New and already have my first question..

[Sykith]

Hello all,
I am new to SimplyDiscus however I am a member of a few other fish/planted tank forums. I will be graduating from college at the end of this school year and my current plans will hopefully allow me the opportunity to finally have a legit fish tank and the time and money to invest in one. I have set my sights on Discus.. looking to get a tank 55-75 gallons based on budget and space. I like a challenge and the responsibilities required to grow and keep discus, also they're beautiful.

As such in my research I've run into my first question..
I have a small colony in a community tank of wild type freshwater shrimp, like pale red cherry shrimp. Could I grow these separately (5-10 gal) as a supplemental live food?? Anyone ever tried this? Any possible issues?

I'm predicting I could feed different age shrimp at the different developmental stages of the discus. I would most likely only be feeding a wide variety of frozen and flake/pellet food otherwise.. I don't want worm cultures stinking up my room.

Sorry for the novel and if this question has already been asked, thanks in advance, looking forward to the advice and tank planning phase with help!

[alron2]

Sykith.,

Welcome, cannot help with the shrimp question. Lots of information here about food, mostly homemade using beef heart or lean beef, turkey, shrimp,fish and green veg. More information on this site than you can study before the end of the year. I would highly encourage you to Waite until you can afford a 70 gallon tank, a 55 is too narrow for six discus in my opinion. Every hour you study before buying will save you a lot of pain and lost money. Where are you going to school and where do you plan to move after you finish school?

Ron

[bluelagoon]

The shrimp question:You would need lots of small tanks of shrimp to raise enough to feed six discus.But you can use what few shrimp you do produce.The tank question:55 gal. will be ok for a grow out tank,but when they get 4" or so they'll need a bigger tank.

[DatDiscusDude]

I think you can easily do a 55 for 6 fish... I've used one for many more and so have others here...

Is it ideal... no, will it work sure. Bigger is always better and based on what you can afford. I would totally say get a 75 if you can but if the 55 is all you have then I don't see why it would deter you. Seeing as you are starting from scratch I would save the extra coin and go 75, plus in a 75 you can get more.... DISCUS! lol

[RogueDiscus]

Hi Sykith and welcome to Simply Discus,
I happen to be a moderator on the forum, but I'm just offering my personal opinions.
I don' have a lot of experience with shrimp, (I have a few cherry shrimp in a 55 planted/GBRam/dither tank) and I've never tried feeding them to my discus,but I think being a supplement would be the best you could think of them. I could be totally wrong here, but just my impression. Consider freeze dried blackworms (FDBW)as a staple food, maybe along with some pellet or flake. Al, the forum owner sells them, along with others.
I would go with a 75 gal if you can manage it. 6-8 adult discus would do very well there as a display tank. It wouldn't take long for the 55 to start to look small.
I encourage you to browse the forum and read in the beginner's section in particular, ask away any questions, and we love pics when you're ready.

[gators111]

That's if your new fish view them as food. My fish nearly jump out of the tank trying to get at the frozen mysis shrimp I feed them. But I put a few ghost shrimp in there, and they don't touch them. But the nice trade off is the shrimp help keep the detritus off the bottom. However, my tank has decor in it for the shrimp to hide in as well, so that helps too.

[Jack L]

my discus do not attempt to eat ghost or amano or japanese algea shrimp (store name, look like blueish amano and smaller)

i have yet to add any red or other colorful small ones to see if they get eaten.