Discus/Shrimp

[LizStreithorst]

When I first got my red shrimp I figured that if I got too many I could feed the excess to the Discus in the planted tank. A few months ago I dumped some into the Discus' tank. They're still there. Today I got one of my silly thoughts and since I had excess shrimp I took a big net and swiped a bunch of shrimp off the Matten filter where they were nibbling at whatever it is they find appetizing there. They went right into the Discus tank. Would it not be cool to have a thriving colony of shrimp along with adult Discus in a 100 gallon planted?

I have a spawn of albino BN that dad is still keeping trapped in the cave. I'm considering what to do with them when they start sneaking out. I don't want any more BN in that tank, besides the Rainbow fish would eat most all of them.

[Mando]

The shrimp in the discus tank will breed extremely fast but the higher temperature will reduce their life span. I did it in my sump for a while. I had a huge colony but I noticed the adults didn’t last too long.

[LizStreithorst]

Sounds logical.

[smsimcik]

I've had a thriving colony of cherry shrimp in my 125 gallon planted tank with discus for several years. I keep the temp at 82 and have plenty of adult shrimp. Some discus will try to eat the shrimp, others will ignore them.

[pastry]

I have so many shrimp in my 150 gallon discus tank that I have to net a bunch out a couple times a week. Usually there are people that want them but sometimes I don't even wait, I just flush them down the drain. Also have bristlenose plecos breeding out of control as well. Now I have a pair of apistogramma that won't stop breeding. It is cool having the shrimp in there because people that come over think it's so awesome when looking for the shrimp but seriously, rabbits don't hold a match when it compares to cherry shrimp, candy cane shrimp, and the blueberry shrimp in my tank.

[Iminit]

Yeah cherry shrimp will thrive in a discus tank. Yes some get eaten. But mine are breeding like crazy. Allways finding them in the buckets during water Changes. They are great cleaners so it’s a win win. I started adding my culled cherry shrimp about 6 months ago. Lesser reds and browns. Well I now have blacks,blues,greens clear and brown in there now. Never had them change color in my strictly shrimp tanks. Caught a berried blue last week doing a water change. 127236127237

[danotaylor]

Tom I have heard people say shrimp are "great cleaners", but they actually add to the bioload. In cleaning up visible waste they just creat invisible waste right? So in plaque numbers in a discus tank their presence would make water quality less, not better??

[Oxboy]

But they would earn their keep by keeping plants algae free.

[coralbandit]

The bio load for shrimp is very little .
Shrimp keepers/breeders are the exact opposite of discus keepers ..
They do monthly water changes often from the ones I talked to !
The slightest change in parameters can often kill them quickly ..
Tom breaks lots of rules with great success ! That is part of why he so much fun to be around !:p

[Iminit]

Lol yes I break rules!! But to tell the truth I never knew there were rules. So I dont break them on purpose. Many shrimper do change their water monthly and some just add for evaporation. Me I change 50% weekly. Yes they are messy. I mean filthy. But their waste doesn’t change the water quality. All tanks water are all good. So their bioload is next to nothing. All my tanks also have snails. Mts in most but also bladder and assassins. I find mts are great in planted tanks.
My shrimp in the discus tank weren’t supposed to be there. They were food.

[famtsberg]

I have shrimp in nearly all my tanks, I do 50% minimum water changes and if some get tossed with the waste oh well. I have an ongoing relationship with my local supplier to sell my excess shrimp for store credit. It nearly pays for all my food. So Yay! shrimp.

[peewee1]

Is the reason to keep shrimp in the discus tank to give the discus something else to eat?

[LizStreithorst]

It's the reason I tried it. At first it didn't work but for some reason some of my discus have become predators. The shrimpies no longer stand a chance with them.

[captainandy]

I have a group of albino bristlenoses and sterbai cories in a heavily planted tank that produce fry constantly. I would say that only a handful make it thru, the rest are discus chum.
Unless shrimp are smarter, its doom and gloom for them. Just purchased some cholla wood to see if the fry can hide out

[LizStreithorst]

Only lot of plants I will help more survive. You don't want to do that in a Discus tank. They're really not good at hiding. If you want to raise them you will need a breeding tank. Depending on how many fry you want to raise, you will need anywhere from a 10 gallon to a 30. I'd also suggest that you get a 5 gallon to remove the cory pair to until the eggs hatch. These little guys are easy to breed and fun to breed. With Discus breeding there's too much wishing and hoping and thinking and praying involved.

[Gillmann]

LizStreithorst: With Discus breeding there's too much wishing and hoping and thinking and praying involved.

Ain't that the truth!!

[peewee1]

Only lot of plants I will help more survive. You don't want to do that in a Discus tank. They're really not good at hiding. If you want to raise them you will need a breeding tank. Depending on how many fry you want to raise, you will need anywhere from a 10 gallon to a 30. I'd also suggest that you get a 5 gallon to remove the cory pair to until the eggs hatch. These little guys are easy to breed and fun to breed. With Discus breeding there's too much wishing and hoping and thinking and praying involved.

How many of these shrimp do I need to buy to get fry? And what do the shrimp eat?

[LizStreithorst]

All you really need as a male and female shrimp. The females are the more colorful ones of the types I've raised. I started with 12 and now I have tons of them and take them to the LPS frequently.