Do corydora eat shrimplets?

[David3516]

I used to have many shrimplets in my tank. Would constantly find them while cleaning filters or overturning a rock. 
 

 I added sterbai and julii cories a couple of weeks ago and I have not seen a shrimplet since. They always hang out in a lowly planted-rocky area where the shrimp are normally seen. I’ve had two pregnant shrimps give birth since getting the Cories as well, yet have not seen a single baby shrimp. 
 

are Julii and sterbai eating my baby shrimp?

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

They eat their own eggs and fry. My guess is yes!! I have kept both just not in the same tank. :-) 

[doktor zhivago]

Everything eats shrimplets

[T. Payne]

In my experience, it depends on the species. My napoensis and orange lasers do not, while my sterbai and black Schultzi will hunt them down.

[Tazalanche]

The general rule of thumb is if something can fit in a fish's mouth, sooner or later the fish is going to try to eat it.

 

For over 15 years my striped Raphael catfish never bothered any of the dither fish in my 135. Since last Summer, my cardinal tetra school in that tank went from about 150 to under 10, with no bodies to be found.

 

That's also why no new fish have been added to the tank since Spring last year. They're too expensive for fish food. 😂

[GoofyGarra]

Its fully possible the shrimplets are being eaten, it's also possible the shrimplets just feel threatened with the Cories nearby and are just hiding where they think the big fish cannot get to them.

[johnnyxxl]

Easy rule big fish eats smaller fish.  Fish and any other animals normally eat anything smaller enough to fit in their mouth.

[Ben_RF]

Supposedly, yes.  However, with jullis I have never had a problem keeping shrimp with them.   Also no issues with pandas.  But every tank is different.  

[Odd Duck]

Since shrimplets are exactly the type of thing that cories would feed on in nature, I would say yes, they are eating them and any that survive will be experts at hiding.

Also, just an FYI, both sterbais and juliis are lineage 9 and could hybridize if kept in the same tank.  Hybrid cories are generally frowned on since they can be hard to identify anyway.  I also suspect your julii may be trilineatus also known as “false julii”.  Tris are far more common in the fish trade and it is quite uncommon to find true juliis.  Yours have some squiggly lines on their faces which is more characteristic of tris.  Yours have enough small spots they could be true juliis so I’m not certain.  Tris are also lineage 9 and could also cross with the sterbais.  I keep my sterbais and tris in different tanks to prevent them crossing.

I’m just curious, did you seek out juliis specifically or is that just what they were labeled at the fish store?  Many people are on the hunt for true juliis so they tend to be special orders or are snapped up quickly and are rarely in the fish store for long.  Tris are very commonly mis-identified as juliis since juliis are rare in the trade and usually cost 3-5 times as much as tris.  If you paid under $20.00 each for the juliis then you either got a steal of a deal or they are more likely tris which run $4.00-$6.00 each, at least at my local fish store.  I happen to love my tris and they are so close in appearance to juliis (so nearly identical than even the experts have trouble telling them apart) that I feel no need to pursue the rarer species and I don’t currently have another tank suitable for more lineage 9’s.  I’d probably go with pandas if I did get more lineage 9’s in another tank.