# Ghost Shrimp?



## InuGirlTeen (Oct 26, 2008)

I am considering buying a few ghost shrimp for my tanks. I did a little research on them and everything looks okay. They are compatible with all my fish it seems, with the exception of my betta but the tank is large. [60-gallons]

I was just wanting to see if there is anything specific that I should know before buying them. What have you learned from your experiences with them? I want them to keep my tanks clean and I think they are fun to watch. =3


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

I have learned that since they are so cheap, get as many as you can afford. They wont take up much bioload at all, and a lot of them will constantly hide. I had 40 in my 75G and it was great. They like live plants, and even throw in some filter floss and they will hang out there. The other fish picked on them at first, but with 40 of them, a few could get eaten and it was still fun.


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## Plecostomus (Jul 31, 2006)

I had one big ghost shrimp once, and it was very large for a ghost shrimp. Sometimes if it got really hungry, when I fed flakes to the other fish, it would swim to the surface, go upside-down, and try to grab flakes as they pass by. It would also act really feircely when I put in a sinking pellet, it would grab the pellet and start eating, trying to fend off the Kuhli loaches with its tiny claws, and the kuhli loaches wouldn't even notice it and take the pellet. The ghost shrimp had a lot of personality and it was really cool. I don't know which fish, but one of my fish started nipping it after i had it for about 5 months, the same fish also stated nipping at my ghost catfish and they both died. I never found out which one it was, but I suspected the neon tetras.


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## Suess00 (Sep 5, 2008)

yeah I have five of them for like 3 weeks and they are all still alive to my suprise.

I thought the Peacock Eel would eat them but he leaves them alone and they are really fun to watch and also to watch them eat frozen blood worms with they little claws and seeing it go into their stomachs.


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## InuGirlTeen (Oct 26, 2008)

Thanks for your replies!

I'm going to stop by the fish store on my way home from school tomorrow and pick some up. I was thinking about five or so for my 60-gallon. If I really like them I might get one or two for my 10-gallon.

Oh, also is there anything I can do, besides cycling my tank with store bought water, to lower the water hardness? I really want some angels and the water is just too hard for them.


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## yournamehere (Oct 12, 2008)

I bought 5 ghost shrimp last week for a dollar, my bst's ate them all


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

Sure it was the BSTs and not the leaf fish?


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## yournamehere (Oct 12, 2008)

trashion said:


> Sure it was the BSTs and not the leaf fish?


yea, i saw them 
my leafs were busy eating guppies


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## Asully70 (Aug 22, 2008)

i bought like 7 for my 29 gallon and i cleaned out the tank and all i found were carcases (sp?) i think one or two is still living but everytime they come out of their hiding spot my gourami tries eating them so they just hide.


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## Tankscaper (Oct 26, 2008)

"Oh, also is there anything I can do, besides cycling my tank with store bought water, to lower the water hardness?" 

here's a question for you. the water you use at home or wherever your tanks are, is it coming from well, or is it city water? 

if you have well water going to your house, then store bought water is fine. if your water is coming from the city, then all you got to do is get yourself some water conditioner. usually the city water will come softer rather than harder. 

another note: if you have well water and you use a water softener system that you shouldnt have any problems either. just remember to use the conditioner. this will help eliminate heavy metals and neutralize the water. use this as recommended by the manufacturers bottle.


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

Also, once you get the ghost shrimp, make sure not to add any medicines into the tank that contain copper. They will pretty much instanty kill the shrimp and any other type of inverts that you keep in the tank. Read all meds really carefully.


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