Glass Shrimp and Discus?

[Benny]

Hey guys,
recently began replanting my tank again, and on the hunt to make it a tad more interesting..

I stumbled across the glass shrimp that mr Takashi Amano himself uses to eat algae on livefish.com.au's site (via aqua auctions).

I love the look of the lil critters but had a few questions.

a) would they dare try nippin a discus?
b) would they survive in 29degree C water?
c) would the discus enjoy the live menu?
d) what quarantine procedures would one take with these lil fellaz
e) how many in a 48"x19"x24" (95gal) tank would you reccomend?

Considering buying them in the future
Benny[/img]

[Proteus]

stumbled across the glass shrimp that mr Takashi Amano himself uses to eat algae on livefish.com.au's site

This is not the Shrimp that Amano uses, far from it actually.

The glass shrimp found here are ok to use, but they do have very small nippers. In a normal planted tank, no problems, if you have delicate plants though, they will chop them up good and proper over time.

The Japonica Amano Shrimp, also known as Yamato numa-ebi is one of the best type of Shrimp to use, as they dont have those nasty little nippers. Sadly though, they are very very hard to find down here, they are around, and when available fetch big big dollars.

The Amano Shrimp, also known as the "Japanese Swamp Shrimp" and the "Yamoto Numa-Ebi", is considered one of the best algae eating creatures for any aquarium. They are highly desired by aquarists, and make great additions to any tank.

Amano Shrimp are quite active and very cute. They can be highly entertaining to watch, as there is rarely a moment when they are not moving around. Their most popular feature, however, is their diet. These little creatures will strip an aquarium of its algae population in a few days, which helps to keep it clean. The Amano can be kept with any fish that will not eat them, which brings the selection to the fish that are smaller than two inches inch in size. Amano Shrimp should be kept in aquariums with moderate rock decoration and heavy plant decoration. Live plants are highly recommended, including the Amazon Sword and the Java Moss. Live plants may be nibbled on if the Shrimp are not well fed.

At maturity, the Amano Shrimp will reach a size of roughly two inches. Their bodies have very beautiful colors. For the most part, their body is colored a light, opaque brown color. Their back has a darker tan stripe that goes from their head to their tail. Their little tails have black and white dots. In addition, the sides of the Amano Shrimp have broken lines of a reddish color. The Amano Shrimp does not have large claws like most other shrimp. They have a relatively long life span, though.

The Amano Shrimp can be found in the many swamps of Japan. Most of the commercial Amano Shrimp are taken from the southern island of Japan, called Kyushu. Takashi Amano first used them in the aquarium hobby in 1983, and gave them his name. These highly desired fish are hard to find.

Red Cherry Shrimp are also very good to use, again, very hard to source, and highly sought after.

Red Cherry Shrimp
Neocaridina denticulata sinensis
(a.k.a. Minami Numa Ebi, or Taiwan Shrimp)

The Red Cherry Shrimp are very unique and can only be found in limited areas of Taiwan until now. Red Cherry Shrimp eat many more types of algae unlike the Caridina japonica (Amano shrimp) which are more limited to just hair algae and detritus, and are currently regarded as the best cleaners for fish tanks. These bright red colored Cherry Shrimp enrich the look of any fish tank, and provide a high value of appreciation to fresh water aquaria.

[Ben]

Are these more exotic shrimp a legal import ?

As those cherry shrimp look stunning!

[Benny]

.... bugger....

[dreamer]

no invert is allowed for import i think.

while red cherry shrimp is nice, crystal red shrimp is even nicer ....

[zipztar]

yes and the shrimp (ghost or glass shrimp) wont survive in water temps used for discus, in my experience they will die after a few weeks when they shed their shells.

[Ben]

great article about these shrimps in this months TFH magazine!

[oscar]

great article about these shrimps in this months TFH magazine!

So the conclusion is that shrimp are a no go?

What else makes a good interesting and attractive algae cleaner. I 've started to bet a bit of algae recently. Mainly on leaves but also on the glass.

My collection of various bristles and L168's don't look after the glass very well, i think they're too well fed.

[RJ_Archer]

hahaha glass shrimp in an aquarium i catch them by the 100's and big to and ill i use them for is feeders and fish bait lol, iv never seen them attack a fish so they should be ok as long as there not to small, and they should be fine in 29* water. i keep em in with other americans(as feeders) but a few go and hind for a few days so yea hope dis helps

[nicholas76]

RJ_Archer what your location are you in Oz?