# Are cherry shrimps safe with tropheus?



## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

Tropheus being herbivore, do they eat cherry shrimps or ghost shrimps?


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## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

I'd guess yes, especially if they are small. I have seen mine eat fry, and I'd suspect at least that small shrimp would have no chance.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I've heard the herbivore mbuna eat them so I would also expect tropheus to eat them.


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

Yes I saw 3" demasoni eating ghost shrimps. So even herbivores like shrimps!


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## Fish Jerk (Mar 9, 2016)

Anything over about two inches will delightfully eat your cherry shrimp. Sometimes you can get them in with some somewhat bigger fishes up to 4 inches if you have lots of plants and rocks and they are relatively peaceful. But there's probably no cichlids they can make it with. Maybe silver dollars.

Angels will get them, but possibly they won't be good enough at catching them to make much difference in a planted tank.

And demasoni will attack their reflection and even inanimate objects. Nothing is safe from those tiny terrors :lol:


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## Tropheus_Man_77 (Apr 14, 2016)

Tropheus like other fish need around %35 protein in their food. They kill each other. They start nipping at the killed fish. They will eat your shrimp too. Sometimes as a treat people feeds tropheus a little bit of brine shrimp with some veggies. They are omnivores. They eat plants and meat. They eat a lot plants, and mostly plants, but they eat like pigs, and are willing to eat meat too.


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

These "herbivores" just eat a lot of vegetable matter, it is their niche, their way of making a living. They also eat plankton in the water column if they can, little tiny crustaceans that live in the algae and sand. Fish are opportunistic, they will eat what they can get. just about any fish will eat a shrimp if they can handle it. Fish may not really know what a larger shrimp is and may ignore, but cichlids are pretty smart and opportunistic.

Aggression from pecking order is different from being a predator. Cichlids do not fight to eat the other fish, they fight for hierarchy. Predatory cichlids are not "aggressive" against smaller prey, they just see the smaller fish as potential food.

Not sure what fish does not eat "meat"? Plecostomus eat whatever they can find. Corydorus cats will eat small fry.


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

I put several ghost shrimps last week and there are still some shrimps walk around in the tank today


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## ajws9356 (Feb 9, 2016)

Almost no Tanganyikan is a strict herbivore, most will eat crustaceans if they're hungry and come across them in edible size. Bigger and they won't bother them too much. I have some adult shrimp in a couple tanks, some make it, some are skeletons.


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

I moved some plants (Bolbitis and Java ferns) into my rift lake cichlid tanks and was surprised that the cherry shrimp on them were not eaten. In fact they exploded in population, all over the tank and practically covering the Matten filters at the ends of 75's, 90's, and larger aquariums. The cherries blossomed in one tank after another, even with cichlids that* should* have been eating them. But it was temporary. In one tank after another, the cichlids suddenly realized they had company for dinner.


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## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

My friends and I always joke about the first person to eat a lobster. Same with fish apparently - you eat it. No, you try it. Then - holy cow, that is good, and the buffet is on!


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