No Ghost / Glass shrimp in a discus tank!

[scolley]

I've been stocking up on various cleaning crew for my planted discus tank. A few weeks ago I got a 100 count bag of ghost/glass shrimp - Paleomonetes sp. - to help with the cleaning. My discus never bothered my amano shrimp. I figured they'd not bother these either. And they don't. Instead the shrimp SCOUR the bottom of the tank for any SPEC of food! They're GREAT cleaners of leftovers.

But, boy! Did it also have an impact I NEVER thought about...

Last weekend two of my favorite discus spawned on a large anubias leaf. I'm excited about this, because I'm hoping to try the "difficult" thing of actually breeding discus in a planted tank. But to my HORROR, those d*mned shrimp swarmed the leaf and stripped it clean in a few minutes. And the discus just sat there.

Now if any fish tried to get near that leaf, the parents would attack them. But shimp... they barely noticed. It must be behavioral - they guard against shrimp, but in their natural habitat without predatory crustaceans, they never learned to guard against them.

Well long story short... if you want to actually breed your discus, then IMO this is a shrimp to avoid.

[Tropical Haven]

Well to make a long story short, they should be in a bb tank by themselves. :D:D

[Ichthyology]

There are plenty of shrinp in the amazon basin. In fact, I have collected three different shrimp species, as well as, a small crab species in the amazon basin.

I put ghost shrimp in all of my discus tanks (wild and domestic) to give the fish some "natural" food to go after. My discus devour the shrimp.

[Richy44]

I have about 50 cherry shrimp in my planted tank and the shrimp can swim right in front of the discus and they don't even look at then. I also have amanos in there as well with no problems.

[scolley]

There are plenty of shrimp in the amazon basin. In fact, I have collected three different shrimp species, as well as, a small crab species in the amazon basin. I wasn't aware of that! Thanks for the correction/clarification.



I put ghost shrimp in all of my discus tanks (wild and domestic) to give the fish some "natural" food to go after. My discus devour the shrimp.So I wonder why mine just ignore them. This seems to be consistent with the posts regarding shrimp that I see here - inconsistent.

Some people say their discus eat them. Many state that their discus ignore them - a mine do to the peril of their progeny. It is as Richy44 says above - "they don't even look at them."

[thereke187]

how big are your discus?

[Apistomaster]

I have good luck with Glass shrimp in planted discus community tanks but they are skilled hunters so I would not try keeping them with breeding discus if I wanted fry. Every so often I grow a batch of these shrimp. I was surprised at first that they did so well in the warmer water in Discus tanks but they are now among my favorite invertebrate in discus display tanks. They aren't as shy as Amano Shrimp and they actively swim about especially at feeding time. So, despite their transparency they actually show up well. Both Amano and Glass shrimp live in my Heckel display tank.

I haven't had good luck with my experiments with keeping cherry shrimp with my Heckel Discus. They mostly get eaten although some survive for awhile. Eventually if the Discus don't get them they disappear into the siphon over flow of the wet/dry filter.
I also find them living inside my Eheim Classic 2217 when I clean it. That did surprise me because they have to pass through an Eheim pre-filter. Must do that when they are small because I find all sizes when I dump the media into a bucket of water.

[scolley]

how big are your discus?
5-7"


I have good luck with Glass shrimp in planted discus community tanks but they are skilled hunters so I would not try keeping them with breeding discus if I wanted fry. Every so often I grow a batch of these shrimp. I was surprised at first that they did so well in the warmer water in Discus tanks but they are now among my favorite invertebrate in discus display tanks. They aren't as shy as Amano Shrimp and they actively swim about especially at feeding time.Thanks for the great shrimp feedback! I've had similar experience with Cherries. Surprised the heck out of me the first time I saw my filter was Cherry shrimp nursery!

As for the glass (ghost) shrimp, I'm with you there too. It's clear they are going to mess up any breeding plans.

But I must admit, they are doing a better job than I EVER EXPECTED in the role I bought them for - bottom feeders. They keep that bottom CLEAN! No spec of uneaten FTW lasts 60 seconds in my tank. In fact, they have the guts to actually swim up to the periphery of the feeding discus to snatch bits before they can fall to the bottom.

The only thing I don't like is that they are getting really healthy and BIG. So when I am trimming my plants, it STINGS when they try to grab little chunks out of my arm!

They are definately first rate little scavengers.