Will my discus eat my shrimp?

[CenturionElite]

Not referring to like brine but bamboo or vampire shrimp. I was thinking bout getting a new shrimp since my bamboo shrimp disappeared bout six months ago but I had him before I got my discus. Will my discus eat him? It is probably small enough for the discus not to do something.

[Red]

I am not sure, you have to give it try but in the long run they may pick at him.

[CenturionElite]

Yah thats what I was thinking. If he does eat him nothing bad should happen to the discus I presume?

[Red]

nope, just some nice tasty protein.

[Lady Hobbs]

I don't know why they wouldn't. My larger tetra's ate mine.

[Red]

Bamboo shrimp hobbs?

[i_am_511]

Well shrimp are on the lower part of the food chain so they might not eat them today or tommorow but one day they MIGHT eat them. I keep my ghost shrimp in my tank when the numbers get low a restock them. I have 1 ghost shrimp that has been in the tank since the summer its an extra large one and i dont think anyone wants to touch him or something.

[Discus_Dude]

Discus love shrimp of all kinds and are carnivores, so it may become a snack. Discus are also known for thire aggressive behavior as well even though my play well together....LOL

Wish I had better news.

[domjd05]

larger discus are known to eat cardinals.. I'd imagine they wouldn't hesitate to gobble up a shrimp lol.

[Red]

Bamboo shrimp get 3-4" long... Thats a big shrimp to eat.

[Discus_Dude]

Sometimes, with discus anyway, if the tank mates are the first in the tank my experience is that the discus really don't pay much attention to them, but it's a different story if the discus are there first and have set up their pecking order and terratories.

You can sometimes disrupt the established terratories by rearranging your decor, which might be a safety percaution before introducing new tank mates to try if you're set on adding something like this.

Best of luck!

[domjd05]

Bamboo shrimp get 3-4" long... Thats a big shrimp to eat.


If the discus doesn't eat it BEFORE it gets that size, then... well yeahhh..

Anyway, Discus Dude is right on, if you can disrupt your discus's territory by moving some decor/plants around (since I'm assuming the discus is already in the tank) it could possibly work, other than that, try it, the worse that could happen is you'll be out a few bucks and your discus will be full.

[lobsternoob]

Well, if it was ghost shrimp, I would say they'd be discus food pretty quick. Bamboo shrimp due to their size have a better chance I'd think. Only one way to find out!

[Discus_Dude]

Discus are not like Oscars who can take in an entire feeder guppy/goldfish in one gulp. It only takes one bite at a time my friends.

You could always try adding a divider temporarily to allow them to get settled. No knows for sure what will happen given each tank and it's inhabitants are different. I hope it works out should you decide to give it a try.

[Red]

If the discus doesn't eat it BEFORE it gets that size, then... well yeahhh..

Anyway, Discus Dude is right on, if you can disrupt your discus's territory by moving some decor/plants around (since I'm assuming the discus is already in the tank) it could possibly work, other than that, try it, the worse that could happen is you'll be out a few bucks and your discus will be full.

They are pretty much that size in the fish store. FYI

[lobsternoob]

Discus are not like Oscars who can take in an entire feeder guppy/goldfish in one gulp. It only takes one bite at a time my friends.

You could always try adding a divider temporarily to allow them to get settled. No knows for sure what will happen given each tank and it's inhabitants are different. I hope it works out should you decide to give it a try.

Discus are definitely nibblers, yeah, no comparison to just inhaling stuff like an oscar. That's what makes me think bamboo shrimp would be fine, and yeah the bamboo shrimp I typically see at the LFS are around 2-3" already. If small discus grow up with them around when the shrimp are about the same size i bet it would work well, and I doubt the shrimp could harm the discus even if they got a chance to try, as to my knowledge they are filter feeders. Ghost shrimp though, I know for a fact don't usually work well with discus, except that one little shrimp that finds an awesome hiding spot. It never comes out and you see it once every year or so.

At least with ghost shrimp, they are usually cheap enough anyone can afford to keep a stock of them in the tank even when being eaten. Ghosties are like 20 cents or less for me, while bamboos are like 4-8 dollars each.

Although I did find this statement on a random googled site.
These shrimp should never be housed with fish that could hurt it, such as most cichlids, even if the fish is smaller than the shrimp or the same size. The Asian Filter Shrimp itself is totally harmless and is not even capable of hurting the smallest fry or other, smaller shrimp. Thus, it can be housed with all dwarf shrimp, regardless of size.

[Discus_Dude]

I've only ever tried neon and rummy noise tetras, which are both supposed to be good with discus. I do have the standard cleaning crew with green coryies and compatible plecos. You need to inquire to their tolerance for higher temperatures though, which can be deal breaker. My community tank is at 84 and my grow out is at 86. A lot of tank mates will expire within six months, but some breeds can tolerate the higher temp well enough.

[lobsternoob]

Well said discus dude, it's been a long time since I've had discus, and the temp may break the deal, most shrimp seem to tolerate lower temps better than higher ones IME. I had a heat wave a while back that cooked a buncha ghosties at about 82.

[CenturionElite]

Well my discus is really mellow. I have never seen him attack any of the fish in my tank and the one time I saw him chasing the neon rainbows around the next day he was swimming in a school with them (dont know what thats about). I guess it wont hurt to try, I mean the bamboo shrimp at my local fish store is only 6-7$ so its not like Im out a lot of money