My Discus are killers

I got red cherry shrimp because I figured that I could use the offspring for live food for the Discus. Now I have a nice colony of shrimp breeding and swimming with disdain among the Discus. Sometimes one will take a nip of slime coat. The Discus don't care.

Then I got 2 pairs of Bristlenose that won't stop breeding. I have more BN than I know what to with. I put a cave with a dad and babies in the Discus tank. I got tired after a couple of weeks of him not letting his little snots out of the cave so I picked it up and shook everyone out. There were baby snots everywhere, stuck to the glass, the plants, the driftwood, and the gravel. They caught the eye of one Discus to snagged one. As soon as it did all 8 went into hunting mode. I have never seen Discus hunting so aggressively and with such determination. It's nothing compared to feeding live black worms. The snots actually had to be hunted down to be eaten. Black worms are too stupid to try to escape. With Black worms there is no hunting involved. I have never ever ever seen their colors so vibrant as when they were hunting snots.

Now I know what to do with my baby snots. I could see this morning that the Discus were no longer in hunting mode and that some little snots survived, which is good.

As far as my excess red cherry shrimp, what my LPS doesn't sell will go to my Rainbow Fish in the 125. I've done it before. All the shrimp are scarfed in a minute. It's to fast and furious that I would need to see it in slow motion to appreciate the whole thing. But I know that live food is the best food and I do my best to do what is best for my silly fish.

I laughed out loud as I imagined "killer-discus" on the hunt for "little snots!" :D

I almost got some cherry shrimp but was told that my discus would eat them. So, I did not get them as an expensive snack!

From what I've read here some Discus eat them, some don't. In my case I have a 100 gallon with 8 sub adults and another with 100 with adults. My younger ones ate them but didn't go crazy for them. My adult Discus didn't even look at them.

Frank, if you have adult Discus and want to give it a try shoot me a PM. The shrimp are breeding all the time. When I have excess my first choice is to take them to the pet store, my second choice is to give them away to someone I like. It's not until my first choices don't pan out before I decide to feed them.

I can not place a tube of my super red BNP with rams ..They do not last at all !
Some of my swordtails eat the baby BNP also ! Got so many BNP I have tried them in all tanks !
I am glad to hear it is mostly just a cichlid thing as I thought maybe the rams were just mean …
I had concern the pleco even small and undeveloped may cause issue when eaten ??

So far so good. I'll let you know if the Discus start having problems, but I doubt they will.

Liz, in my book, your predator discus are AWESOME. Mine are damn tree huggers who won't even eat the cherry shrimp

Mine won't eat the shrimp either. There must be something irresistible about the baby BN that turns them into predators.

Liz I believe if you research and educate yourself on the species of fish you are keeping as far as their what kind of water they come from, what do they eat and so on you will be successful

Jeanne

lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LizStreithorst

From what I've read here some Discus eat them, some don't. In my case I have a 100 gallon with 8 sub adults and another with 100 with adults. My younger ones ate them but didn't go crazy for them. My adult Discus didn't even look at them.

Frank, if you have adult Discus and want to give it a try shoot me a PM. The shrimp are breeding all the time. When I have excess my first choice is to take them to the pet store, my second choice is to give them away to someone I like. It's not until my first choices don't pan out before I decide to feed them.

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Liz, I just got back from being out of town. Thanks for the great offer. Let me ponder a little ...

Liz, thanks for the kind offer but I am tank full presently. If I have a small tank open up, I will PM.

:thumbsup:

:bandana: Hey Liz! Been a while. I kinda learned early on about that 'expensive snack' deal lol! I suddenly realized my subs developed a taste for white ghost shrimp (a bit smaller than the Cherries) when I dropped 50 in my 125 & in a few days there were none!! Lesson learned lol lol lol! "T"

Hi Tony. Good to see you.

Actually, the Discus eating baby snots is a good thing for me. If not for the Discus I would be overwhelmed by them.