Loaches Online Forum

New here - can anyone recommend loaches that will leave my Cherry Shrimp alone but eat my rapidly growing population of pond snails?

Thanks for the help,
Matt

Hi mattguzi,

Welcome to LOL!!

I have five Botia kubotai in a 55 gallon tank. There is also a nice population of cherry shrimp in that tank. The loaches have not harmed the shrimp, yet, and I'm hoping they never do. I put these shrimp in as juveniles, and now they are a brilliant red and the females are berried.

When the kubotai were in the quarantine tank, they cleaned up all the snails that were in there. I've read that kubs do not go after snails, but that was not the case for me. We also feed snails to the kubs regularly, and they clean them up.

Also, the kubotai are a nice community loach, and they grow to around 4 inches which is a nice size. I recommend that you get at least 5 of them since loaches like to be in a group of their own kind.

One more thing I'd like to mention is that loaches require special care (adequate flow, filtration, hiding places).

http://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-kubotai

Here's a previous discussion >> http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=3699

I'd say it is only a matter of time.
I did have one shrimp (out of only two) that lasted over two months. The other lasted about 5 minutes.

As you can see, it's really a matter of 'your mileage may vary'.

I've always thought it was ok from experience, though I think clowns are a whole different issue. I would strongly recommend that you not keep shrimp with Puntius filamentosus as mine just destroyed my largest fan shrimp today while it shed