Will Discus eat small shrimp?

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dustabusta

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 19, 2006
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Boise Idaho
I am planning a planted tank with lots of colorful small algae eating shrimp.

I have been keeping central/south american cichlids for three years now and am getting a bug to keep discus now that I am experienced.

I would like to put discus in the planted tank with the shrimp but am not sure how aggressive they would be, even though they are pretty docile they are still cichlids.

What do you guys think. Will they eat the small shrimp?
 
Also,.. Are discus as hard to keep as everyone says they are? I will be researching more and looking through this forum but I would appreciate anyone who will take the time to explain about keeping discus.
 
I would guess that given the opportunity that they would at least nip at the shrimp, and likely try eating them.

Ad for difficulty, well as long as you keep up with your water changes, and have the right type of water for them they really aren't that difficult. Now then the whole problem is you need to have the right soft, low ph water... which for most people means getting an RO filter, and hence in most peoples minds paying ~150 just to filter you water for fish = hard to keep fish. (Plus ~ 50% water changes weekly is a must, though many people do more.)

Besides that I really only feed them like the other fish, ie mostly nls, with blood worms and sometimes brine shrimp as snacks. Again it is getting your water to be the right ph and such that normally kills people. (Since it is much easier to add stuff to water hence african cichlids being thought of as easy, while it is harder to remove...)
 
Sorry forgot that not everyone knows what the abreviations stand for. An RO is Reverse Osmosis Water Filter. Here is an idea about what costs are... http://www.rockymountaindiscus.com/Water_filtration.htm

If you have hard, or higher PH and you want to do discus you really should get one. (There is a lot on the subject just look for it, I personally don't need one so I don't know a huge amount about what one is the best to get for the price, etc.)

NLS, is New Life Spectrum. Basically it is one of the staple foods people use. There is actually a discus formula, at the moment I am not using it but well I have always been pleased with there food. http://nlsfishfood.com/
 
I have my discus together with tease species of shrimp, Caradina japonica, Cambrellus patzcruensis and Atya gabonensis. They have not shown any agression towards the shrimps. Also discus have quit a small mouth compared to theyre size.
 
DeLgAdO;1382590;1382590 said:
discus are cichlids so they are predatory by nature, if its small enough to be eaten it WILL be eaten.
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Not necessarily true here del. Discus often survive along side cardinal tetras, which easily fit inside their mouths.
 
ikevi;1382018;1382018 said:
I would guess that given the opportunity that they would at least nip at the shrimp, and likely try eating them.

Ad for difficulty, well as long as you keep up with your water changes, and have the right type of water for them they really aren't that difficult. Now then the whole problem is you need to have the right soft, low ph water... which for most people means getting an RO filter, and hence in most peoples minds paying ~150 just to filter you water for fish = hard to keep fish. (Plus ~ 50% water changes weekly is a must, though many people do more.)

Besides that I really only feed them like the other fish, ie mostly nls, with blood worms and sometimes brine shrimp as snacks. Again it is getting your water to be the right ph and such that normally kills people. (Since it is much easier to add stuff to water hence african cichlids being thought of as easy, while it is harder to remove...)
Click to expand...
RO is not needed for discus, and not even needed for breeding. Wild caught discus are fairly sensitive to their pH, but domestic discus no longer have that problem. Many will breed in 8.0 water with 8-12dKH.
 
WyldFya;1382719; said:
RO is not needed for discus, and not even needed for breeding. Wild caught discus are fairly sensitive to their pH, but domestic discus no longer have that problem. Many will breed in 8.0 water with 8-12dKH.
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Yes, I will give you that some... some will live and spawn. And yes the domestic are much more able to have a wider range of pH. BUT still I know my folks couldn't even try with there well water in MN. It just is too hard and PH comes out often over 9. Heck they have a devil of a time keeping Angels happy with the water.

Anyways I was just pointing out the one area where you have to be concerned. And I would say that even for the domestic Discus while they can take higher ph, it doesn't mean they aren't being stressed and it is likely that they will appreciated a ph between 5.5 and 7.
 
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