breeding cherry shrimp as a discus snack?

[nancyx25]

hi all! I was thinking of getting a small batch of cherry shrimp and breed them to offer as a snack for my discus. I would like to find a live food to give them and really don't want to be getting into the worm cultures...
I would definately have the shrimp in another tank and quarantine them, but what do we look for in the quarantine process? I mean do the shrimp show signs of disease or do they just drop dead if not in good shape?
has anyone tried this, if so, I would love to get your thoughts and experiences on the subject!

[Adam S]

I'm not sure what a proper shrimp quarantine would entail, but here are some meds I've put mine through while treating or qting fish:
- praziquantel, really slowed them down but no losses
- flubendazole, slowed down a bit but no losses
- metro, no effect
- rid ich+ (formalin/malachite green combo), no effect

To grow a bunch, keep them warm (80F+) and feed high protein food at least 2-3 times a week. Veggies like canned, french-cut green beans and boiled, frozen kale make good staples. Have a lot of surface area like wood, moss, sponges, gravel, ceramic media, etc. Make regular water changes, too. Tap water is fine.

[nancyx25]

I'm not sure what a proper shrimp quarantine would entail, but here are some meds I've put mine through while treating or qting fish:
- praziquantel, really slowed them down but no losses
- flubendazole, slowed down a bit but no losses
- metro, no effect
- rid ich+ (formalin/malachite green combo), no effect

To grow a bunch, keep them warm (80F+) and feed high protein food at least 2-3 times a week. Veggies like canned, french-cut green beans and boiled, frozen kale make good staples. Have a lot of surface area like wood, moss, sponges, gravel, ceramic media, etc. Make regular water changes, too. Tap water is fine.

awesome! great info, I really want to get this going, seems like the perfect little snack and the tank they will breed in will actually be fun to look at as opposed to a big worm filled bin! do your discus enjoy the hunt?

[Adam S]

No discus, but I feed culls to my angels. The shrimp never make it to the bottom.

[Mattgoanna]

I have done it but ultimately didn’t feel good about it. The cherry shrimp will grow on you.

[Disgirl]

I have a small planted tank of Cherry Shrimp, and enjoy them so much I couldn't use them as food. They are fascinating to watch

[Tshethar]

Yeah, I'm basically in the same boat as Matt and Barb. I might be able to "improve" or maintain the fire redness of my shrimp colonies by culling some, but instead I just keep waiting for the young males to color up! (And it seems like they do.) Fortunately there's an LFS that will give me some store credit for them, too. They're really fun.

While I wouldn't begrudge my discus or angels if they wanted to enjoy a live snack, I also can identify with my cherry shrimp who wouldn't want to become one!

[nancyx25]

if you breed them a lot to the point where you have too many might help in getting the heart to give them as snacks! I am pretty sure I would be like you guys and hesitate to sacrifice some of them but will try to get a very good number to make it easier!

[snxtif]

Big fish (Arowana etc.) keepers usually use Potassium permanganate to wash (more like a bath/dip) life food before feeding their fish.
Em food usually survive PP bath and would keep swimming for a while. But you have to be careful and wash out PP cleanly before feeding.

On side note, as above replies, once you started RCS, I think it's gonna be just a cure to MTS.
Or at least, that's what happened to me. They are fascinating creatures and I wouldn't feed them to any fish even my beloved discus.

If you want to try to breed your own live food, why not try brine shrimp or fairy shrimp instead?

[Adam S]

I guess I'm on the "why not" side. Cherry shrimp multiply like rabbits. It's hard to get attached to something when they reproduce by the thousands. I don't enjoy using them as food, but it's that or letting the colony crash from overpopulation during the summer months. Cleaning out a couple thousand dead shrimp is an experience not soon forgotten.

[JamesW]

I had plans to do this growing them in the sump as both a live snack and a clean-up crew for any food that inadvertently gets into the overflow. The discus enjoy the hunting experience and go nuts when I add them to the tank but they reproduce too slowly (in my hands) to be any more than an occasional snack. Maybe I have an aggressive tank but cardinal tetra will have a go at anything other than a full-sized female RCS.

Maybe I need to invest in a new colony to see what I can achieve.

[Adam S]

Their numbers are limited by food. Feed them a few times per week and see what happens. Here, they are fed 1-2 times a day. A new colony of 50 can become 1000 in a few months.

[pastry]

I introduced cherry shrimp a few years ago hoping that they would reproduce yet also become convenient snacks for my discus. As it turns out, my discus are either lazy or pansies because not only will they not eat the cherry shrimp, but after putting 12 cherry shrimp in my 150 gallon tank several years ago I now have to net out as many as I can during every water change. I tried to give them away but most of the time end up just flushing them down the toilet. I swear Murphy's Law does not like me! I don't know anyone else who has this problem with their discus not eating cherry shrimp. Usually people are afraid that cherry shrimp will not make it long enough before discus eat them.

[Adam S]

Will they take dead ones? Are they well fed otherwise? I'm not catching my food if it magically falls from the sky!

Even cherry shrimp can be lazy like that. My first shrimp tank was loaded with ramshorns. Hated the things, but nuking the tank wasn't a good option. The tank got neglected a few weeks during a conference trip, and the shrimp ate every last snail!

[danotaylor]

Dry them, grind them, and add to beef heart mix if you make it...