Daniel Posted August 8, 2020 Share Posted August 8, 2020 (edited) I don't think the discus tank is good for shrimp. But that might not stop me from putting some in. The temperature is 84°F and the pH is slightly below neutral, conductivity is low because it fed with RO water. Almost nothing in the way of plants, except for a couple of newly planted starts of Jungle Vallisneria that have yet to get going (and might never get going). There is a little bit of some short felt-like bright green algae that grows on the wood in the upper foot of the water column. Lots of mulm, lots of drifwood and colonies of blackworms living in the sand. I don't care if the discus eat the shrimp eventually, in fact that would good, but currently something the size of a cherry shrimp would be way to big for the discus to eat. I have thought about scuds also as I have loads of those. What would be the purpose of the shrimp? I would hope they would eat uneaten Vibra Bites that drifted into hard to get to crannies, and also provide a food source for the discus. Is there a shrimp that would survive under these conditions? Edited August 11, 2020 by Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Smith Posted August 9, 2020 Share Posted August 9, 2020 I would think Amano shrimp would stand a better chance in there and help with your cleanup... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
varanidguy Posted August 9, 2020 Share Posted August 9, 2020 Amano shrimp could likely survive those conditions. Sulawesi shrimp love warm water, but they also love hard water. Neocaridina...some might scoff, but it would be a relatively inexpensive experiment. My neo's don't seem to mind the warm water in the summer months (often 80-82 degrees for extended periods). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shkote Posted August 9, 2020 Share Posted August 9, 2020 I think Neocaridina would be a great one to try. I've had them in colder tanks without issues, and warmer tanks without issues and they are pretty adaptable to different parameters. If they do well, they will breed like crazy and your Discus could snack on the juveniles and help keep the numbers down. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted August 9, 2020 Author Share Posted August 9, 2020 6 hours ago, Lynze said: they will breed like crazy and your Discus could snack on the juveniles Thank everyone! First shrimp I will try will be Neocaridina because they have a shot at breeding and thus could be a possible food supply. And if that doesn't work, then I will put in Amanos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted August 9, 2020 Author Share Posted August 9, 2020 I put in about a dozen cherry shrimp this morning and about 20 scuds too. Let the breeding begin! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted August 11, 2020 Author Share Posted August 11, 2020 As per @Bill Smith I have ordered some Caridina shrimp also. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted August 19, 2020 Author Share Posted August 19, 2020 The cherry shrimp are in and the Caridina shrimp will be in shortly. They clean up the excess Vibra Bites and hoping they will have babies soon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 I have had good luck with neos too, and have been trialing them a few at a time in all my tanks. Temps range from 74-83 degF, pH 6.6-7.8, most have low GH/KH, but I do sometimes feed calcium enriched food to the little ones to help with growth/molts. They have SURVIVED in all conditions so far--too early to know if they will breed. Tales of their fragility seem a bit overrated. The only losses I have had were in the original shipped batch, and they all happened early--either water parameters were different (not according to the seller and my tests) or there was too much shipping trauma. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForestJenn Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 2 hours ago, Brandy said: I have had good luck with neos too, and have been trialing them a few at a time in all my tanks. Temps range from 74-83 degF, pH 6.6-7.8, most have low GH/KH, but I do sometimes feed calcium enriched food to the little ones to help with growth/molts. They have SURVIVED in all conditions so far--too early to know if they will breed. Tales of their fragility seem a bit overrated. The only losses I have had were in the original shipped batch, and they all happened early--either water parameters were different (not according to the seller and my tests) or there was too much shipping trauma. Hi Brandy, my 11 year has been begging for fish but I keep putting him off because water is so soft and acidic. I know you have the same kind of water. Have you noticed any sort of problems? Are you doing anything else to compensate beside the calcium enriched foods? I'd really like to give in and start up a small shrimp tank. My child isn't spoiled, he's just very good at twisting my rubber arm. 😉 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 (edited) I haven't had any problems with RCS. If anything, I am a bit over run, or I would be if I wasn't trying to get enough to colonize several tanks. I sweated bullets until the first drop of shrimplets. Now I am not as worried. I have juveniles approaching adulthood, and it is almost time to distribute the shrimpy madness! 🙂 I guess I do have a little (very little--a few tablespoons in a 12g) of crushed coral in the filter media too. Edited August 19, 2020 by Brandy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted August 19, 2020 Author Share Posted August 19, 2020 I am finding I care more about the shrimp than I first assumed. I was watching this discus and thought, 'He's going and try to eat that shrimp, oh no, Mr. Bill!'. There is soft, hot acidic water in this aquarium and so far so good with the shrimp. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 24 minutes ago, Daniel said: I am finding I care more about the shrimp than I first assumed. I was watching this discus and thought, 'He's going and try to eat that shrimp, oh no, Mr. Bill!'. I felt the same. I got them as cleaners. They quickly became more important than what I wanted cleaned. So much fun to watch! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted September 12, 2020 Author Share Posted September 12, 2020 Update, the discus have grown and so have the shrimp. Little baby shrimp are starting to appear everywhere (this was tank I got the mulm from that had baby shrimp in it). So far the discus still ignore the shrimp and are far more interested in me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Ellison Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 (edited) @Daniel I believe the neocardinia prefer higher ph in the 7-7.8 range where as the cardinia prefer ur range. From what I've heard they are very close in breeding difficulty. Neo being slightly easier. You can probably keep both types in there since they won't cross breed. Edited September 13, 2020 by Ben Ellison Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted September 13, 2020 Author Share Posted September 13, 2020 I think you’re right because both have done fine in the tank. And the breeding difficulty of both has been the same which is absolutely no difficulty at all. I’m actually going for as much crossbreeding as I can get just for the joy of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Ellison Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 Well neo and standard cardinia can't physically cross breed based on my read due to physical difference. However I think mixing strands of either looks fun even if you get some muddy ones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now