Cherry red shrimp and discus?

[konceppt]

Just wondered;

A) Would cherry red shrimp do a good job of keeping the tank cleaner?
as i am hoovering the tank everyday and seem to be fighting a losing battle.Its a bare bottom tank and however many water changes i do or how much i vacuum the tank,There seems to be a lot of floating particles in the water and on the glass.

B) If i bought some Cherry Red shrimp,would the discus eat them?

C) If shrimp are a bad idea,Would a plec work?

Thanks
Ben

[retiredsailor]

as a general rule if they can fit in the discus' mouth, they will get eaten. plus the shrimp will need someplace to hide, maybe fake plants or potted real plants?

[Lenin]

Mine hunted the shrimps around a heavily planted tank, it will be very expensive snacks

[TURQ64]

And besides, my shrimps seem pretty fragile; how would you go about quarantine??..They don't like meds, and could bring a pathogen or two to your fish,same as plants...I don't think they'd care much for a PP dip!

[Scott293]

I wondered the same thing about cherry red shrimp. We have a breeder here locally who tells me that he is afraid of selling me parasites. I saw one CRS breeder in Florida who tells about breeding them by the thousands in 5 gallons buckets with plants and an air stone. I thought maybe they would be a good multiplying live food source for my discus. But from what I have seen, to thrive they like a much cooler water temp than discus, around 74-78 degrees and they like hard water. ...Scott

[konceppt]

so its a no then? lol

[LizStreithorst]

It's a no, I'm afraid, although if you could afford them they'd make a great live food

It's a shame that you can't get the Magnum Hot filters in the UK. I use them with on all my tanks. They keep the water crystal clear.

[nc0gnet0]

Just to correct a few misconceptions.

They do fine at discus temps (at least the lower end)
They do fine in softer water
Not sure if they carry parasites are not, but I have a feeling that most that post they do is based on an assumption and not actual fact. I can say, I don't think they are anymore likely to carry parasites than say a pleco, or some rummynose tetras. Probably much less likely.

Will they get eaten? Probably.....at least the younger ones. But, I do have a breeding colony in one of my discus community tanks and they do manage to keep up with the predatation. Trouble is, at LFS prices, estabishing a colony could get extremly expensive. If you had another tank dedicated to breeding CRS, then it might be feasable.

Rick

[TURQ64]

O.k., to sidetrack a little..In the 'shrimp world'. I believe 'CRS' stands for 'Crystal Red Shrimp', a type of bee shrimp, not applicable to 'red cherry shrimp', but so much for all the abbreviations...Gary

[Skip]

To answer your question.. IHMO

Just wondered;

A) Would cherry red shrimp do a good job of keeping the tank cleaner?
as i am hoovering the tank everyday and seem to be fighting a losing battle.Its a bare bottom tank and however many water changes i do or how much i vacuum the tank,There seems to be a lot of floating particles in the water and on the glass.

what filtration to you have? is is the floating particles that you don't like? how often do you water change and how much?

B) If i bought some Cherry Red shrimp,would the discus eat them?

probably.. those are very tiny expensive shrimp.. if you want shrimp. .get ghost shrimp.. they are very cheap.. probably get 20 of them for the price of a CRS

C) If shrimp are a bad idea,Would a plec work?

i would get corys before a pleco... but some plecos will eat the slime off discus.. if you really want one of them.. get bristle nose pleco.. they are very highly regraded to live with discus..

[Scott293]

Just to correct a few misconceptions.

They do fine at discus temps (at least the lower end)
They do fine in softer water
Not sure if they carry parasites are not, but I have a feeling that most that post they do is based on an assumption and not actual fact. I can say, I don't think they are anymore likely to carry parasites than say a pleco, or some rummynose tetras. Probably much less likely.

Will they get eaten? Probably.....at least the younger ones. But, I do have a breeding colony in one of my discus community tanks and they do manage to keep up with the predatation. Trouble is, at LFS prices, estabishing a colony could get extremly expensive. If you had another tank dedicated to breeding CRS, then it might be feasable.

Rick

OK Rick I got my info from shrimp breeders who post information on the internet such as this one and many more who all state pretty much the same thing as what I stated. http://www.plantedtank.net/articles/...g-and-Care/23/. So what do you consider as fact vs assumption? ...Scott

[Scott293]

I just went to a local fish auction 3 weeks ago and the shrimp guy did very well averaging over $1 each for his, what he called, "cherry red shrimp". He also sold "Christal Red Shrimp" that had much more color to them, which sold for over $2 each, in bags of a dozen. I had a long conversation with him. He said he raises thousands of them easily at very little cost. I have zero experience with shrimp Ben. I was as curious as you. What turned me off is when the shrimp guy, who said he knows Discus, told me he would be afraid of selling me parasites. From what Rick is saying, I think I am going to look into this more. I have a bushy nose pleco with my discus who has been no problem at all.

[nc0gnet0]

Scott,

I am not sure of the question you are asking? The link you posted says nothing of them carrying parasites, although while I am sure this is possible, no more so than another live species you may place into you discus tank (ie pleco, cory, tetra, live blackworms, etc). It does list what is considered "optimal" conditions for breeding, but that is not an absolute. Personally, if I were, and when I do, place the cherry shrimp in the tank with discus, I am more worried about the water they are in carrying the "nasties" then the shrimp themselves. For this reason I give them a good rinse in a coffee filter strainer first.

I have to do nothing other than look over my shoulder to say conclusivly that they can and do thrive at a tank temp of 83 degrees, with a ph of 7.8-8.0 and a tds of 200. They are very sensitive to poor water quality, and can be a sort of poor mans canary in the coal mine to let you now something is amiss.

[farebox]

Before I added my discus to my planted tank, there a nice colony of cherry red shrimp. Couple of weeks later, couldn't see any....
farebox

[nc0gnet0]

Scott,

I would like to add, that the cherry shrimp I add to my discus tanks are 3-4 generations deep, bred in my own non-discus tank. I would not advise adding them to your tank directly from any outside source. They can get to places that pleco's and cory's can't, and do a good job at keeping the plants clean, be they fake or artificial. They can and will get eaten by the discus, but I consider this population control as they breed like cockroaches.

O.k., to sidetrack a little..In the 'shrimp world'. I believe 'CRS' stands for 'Crystal Red Shrimp',

Your probably right Turq, what can I say I am just a lazy typist