Kuhli Loaches And Invertabrates?

[heavymetalfish]

I'm new to keeping loaches of any sort so I'm curious if it's advisable to keep kuhlie (or any of the smaller loaches) in an aquarium with shrimp like ghost shrimps. The setup is a (new) 29 gal planted community tank that i eventually (after it's cycled for a month or so with hardier community fish) have considered loaches in. But after learning about loaches tending to eat snails, i was wondering if it was wise to even have shrimp with them.

Anyone with advice on this one?

 

[mikev]

*With kuhlies* your shrimp should be safe. I have kuhlis (as well as related loach species) in a 55g, the tank is filled with breeding Neocaridina, and the loaches do not bother even newborn shrimp.

Incidentally, they don't bother snails either... of all kuhli species I've kept only p.oblonga *may* eat snails, and they will do it only if really hungry.

PS. However, this is really species-dependent with loaches. Some small loaches will eat snails all right, and likely to eat snails...research particular species you decide to get.

 

[3l3ctric]

I've had kuhlis eat pest snail eggs and very tiny hatchlings, but never bothered with anything bigger than their heads.In my 7.9 gallon tank right now I have 2 striped kuhlis, 2 brown kuhlis, and one eel loach (smaller than kuhlis) with an apple snail and an amano shrimp. The loaches don't bother with either of these, and they've also lived with some other snails and shrimp. They've competed for sinking pellets before, but nothing more than one or the other scaring the other away. That being said, I've never had them in with shrimplets or newly hatched non-pest snails.

With enough cover, you should be fine. My loaches will swim around in circles, but they don't really search for food anywhere but on the gravel. If the shrimplets were smart enough to simply move onto a leaf or something, I'm sure they'd be fine. Shrimp are pretty darn fast.

Any loaches bigger than kuhlis... can't say about them, but I think most would be less safe.

 

[catfishblues]

i have owned kuhli loaches with ghost shrimp and other than sometimes bumping into the shrimp while searching for food just ignored it. kuhlis are really fun and one of my favorite fish