Cherry Shrimp?

[Apistomaster]

The common American Glass Shrimp do fine with Discus. They just won't be able to continue producing young that survive. To raise them requires a special set up. I have raised many hundreds of Glass shrimp in ten gallon tanks.
I place the gravid females in a net hung in an established ten gal tank and remove the females that have released their young.
Then I feed the apparently empty tank bbs every day and a few weeks later you will begin to see hundreds of tiny shrimp.

[happygirl65]

Wow! What an amazing process!
Is the glass shrimp the same as a ghost shrimp?

[tcyiu]

Not sure what I have but the shrimp is medium size and semi transparent. The pair have spawned quite few times. You can see the fry/ (correct term?) jittering around. The cardinals were having a grand old time chomping down the babies. But sadly, this really prolific female died.

I don't have a planted aquarium, but the shrimp pre-dated the discus. So the fish were accustomed to seeing the shrimp - not as food. Also, the discus are fed live worms everyday, which may also dampen their desire to snack on the shrimp.

I went to the LFS last week to pick up some more, but the guy said that my 83deg water would cook the shrimp. Hmmm. I guesss I never thought about the suitability of hi temps.

Any thoughts on temp suitability and which shrimp species. I don't seem to have many choices of shrimp.

Tim

[judy]

I have a couple of flower or bamboo shrimp... they take the warmer temps fine, and they're filter feeders-- and they're nice and big-- two inches or so. You'll see them occasionally perched on a piece of driftwood or a plant in the current area, fanning frantically to get micro-food.
(I had more, she muttered darkly, but the clown loaches-- now banished elsewhere-- ate 'em.)

[mirmar]

Who said their were no fresh water shrimp in SA waters? There are hundreds of species.
Some are small and others are almost the size of a small lobster.

Sure they live there, it's the main food for wild discus.
But (here) you can't find them in the shops, why?
Plenty of asian shrimps, but not from south america.

[Apistomaster]

Wow! What an amazing process!
Is the glass shrimp the same as a ghost shrimp?

The fresh water one is and they can live for up to 18 months in water temps of 84*F.
!8 months from hatching to death. Those you buy will vary in age and will live different length of time. If any specimen is opaque, do not buy it. It is a sick shrimp that is about to die. Not only have I kept them with my Discus but even with my Dwarf Pike Cichlids, Crenicichla regani. Now that surprised me.
Ghost Glass Shrimp are far more out going than the Amano Shrimp which tends to be much more secretive but they do not eat very much algae; they are primarily carnivorous.

If you are interested in other shrimp available in the US from India and SE Asia, see www.franksaquarium.com
Frank is a stand up guy to do business with.
There are also some African filter feeding shrimp sometimes available.
Only rarely are any true SA shrimp imported.
Aqualog published a nice but slim volume on keeping shrimp and their relatives.
I have raised dwarf crayfish, American Ghost Glass shrimp and Cherry Shrimp.
I failed with raising my bumblebee shrimp which were intended as a practice run before laying out big bucks for the Crystal Red mutation.
Crystal reds have equal sized alternating red and white bands. Quality strains can easily cost $10 each. They are no larger than red cherry shrimp.

[happygirl65]

awesome selection of shrimp at Franks! Thanks!