# Ghost Shrimp Questions, size food ect.



## julem35 (Dec 22, 2010)

Ok! So here is my plan!!

I was going to just have a plain little 1 gallon corner tank for growing those plants that start with "A" that I can never remember what they are called. They just keep expanding and some people call them a hassle. I love them for baby fish and my tetras eat 'em up.

SO!
I wanted to add some ghost shrimp. I had a few a while back in my 30gallon (they didn't last long, I didn't know what I was doing....) and I have totally forgotten everything I know about them. So here are my questions:

1) How many can fit in a one gallon [happily]?
2) What should I feed them (I have tetra flakes, freeze-dried blood worms, and MANY kinds of goldfish food on hand, if thats any help)?
3)Any other tips I should know.


ALSO! I used to have African dwarf frogs (I loved them to pieces.) and thought, HEY! If I shouldn't get ghost shrimp, should I get one or two of those?
I also have forgotten most of my info on them as well.\


Thanks in advance!

~J


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## julem35 (Dec 22, 2010)

Ok i have found out on my own that they can eat hair algae as well as the algae of the glass which they can and will climb. They can also eat flakes and should be fine in my one gal, but how many should i get i didnt see. I would rather shrimp than frogs right now. 
I have another question. What is their life expectancy? Thanks again! J


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## AvocadoPuffDude (Jan 20, 2011)

First, you don't really need to worry much about feeding shrimp. They're basically scavengers, and can get into every little nook and cranny, and will be happy and healthy with far less food than what you would expect. Even without you feeding them they will pick at bits of algae and whatever.
Unfortunately, breeding them is easy but raising the babies is difficult, as the babies are prime food for just about anything. You'll probably see the females carrying around eggs and even babies for a while, then one day, they're all gone and you just never see the babies again.
I'm not sure what their life expectancy is; mine usually succumb to becoming a fish dinner before they die of old age, usually less than 6 months. I'm not sure if the frog would eat them or not, but would probably go after the babies. You MIGHT be able to establish a breeding population of shrimp if you have no other "predators" in there to eat the babies.....
I'm not sure how many could survive in a 1-gallon; start with 5 or so, and add more slowly, and see what happens! You might get more in there than you think.
Good luck. Also, check out cherry shrimp, amano shrimp, and any other cool shrimps.


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

OK, so in a one gallon I really wouldnt recomend keeping frogs at all, first off because they require more room than that, and second because people often get African Clawed Frogs by accident which grow to be far larger than dwarf frogs. One good tip when buying them is if its albino its an ACF, dwarf frogs dont have albino variants.

If your keeping ghost shrimp on their own you have to feed them, anyone telling you otherwise is either lying or they themselves have been told missinformation. Ghost shrimp are not reliable algae eaters, they will eat some amounts of it but it does not provide them with all the sustinence they require and they will live conciderably shorter lives if you simply rely on them eating the algae growing in your tank.

That said if you are keeping ghosts (or any shrimp for that matter) with other fish, either communaly or as food you dont have to feed them directly, ghost shrimp are excellent scavengers and will happily live off the food left behind from your fish.

Ghost shrimp can grow up to roughly 1-1 1/2 inches in size, and dont require huge amounts of space, however in a one gallon I would probably start with 4-5 and see how that goes, as in small confined spaces ghost shrimp are known to become agressive to eachother. Ive never kept mine in anything smaller than a 5g so you will have to experiment on your own with that in order to discover the best population size.

Most people will tell you that ghost shrimp arent worth keeping as they are notoriously short lived, this is a result of the fact that a) for some reason there seems to be a ton of missinformation about keeping ghost shrimp online, and B) because most ghost shrimp are sold as feeders they usualy arent treated terribly well in transport and as a result when you buy them many are often stressed or near death already. Because of this it is extremely common to have large die offs when you first purchase your shrimp, simply remove the dead shrimp and purchase more untill you have the population size you were hoping for. The upside to ghost shrimp being sold as feeders is that you should be able to find them dirt cheap just about anywhere, if a store is charging more than a few cents - a dollar per shrimp go somewhere else.

Another very frustrating thing about keeping ghost shrimp is that there seems to be etremely little information regarding breeding them. I have personaly successfully bread ghost shrimp and if you want more information than what is provided here: http://www.fishforums.com/forum/inv...ding-ghost-shrimp-palaeomonetes-patulous.html feel free to PM me. Also one thing that Corydora_Freak did not mention is that often recently hatched infant shrimp will be sucked into the filter, an excellent way to get around this is to take a piece of filter sponge, cut a verticle line in the sponge and slide it up over the intake of the filter.

Ghost shrimp, like all aquarium invertebrates need to shed their exoskeleton from time to time as they grow, this is because while their insides get larger as they age their exoskeletons stay the same size, forcing them to occassionaly abandon them and grow new ones. If you ever see what looks like a hollow shrimp sitting around in the tank do not remove it, the shrimp who shed it will have to eat that skeleton in order to have the calcium required to grow a new healthy exoskeleton. Also dont mistake exoskeletons for dead shrimp, the skeleton will be entirely translucent whereas a dead shrimp will turn a peachy pink color.

When I was first getting into keeping ghost shrimp I read in various locations (both in books and online) that sexing shrimp is impossible, this is 100% incorrect. Female ghost shrimp will grow to almost double the size of males, providing easy distinction between the sexes. Also if your ghost shrimp are happy and healthy the females will often be seen carrying eggs under their tails. Males also appear to have thinner tails due to the exoskeleton of femails extending down farther so as to partialy cover and protect the eggs she is carrying.


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## julem35 (Dec 22, 2010)

thanks guys! I was planning on having two to start off, and dont really have any plans to breed just yet. The guppies keep my hands full enough but i know that I will want to breed the someday. I have extra tanks lying around so I'm good there. Is two or three a good amount, or do they like to have a certain number? These will be ghost shrimp because thats all my LFS carries....:chair: They will be housed just by themselves as I hate having my fish eat them, its happened too many times with ghost shrimp. I will probably throw in a few flakes every two days or so to keep them happy and since they will live in a plant growing tank, they will be on a table near a window so algae will grow for them to eat. I read this yesterday and I found out alot, but still love any extra help.
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/freshwater-shrimp/general-guide-shrimp-keeping-37012/

Thanks to you both, you guys are amazing!!


ALSO: I will prbably get them in the next week or so, so stay tuned for more!!!



EDIT: What should I NOT do or stuff that I should watch out for.?


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

two or three should be fine, again though expect to be replacing them for the first little bit.
(though if you dont have to thats great too)

Just dont use anything with heavy metals in it, as fish, and especialy invertebrates are sensitive to them.

Also if you do ever decide to keep them with other fish, (they go well with small things like guppies etc) and you have to medicate your fish for any reason ensure that the medication is invertebrate safe.


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## julem35 (Dec 22, 2010)

Thanks! I was planning on setting up a guppy tank of twenty gallons so if i might breed the shrimmp i could put them there when they are older. Although i might not breed them in which case i would put a Pair of african dwarfs in there


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

your keeping the dwarfs in the guppy tank? or the shrimp tank


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## julem35 (Dec 22, 2010)

gUppy tank. sorry i wasnt clear.


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