# Kuhli loach, bumblebee and shrimp



## Jaap (24 Feb 2016)

Hi

Do the above fish eat red cherry shrimp? Adults and juvenile?

Thanks


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## Sarpijk (24 Feb 2016)

Bumblebees are not shrimp friendly.  I wouldn't trust kuhlis either. You can go for white clouds,cpds,pseudomugil gertrudae, iriatherinas, pygmy cories , chili raspboras or danio choprae. I am sure there are other options  as well.


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## greenmac75 (24 Feb 2016)

my kuhlis haven't bothered my cherries much, started with 12 lost count now and I have 6 kuhlis.


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## sciencefiction (26 Feb 2016)

Yes, kuhli loaches don't touch shrimp or their babies but bumblebee probably do, plus as far as I know they need brackish water, so it sounds like a totally unsuitable combination.


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## Jaap (26 Feb 2016)

So kuhlis will not even eat the shrimplets? Thats odd...arent they omnivors?

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk


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## sciencefiction (26 Feb 2016)

Jaap said:


> So kuhlis will not even eat the shrimplets? Thats odd...arent they omnivors?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk



They don't touch any shrimp old or tiny babies....I've had my kuhli loaches for a good few years now with shrimp co-habiting. The shrimp multiplied by the hundreds in that tank. ....The kuhlis are extremely peaceful fish.  They seem to be similar to corydoras, anything that doesn't stay as still as a stone isn't food for them. Even a pellet moved by the flow is a difficult task for them.


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## sciencefiction (27 Feb 2016)

This picture below is taken in a tank with 8 kuhli loaches and several otocinclus.


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## Jaap (27 Feb 2016)

sciencefiction said:


> This picture below is taken in a tank with 8 kuhli loaches and several otocinclus.


How did you end up with so many shrimp ?


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## sciencefiction (27 Feb 2016)

Jaap said:


> How did you end up with so many shrimp ?



He, he. What am I supposed to do....have prawn cocktail daily? They just breed like rabbits if there's no predation in the tank.


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## Colinlp (28 Feb 2016)

sciencefiction said:


> He, he. What am I supposed to do....have prawn cocktail daily? They just breed like rabbits if there's no predation in the tank.


Don't they reach an equilibrium with the environment? ie. Plentiful food supply- lots of shrimp / Food shortage - less shrimp


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## sciencefiction (28 Feb 2016)

Colinlp said:


> Don't they reach an equilibrium with the environment? ie. Plentiful food supply- lots of shrimp / Food shortage - less shrimp



Yes, I think they do in a way. But it's a long way to go. You'll reach a certain number of hundreds of shrimp and they'll stay roughly at that number. I've never had a population crash or dwindle so they must be keeping their own numbers in check depending on the circumstances. I think it's about lack of predation, plenty of room, daily food, large water changes, and excellent filtration.

In my smaller 15G tank I once counted roughly 300 of shrimp when I moved them all out. At first I counted about 200. When I thought I had moved them all out, I found another 100 lol.  That was after I had started a couple of years back with 5 and I had moved numbers of shrimp to my other tanks, which had also multiplied by the hundred in their respective tanks. So I'd imagine they do reach a certain number in a tank after which they need more space. I think they are excellent substrate cleaners and shredders of detritus. You'll never see particles of any sort over the sand in a tank with a large shrimp population because they'll shred everything, even fish poop.
I had lots of them in a 5f tank. Last year I had to move my clown loaches to it because their tank crashed. The clowns did wipe out all the snails but they've been having issues eating all shrimp. It's been around 8 months and there's plenty of cherry shrimp co-existing with the loaches. Once you have shrimp, you always have shrimp  Similar story to snails


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