Masters of disguise...

As the thread title implies, I have recently learned just how darn good amano shrimp are at hiding. I thought for sure that my discus had munched down the 2 I put in my 55g tank last month, yet out of the blue, I noticed one of them hiding in my tank this afternoon. It was hiding in a small hole in one of my pieces of driftwood. I was utterly amazed... Perhaps getting a few more might not be such a bad idea after all. Anyone know if they get territorial over their hiding spots?

Anyone happen to know of anywhere in the LA/Orange County (CA) area that carries amano's for less than $4 each? I really like the little guys, but I'm not sure if I want to spend that much on 'em. I have considered ordering some cherry shrimp instead, as I've read they are also rather adept at eating algae. The only reason I'm even considering something living for eating algae is the brown algae I keep getting on my plants... I don't want to damage them removing it all the time. I do very frequent water changes (50% every other day, frequently do 30% changes between the 50% changes) so I don't believe its organic wastes contributing to it, but I don't have a test kit to determine the level of phosphates in my tap water. I have read up about it somewhat, but haven't really gotten a whole lot of conclusive answers aside from "scrub it off as it shows up." On the glass and driftwood, this is no problem at all. I get in the tank and scrub every weekend... sometimes once through the week too. Like I said, my concern is with the plants, mostly with my pennywort, but with the other plants also. Any suggestions/ideas? I'd like to avoid bleach dips if possible.... I know I can dechlor it and put the plant back in the tank, but I don't want to risk that one... 7 discus = I'm very paranoid about what's going into my tank. What else can I do with delicate plants, that doesn't involve chemicals?

msjinkzd said:

my only concern with adding cherries to deal with the brown algae is that in a tank with discus they will probably hide most of the time and I am not sure how much they would come out to "graze" but they are inexpensive and it may be worth a try.

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I was affraid of this, based on what my amano shrimp has been doing. (I've only confirmed the presence of one of the two I introduced into the tank a couple weeks ago)

I don't have a huge carpet of plants just yet, but I do have a lot of growth in the plants I've got, and am starting to get an idea of what it may look like in the months to come. I'll have to get a full tank picture up to show you guys what I'm working with. Perhaps I'll take some pics after my water change tonight.

If I do go with the cherries, what would be a good number to start with? 30? 40? I'd like to give them a fighting chance, and I'm hoping my discus don't just eat them all in the first few days. If that happens... I'll be sad. :sad:

msjinkzd said:

well I added 10 cherries to my 36g (in my sig) about 3-4 months ago and now have 150 in a 10g and countless in the 36g. I think if you start with 20 or so it will give them more than a head start especially if you have some moss in the tank for them to hide deep inside when they are berried.

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Wow... prolific little buggers. : My gf wants to add a few cherries to her 10g tank, but has a penguin HOB filter. Will all of the offspring end up motor food if she doesn't have a sponge covering the intake? (she does have some java moss, just not a huge pile or anything) I myself don't run pre-filters on either of my filters.. would that be wise to protect the cherry's offspring?

Slightly off-topic, but pertaining to the pre-filter idea, if I was to do a sponge pre-filter, how would I go about cleaning it or removing it without dumping a bunch of junk back into my tank? Just clean it frequently? As it is, I plan to switch my XP3 to mostly bio media and remove the carbon that is in it currently, and I'm still contemplating removing the Emperor 400 and replacing it with a secondary XP3.