (can be kept alone, but better in a group of 5 or so).

However, besides from the discussion of which is "best", there's obviously some other fish that you like to keep with these, which will be another factor (along with the conditions of the tank - temperature for example, planted or not, filtration/oxygenation/water movement in the tank, etc, etc).

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Mats

Sorry I forgot to mention all those key parts but now they are there.

best = best at getting rid of odor/cloudiness by eating fallen food FAST

If the tank starts to smell, I'd suggest that you're feeding too much. Cloudiness is also often a sign of too much feeding.

If your fish aren't eating most of the food you put in within a few minutes, you're feeding too much...

Cloudiness can also be caused by the filtration system not being effective enough, allowing ammonia to build up temporarily.

Most "scavenger" fishes aren't particularly fast feeders, more of grazers that constantly look for anything edible.

Other Occupants = S.A. c*****ds

Not very precise. The suitable companions for a large pike cichlid are very different from those suitable for Satanoperca leucosticta for example. Small Apisto's and Rams are also quite different from large fishes...

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Mats

Ok um other occupants are a blue acara a parrot and a convict. They eat ALL the food I put in but a cichlid is a messy eater. All cichlids are.