Loaches and shrimp

[Loachie]

I'm wondering... do weather (dojo) loaches eat live shrimp? What about the longnosed/horseface loach?

I'm asking because I'm overhauling my planted aquarium to get rid of algae. Among other things, I'd like to introduce lots of algae-eating shrimp: cherry shrimp, amano shrimp, or red crystal shrimp - whichever I can find. These are all small shrimp, and I don't want them to get eaten. I've had luck with bamboo shrimp, since they are much larger, but I think they are filter feeders and wouldn't be as useful in cleaning algae off plant leaves. My other fish are cardinal tetras, a cory cat, a rainbowfish, glass cats, and a zebra botia. I don't think any of these guys will go after shrimp.

[cogburn]

ive had loaches and bamboo shrimp no problems... as for the smaller shrimp a respected lfs told me loaches and small shrimp dont mix but i dont have any personal experience... hope that helps a little bit

[pitt420dude]

The only thing that mixes with very small shrimp are fish bellies, lol.

I try to keep a half dozen or so ghost shrimp in my tank. I figure it just gives the most passive fish somethign to feel good about. They feel "Hey, I like these shrimp in here! I'm not the lowest one on the totem pole anymore."

I use the shrimp as a punching bag. Say, for instance, my male kribensis cichlid (the alpha fish in my community tank) is picking on the smaller of my two blue gouramis. The blue goruami can then go and bite a shrimp's leg off or something to let out some steam.

They're small and meant as food/cleanup anyway so no harm done.

If on the other hand, you're looking to get amano or red cherry shrimp, they're more expensive and you would want to get em as large as you could so they could hopefully stand up to some attacks.

[Purrbox]

Almost all fish will make a snack out of the shrimp babies if they get a chance. The size of the fish's mouth will determine whether or not it can eat anything larger. General rule of thumb is that if it can fit in the fish's mouth it will probably get eaten. Further, smaller fish will sometimes attack and tear apart a shrimp so that they can eat it.

If you want to test the waters, try some ghost shrimp. Since they are considered a feeder shrimp you can get quite a few for a dollar. They won't help with the algae issues, but they're inexpensive enough that it's no big deal if they're eaten. If they do survive then you could try some of the more expensive shrimp.

Ideally you would establish some Cherry Red Shrimp in an aquarium before stocking with fish to get a sufficient popluation to out produce predation. Since that isn't an option in this case, you could set up a 10 gallon species aquarium for the cherries and then stock the main aquarium from there as you have extras.

I definately wouldn't recommend the Crystal Red Shrimp as they are much more sensitive than the other two and much more expensive.

[CatatonicBug]

Originally Posted by Purrbox

If you want to test the waters, try some ghost shrimp. Since they are considered a feeder shrimp you can get quite a few for a dollar..

I did just that... My LFS sells them for $.30 each, so I bought 5 of them just to see what would happen. I dropped them in my 47g tank, and when I came to check on them a few hours later, they were all gone! I think I saw my sevrum smiling at me... He must have really enjoyed that snack.

[Loachie]

Thanks very much for all your advice. I definitely won't try the red crystal shrimp now - I didn't realize that they are more sensitive (I've never tried them). I know that, in general, fish will eat anything they can fit in their mouths. However, I also know that specific fish vary widely in how aggressive they are, and what foods they prefer. For example, I once kept a 5 gallon planted tank with 2 mollies, 2 danios, 2 cherry shrimp, and 2 ghost shrimp. Even though the tank was small, it worked ok - the shrimp spent most of their time hiding in the plant (a baby tears plant) and the fish never seemed to notice them.

Does anyone else have experience with keeping fish and cherry or amano shrimp together? If so, what type of fish did you have?

Thanks!

[pitt420dude]

They hide, don't be surprised to see one or two a few days from now. Still, if they were small, your severum may have easily gobbled them up.

I think they're cool. It's something other than a fish or snail to have in your tank, you don't need to do anythign differntly, they clean up well, and you can see everything they've been eaten (totally tranparent!) Pretty neat IMO.

I'd love some cherry red shrimp, do you think I could raise them in my 10 gal with FW dwarf puffers?

[Purrbox]

Originally Posted by pitt420dude

I'd love some cherry red shrimp, do you think I could raise them in my 10 gal with FW dwarf puffers?

Your Dwarf Puffers will enjoy the snack. They may or may not go after the adults (depends on the temperment of the Puffers) but the smaller shrimp will almost definately end up food.

[pitt420dude]

Ohhhh... I want shrimp and snails so bad to help with algae but can't get a sustainable population.

I was actually shouting at my yoyo loach yesterday when I brough home a dozen MTS from my LFS, only to find him tearin' em up. Amie (fiance) was said "Do they respond to that?" I said "No, but it makes me feel better." Lol.

I know the young ones will get eaten, but I just want enough so that there will always be some to outpace predation.

[JustOneMore20]

Shrimp are really best kept in a species tank. I have mine with some Celestial Pearl Danios though (1" fish with tiny mouths) and they don't eat any of them. I see tiny babies from time to time and the population grows, so I'm convinced they don't eat them.

That being said, my shrimp don't hide alot. Some of the prefer to hang out in the plants, but alot of them are out quite a bit. I think with larger fish (potential predators) the shrimp would hide most of the time. To really enjoy them, you'd want either a species tank, or with really small fish. That's just my experience though.