Planaria eating, but shrimp friendly fish?

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shrimpkeeper222
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Planaria eating, but shrimp friendly fish?

Post by shrimpkeeper222 »

Hi guys. I have a problem in my 14.6 gallon tank. It has PLANARIAS! I know they can be harmless, but they are known to attack molting shrimps, so im kinda worried :-S , since it is a shrimp breeding colony tank. The Ancistrus was rehomed because of high bioload and robust feeding. I need a fish that does that not predatate on shrimplets but will predatate (or at least make them hide) on planarias. I've been thinking:
Pygmy Cories?
Pencilfish?
Kulhi Loaches?
Any replies will be awesome.
Bee Shrimp will be shrimp!
RCS(Red Cherry Shrimp) are CS(Cherry Shrimp)!
A man o' shrimps keeps amano shrimps!
Jobro
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Re: Planaria eating, but shrimp friendly fish?

Post by Jobro »

Pygmy cories seem to be not too much interested in planarias.

You talking about the very very small white worms on the glas of a tank, right? there are some planarias that do get bigger than 1cm. You probably not talking about those, right?
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gulogulo
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Re: Planaria eating, but shrimp friendly fish?

Post by gulogulo »

I have heard that scarlet badis will (in fact, are natural predators of) flatworms and will leave shrimp alone. I have been meaning to try it in my shrimp tank but haven't yet. If I do I will post the outcome.
shrimpkeeper222
Posts: 122
Joined: 09 Nov 2015, 10:42
My cats species list: 5 (i:3, k:0)
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Location 1: South Korea
Location 2: Earth
Interests: Fish Keeping, Shrimp Keeping, Logic Problem solving, Minecraft, Bird Watching

Re: Planaria eating, but shrimp friendly fish?

Post by shrimpkeeper222 »

Jobra, yes i am talking about those-and since pygmy cories where introduced, planaria numbers have gone down. this is due to:
1. Predatation
2. Pygmy cories scaring them into hiding by foraging
3. Lack of leftovers thanks to the foraging cories.
And gulgulo, im sorry to say scarlet badis will hunt shrimplets.
Bee Shrimp will be shrimp!
RCS(Red Cherry Shrimp) are CS(Cherry Shrimp)!
A man o' shrimps keeps amano shrimps!
Jobro
Posts: 861
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Re: Planaria eating, but shrimp friendly fish?

Post by Jobro »

Those very very small planarias seem to be present in most aquariums and tend to only show up if there is excess food and organic waste in the tank. Usually something is not right inside the tank, when they show up. You might go with less feeding for a while and look out for any spots in the tank, where organic waste piles up or gets stuck, maybe some dead shrimps buried somewhere or the like. If you have woods in the tank, check out if it may be rotting away slowly or something like that. It's usually better to search for the cause of the problem rather than only fighting the symptoms.
follow my Plecos on Instagram: welsgefluester
shrimpkeeper222
Posts: 122
Joined: 09 Nov 2015, 10:42
My cats species list: 5 (i:3, k:0)
My aquaria list: 3 (i:2)
Location 1: South Korea
Location 2: Earth
Interests: Fish Keeping, Shrimp Keeping, Logic Problem solving, Minecraft, Bird Watching

Re: Planaria eating, but shrimp friendly fish?

Post by shrimpkeeper222 »

Jobro, these planarias are about 0.6cm, and they seem to have disappeared when i increased feeding and stock-maybe due the the aquarium being more established and ready to handle organic waste, or maybe because I added more moss(thought here was a ton already-I <3 moss)?
Bee Shrimp will be shrimp!
RCS(Red Cherry Shrimp) are CS(Cherry Shrimp)!
A man o' shrimps keeps amano shrimps!
Jobro
Posts: 861
Joined: 29 Jul 2015, 17:34
My cats species list: 12 (i:7, k:0)
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Spotted: 3
Location 1: Germany
Location 2: Allgäu

Re: Planaria eating, but shrimp friendly fish?

Post by Jobro »

Ok, then we are talking about a different kind of planaria. the ones I was talking about usually are at most 1mm. You can only see them when your really close to the glass. I think those would not harm any shrimps. But with 0,6cm they can be a threat I guess.

Planaria traps are easy to build and could help minimizing their numbers even further. Try googling "planaria trap".

Maybe the planaria just went hiding in the moss? :D
follow my Plecos on Instagram: welsgefluester
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