kuhli scrum

There are several areas in my tank where I can drop sinking food and the kuhlis will get a large portion of it, because the barbs don't like crowding down among thickly grown stems. The "grassy corner" with vallisneria and crypts balansae and retrospiralis. The opposite corner where elodea grows. And today I discovered another good spot, where windelov fern is near the front tank wall. Black kuhlis were the first there- and they were all over that food.

Tiger showed up next.

By the time Albert arrived, the six kuhlis pretty much kept the food entirely covered with their writhing bodies, so the barbs couldn't get it.

I admit I helped them hog the advantage- every time I leaned into to get a close look or snap a photo the barbs would scatter in alarm. Kuhlis, unfazed, kept eating away.

I haven't had so much fun watching them eat since I used to put food under a rock. Lookit Albert's little eyes!

Seen from above.

This picture is pretty funny- the black kuhli's posture makes his barbels look like fangs threatening the smallest cherry male- haha.

Of course eventually the loaches themselves pushed the food out into an open area, and the barbs got their share.