Nevertheless, shrimp (or anything else) could
never reproduce in a tank with botias.

They can with Botia macracanthus. My clown loaches are hell on snails, but
they leave shrimp and fish alone. My ghost shrimp bred like bunnies and took
over the tank, while six 5" clown loaches were in residence. The platies also
bred like crazy. The snails, OTOH, were exterminated. (And so were a lot of
plants, so I don't recommend clown loaches for snail control in a planted
tank.)

The clown loaches are currently living with a bunch of amano shrimp. They
don't seem to bother them, either. In fact, I have a picture in my gallery of
an Amano shrimp sharing an algae wafer with a clown loach.




Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/