# how many ghost shrimp?



## battered (Jan 1, 2012)

While ghost shrimp may breed in your tank, their babies won't survive. My ghost shrimp seemed to be fine with a bit of aquarium salt, but I don't think it's good to add it regularly in general. I don't normally leave food specifically for my shrimp; they'll find things to eat. If you wanted to, I guess you could sink a betta pellet every once in a while.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

Your betta, even if he doesn't bother adult shrimp, is going to eat the zoeas and baby shrimp. You might have some survivors, but it's not a good situation for them. If there is a very large quantity of plant matter (moss and the like) then you might wind up with survivors just because of the number of hiding places that are available. Ghost shrimp zoeas will grow up into adults in a mature tank, they just won't have the opportunity with fish around.

I would not bother trying to put cherry shrimp in a small tank with a betta; they're going to be eaten. I'm sure someone on here has done it successfully, but the odds are very much against it. Ghost shrimp might work just because they are so much larger than cherry shrimp that they are less likely to be perceived as prey. If you do go with ghost shrimp, you need to be sure that you're not getting red claw macro shrimp (or some other macrobrachium) instead of ghost shrimp. The mixup occurs mostly with younger, wild caught shrimp, as the juveniles look very similar. If the shrimp has claws (beyond the tiny feeding claws all shrimp have,) don't get it. Red claw macros will tear your betta to shreds.

For ghost shrimp, you can keep quite a few in there with a betta without crowding things biologically speaking, but 10 or so seems like a reasonable test to me to find out whether you're going to have shrimp as food or not. It will only cost you a few bucks and the worst case scenario is that your betta is a bit fatter for a couple of weeks.

The salt won't cause any problems for the shrimp (cherry or ghost.) Feed it whatever you like. Ghost shrimp aren't biofilm eaters like cherry shrimp are, so you do need to feed them something. Flake food works just fine.


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## DesmondTheMoonBear (Dec 19, 2011)

Don't be afraid of ordering RCS, try aquabid, there's some good deals on there. The SnS is the go to place for whatever I need.

As far as ghost shrimp, as long as they aren't a brackish requiring species (Which some are sold as) they will berry up easily. Since they're low order shrimp their babies are born as free floating larvae, which your betta will most certainly eat. They'll most likely starve without a constant source of food such as microrganisms or green water.


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## CatB (Jan 29, 2012)

thanks for all the quick responses-

right now my tank has a cluster of plants (they just all kind-of...converged) that includes a pretty large java fern, some sort of thin-leaved crypt, and water sprite. there are also a couple java ferns that are separated from the group. oh, also a small anubias. is that enough for shrimp to hide themselves in? there's also a blank area in the tank that's started to look pretty ugly to me, i was thinking about putting a moss carpet there (using plastic sheet mesh), or possibly a rock with moss on it. with that, would there be enough hiding spaces for shrimp?

also- if i were to get, say, 20 shrimp, would they reproduce fast enough so that my betta wouldn't destroy the entire baby population, and some would survive to adults?

or would the above method combined with the moss work? 

sorry for all the questions, i've never done shrimp before (as you can probably tell). thanks again for your help!

EDIT: i just remembered something i read a looong time ago when i was researching keeping shrimp with bettas- someone wrote that if you get like, small flowerpots to half-bury (or i guess you could break them in half?) in the substrate, then the shrimp can hide in there and it would be less likely that they would be eaten by the betta. is there any truth to this, or to the usefulness of other "hiding caves" for shrimp?


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

You'd wanna get some moss to provide cover/biofilm area for shrimp. While the plants you named will provide some cover, there isn't really any good hiding places inside those plants. Depending on how thick the moss carpet/rock you add is, it could definitely be enough hiding spots for shrimp.

I don't think any amount of shrimp with a betta will reproduce unless you have TONS of hiding places. As in... extremely heavily planted tank. Especially so with ghost shrimp as their offspring have a larval stage. Free floating shrimp in a betta tank = food, no questions asked. Since you said your 5.5G, I think starting with ~10 would be a good number. 

And the broken flower pot method does work. But so does adding moss into the tank . As long as the fish can't immediately spot the shrimp it won't really go for it.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

You'll definitely need Moss to give the shrimp something to graze on and also shelter for the shrimp babies. I never found Bettas to be a good tankmate for any type of shrimp. Fine with other fish as long as they dont like nipping fins.

You can also go to lowes/home depot and get 3/4" pvc pipe and cut them in 2-3" sections to create a shelter for them as well.


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## CatB (Jan 29, 2012)

i think i'll get both some moss and PVC pipe/small flowerpots, and then get my shrimp. ten does seem like a good number.
thanks!


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## shrimp pliskin (Mar 16, 2012)

I kept some larger sized ghost shrimp with my betta in a 2.5 gal and they all got along. I provided some water sprite which quickly turned into a bush that the shrimp would use to take cover when they would moult. Don't worry about them breeding though, they aren't like RCS. Their fry is not easy to keep alive in captivity. I wouldn't recommend RCS with any aggressive fish. They are tiny and sensitive to their tankmates.


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## CatB (Jan 29, 2012)

shrimp pliskin said:


> I kept some larger sized ghost shrimp with my betta in a 2.5 gal and they all got along. I provided some water sprite which quickly turned into a bush that the shrimp would use to take cover when they would moult. Don't worry about them breeding though, they aren't like RCS. Their fry is not easy to keep alive in captivity. I wouldn't recommend RCS with any aggressive fish. They are tiny and sensitive to their tankmates.


okay, thanks. ghost shrimp seems the way to go, even if, say, half of them do get eaten, then they're only like... 39 cents apiece around here, so. xD
i guess the real trick is buying ones in good health...


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## DesmondTheMoonBear (Dec 19, 2011)

CatB said:


> okay, thanks. ghost shrimp seems the way to go, even if, say, half of them do get eaten, then they're only like... 39 cents apiece around here, so. xD
> i guess the real trick is buying ones in good health...


 
If you just want shrimp, period, then ghosties are great and still fun to watch. I've always had something for them because you can watch the food in their stomachs digesting. 

Though as far as breeding ghost shrimp goes, you can say goodbye to that. Even with TONS of plants, it really doesn't matter, since once again, ghost shrimp larvae are free floating and will not cling onto anything for several days or a week. More often or not they'll float near the surface since that's were lots of their food lives. Tiny shrimpies + surface + betta = A slightly satisfied betta.


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## Bananariot (Feb 28, 2012)

One betta, if aggressive enough,will annihilate any population of cherry shrimp. My betta is aggressive enough in a 20L to kill everything. Sometimes just for fun.


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## dindin (Mar 4, 2009)

*snicker* then there's always the opposite. One of my male bettas lives in a grow-out tank with newborn platies and swords, and a bristle nose breeder pair (and their offsprings). He gets chased by the juvie fish!


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## ValMM (Feb 22, 2011)

DesmondTheMoonBear said:


> Though as far as breeding ghost shrimp goes, you can say goodbye to that. Even with TONS of plants, it really doesn't matter, since once again, ghost shrimp larvae are free floating and will not cling onto anything for several days or a week.


Like Desmond said, if you leave them in the tank to hatch, yes they will most likely die. If you take the mother out before they hatch and keep her in green water, they are more likely to survive. I am currently doing this with a batch of ghost shrimp larvae. It's been a week and none have died so far.


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## CatB (Jan 29, 2012)

alright, thanks for all the feedback! i think i might test my betta with maybe...one? RCS with moss, and see if he doesn't try to eat it. he doesn't strike me as particularly aggressive, but fish can surprise you!


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## Cynical Fish Guy (Feb 19, 2012)

I got ghosties. I have a cousin to your betta, the Gourami in the tank too. The other tank mates include a school of vicious Neon Tetras (now fully adult) as well as equally predatory Harlequin Raspboras. 3 Corydoras Trilineatus Catfish; and "Super Snail" an adult Pearl Mystery Snail. My tank 15 US gal. long, is Heavily planted with Wisteria and Java Fern, and a string of anachoris.

Until most recently I never saw actual baby shrimp, but I have them now. I have huge algae growth in my tank, it makes a carpet on a portion of the gravel. I have an under powered 10 gal. rated Filter. I don't use carbon because it gets clogged by algae too fast, and steals nutrients the plant life uses. I started adding live brine shrimp to my fish diet, and after a month I noticed baby ghost shrimp popping up. I have constantly berried shrimp with a guess of 5 females and 2 males. I really have no idea how many shrimp I started with, and with my recent discoveries, I know some young shrimp are making it to adult-hood. My estimate is a 5% survival rate. For every 100 babies, I'm guessing 5 make it to adult hood... Only if I add brine shrimp and keep my algae mattes in the tank. I also have a large piece of wood that is used by other species {catfish mainly} as a cove/home. The shrimp have created a rookery of sorts and I have spied baby shrimp using it as a shelter. I have also spied several generations of baby shrimp and 2 young adult shrimp... It's almost impossible for me to take a census count of ghost shrimp, I can lookright at young ones and not see them.


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