Killer Kuhlis?

Spishkey · May 4, 2009

for around 8 months ive been losing guppys at a rate of 2 or three a week (plus many molly fry) without any idea what was happening, they just seemed to disappear! (adults and fry) so have just been replacing them hoping it was just bad luck! (guppys have a bad rep for dying fast!)
anyhow, to my utter shock and amazement i witnessed something last night which has shocked me to the core.

in my guppy tank i have a few kuhli loaches (the all brown ones not the striped ones)
i couldnt sleep last night so sat up watching the guppy tank with its new blue leds giving off a lovely blue moonlight affect. wow i though, looks fab.
then from the corner of the tank a kuhli came steaming full force at a guppy, dragging it to the bottom and doing what i can only describe as pummeling it into the gravel until it was half dead then started to eat it. the rest came dashing over to join i the party within seconds.
since when have kuhlis been hunters

i have kept them since i was a little girl and NEVER seen anything like that

suffice to say the kuhlis have been evicted (sadly into a 35L tank of their own as i have no where for them to go

looks like i shall have to rehome them)

what id love to know is has anyone EVER came across something like this?

lisa_da_best · May 4, 2009

hey

im sorry to hear about your guppys ive never heard anything about kuhlis being aggressive. Ive been told alot about not putting them with agressive fish because they are completely defenseless against aggressive fish. Maybe you just got some agressive fish. Even if a fish species is called non agressive doesnt mean you cant get the odd ones that are aggressive.

lisa

WhiteDevil · May 27, 2009

what do you feed the kuhlis? and are you sure they are getting any of it, gups are pigs.

mattbond · May 28, 2009

my dark kuhlis are excitable, but theyre nevver aggressive, it could be that the guppies are eating their food, but kuhlis can live happily on waste for months (although this isnt ideal),
dont get rid of them, just keep them somewhere else, as a novelty, killer kuhlis!

Spishkey · May 28, 2009

little update, as i had nowhere to put them i put them bac in with the guppys.

i now have 1 guppy and one molly fry left. thats it. once they go the kuhlis will have the tank to themselves!

youngfisher · May 28, 2009

why dont you use ur 35l for guppys and mollys?

Spishkey · May 28, 2009

youngfisher said:
why dont you use ur 35l for guppys and mollys?

35L is far too small!!! id fit maybe three guppys in there?

saltynay · May 28, 2009

You cold fit 10 odd and fry in my 5 gallon I have 3 guppy females, 2 endler males, male betta, shrimp, snails, fry and everyone is happy. Although I do have an excessive amount of filtration on that tank equivalent to 12.7 times the filtration of one fluval 1+ which is a typical filter for a tank that size.