# I want to breed ghost shrimp!



## Bluebugs (May 1, 2013)

You heard me! I have a 10 gallon tank just waiting for something to go in there. Over the past couple days I've been researching breeding ghost shrimp (tempting, as the only non-special order/expensive shrimp I can get at my LFS). The tank will be shrimp-only. But I have a few questions;

Will I need a heater? I'm thinking sponge-filter only. 

The whole brackish thing - I have heard that GS only breed in brackish water, and I've heard that's only a myth. I have also read that GS is a broad term applied to many different species some of which are native to brackish water. I have had some in my community tank before and they lived for quite a few months (presumably died off because all my fish are crazy and stressed them to death). Is this enough to confirm the petsmart near me sells freshwater shrimp?

Plants - Honestly, moss only seems the way to go. Plenty of places for the shrimplets and infusoria to hide. Also, where is a good place to get loads of moss?

Substrate - Sand or gravel? I've heard shrimp like sifting the sand for bacteria, does it make it better suited? I also want to do a dirted tank as I like dirt, but if there is nothing taking root in the soil - is it pointless? I also have heard that simply making a 'soil tea' is enough to breed infusoria. 

Should I be crazy enough to go down to my local pond and get a small spoon-ful of muck to mix with the substrate? I think that would really kick the BBs into gear. Biggest downside I see is introducing hydra. 

Sorry for all the beginner questions. I really just want to raise a lot of shrimp and I could get 30 ghosties for chump-change.


----------



## JustJen (Jun 20, 2011)

I have ghost shrimp in several tanks, and I can attest that they most definitely can and do breed in freshwater as my my original 2 or 3 in a tank has turned into 5-10 in most tanks. And that's with plenty of larger fish picking off anything smaller than full adults and not all THAT many plants to hide in in the tanks they're multiplying in.


----------



## Bluebugs (May 1, 2013)

So basically, you're saying all I have to do is keep parameters stable and wait?


----------



## wildroseofky (Mar 5, 2013)

Yep just put them in a tank with floating plants and they will breed. My original 5 have turned into lots and lots. At feeding time the whole front of my 29 gallon tank is covered. I have started putting them in my other tanks. I may have to start taking them to the local pet shop. 

To make food for the babies make green water. Get a glass jar with a lid, Add dechlorinated water. put in a blanched lettuce leaf and set in a sunny window. In a few days the water should start to turn green. You can just scoop out some of the water and feed it to the tank. Add a little more treated water to replace what you remove. 

I had a population explosion of ghost shrimp when I added a moss tree to my tank. I took some tree like branches, cut out circles of plastic canvas and attached them to the top of branches. I sewed moss onto it with fishing line. It grew to look like a tree. The shrimp love it. I would say that a floating mound of riccia fluitans would work to. It floats and gives the larvae a place to hide from fish. Any floating plant would probably work. The ghost shrimp larvae stay at the top of the tank and are usually eaten. Floating plants give them a place to hang out and not get sucked into the filter.


----------



## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

Off topic, but do you have a pic of your tree?


----------



## wildroseofky (Mar 5, 2013)

Sure do. Here it is I have made several since this one. I used what I was told was christmas moss but I do not think that is what it was. Maybe Java moss? I ordered some real christmas moss from a trusted seller and made another one this week.


----------



## Dolfan (Apr 8, 2005)

Most ghost shrimp sold in stores are the freshwater variety. They will get berried and have babies all in freshwater. The trick to breeding ghost shrimp is being able to feed them when they are born. Ghost shrimp are born in a larval state. They cannot swim very well or eat regular food that adults would eat, this is unlike other shrimp like RCS which are born as mini versions of adults and can eat anything. The ghost shrimp larvae need special food and an easy to find, plentiful supply of it to survive. Most people use infusoria and/or green water culture. You can google how to grow infusoria or green water. Not too hard to culture. Most tanks have some infusoria and a minimal amount of free floating algae (green water) in them so that is why some have ghost shrimp survive in their tanks. But if you want a larger percentage to survive a breeding tank is the way to go. Also, need to remove the parents from the breeding tank after the babies are released as they will eat them. The ghost shrimp babies stay in this larval stage for a week or 2 until they can swim better and fend for themselves.


----------



## kcartwright856 (Jan 16, 2012)

So glad to have found this thread!

I keep dwarf puffers and I adore keeping live food for them in the tank so that I can watch their natural behaviors and just sit in front of the tank for hours.

Until now, this had only included various snails. I recently acquired about 15 or so ghost shrimp with at least 5 berried females. I'm hoping to create a safe haven for reproduction to occur and keep the population going as shrimplets are picked off and adults inevitably pecked to death. (I know, I feel like a terrible person!)

I feed Repashy and I'm doubting that the fine bits that give off as it dissolves will be enough for any larvae. How does one administer green water to them, though? A bit in a turkey baster aimed toward the moss?

Whew! Looking forward to more information.


----------



## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

wildroseofky said:


> Sure do. Here it is I have made several since this one. I used what I was told was christmas moss but I do not think that is what it was. Maybe Java moss? I ordered some real christmas moss from a trusted seller and made another one this week.


Really look nice the way you designed it. Thanks.


----------



## peachii (Jun 1, 2013)

As stated previously floaters and plenty of hiding spots are essential to having survivors. I never specifically fed for a higher survival rate and still had pretty good success with shrimplets surviving. I've torn that tank down now but it ran for about 9 months with a colony of breeding ghost shrimp. That tank is going to turn into a river type tank for Hillstream Loaches and hopefully some type of shrimp.


----------



## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

Any updates or luck? I'm going to setup a tank for ghost shrimp and try it out.

Not to hijack, but quick question:

I was thinking keep all the adults in one tank, and pull out the berried females and place them in another tank, then pull the female when she releases her larvae. 

My question is: can you see the larvae after they have been released? If I'm fishing for the female after she has released them, I wouldn't want to accidently scoop up the larvae out of the grow out tank, decreasing the amount of survivors. 

I may be over thinking this, but I like to cover my bases before I attempt something.

any updates for you bluebugs?


----------



## wicca27 (May 3, 2009)

the only ghost shrimp i have ever had are the brackish lower life breeders that have a larva stage. ghost shrimp is kinda a catch all for any clear shrimp. there are several fresh water and several brackish types out there so it can be hard to know what one you have


----------



## Puddles (Jan 5, 2013)

One thing you could do in order to ensure you net only the mother and not the larvae is to use a net with large holes in it. You'll catch the large mom but the larvae will slip through.


Sent from my IPad using magic


----------



## wildroseofky (Mar 5, 2013)

The newly released ghost shrimp larvae are very hard to see. I have to take a magnifying glass to see them. Luckily they turn into tiny shrimp very quickly if given a lot of food. I have noticed an increase in new shrimp-lets when feeding Hikari fry food. It is a super fine powdered food. To feed green water, just suck up some and squirt it into the moss or floating plants. The larvae spend their time floating in the top part of the water. Putting berried females into their own tank should work if the tank is well cycled. New tanks seem to hinder larvae surviving. I guess because they need that bio film that forms in aged tanks.


----------



## cbachmann (Aug 6, 2013)

I had ghost shrimp for some time, but there numbers gradually decreased over a year to the point that I've only got a handful left, if any at all. Perhaps they have a brackish larval stage and I killed all of em, but I believe I saw some baby shrimp emerge. Its just that the survival rate seems very low.


----------



## wildroseofky (Mar 5, 2013)

Most of the ghost shrimp sold in the US are freshwater and breed in freshwater. I started with 5 and had so many at one time I had to put them in other tanks. I didn't see any new additions until my tank was at least 6 months old and I added a lot of moss close to the water line. Fish will eat the larvae and the filter sucks a lot of them up. The larvae cannot swim that well and act more like mosquito larvae staying at the top of the water and diving when danger comes around. I also started seeing more when I started feeding my fish fry very fine food. Most ghost shrimp babies die from starvation before they become shrimp-lets too.


----------



## Lia (Aug 2, 2007)

wildroseofky said:


> Sure do. Here it is I have made several since this one. I used what I was told was christmas moss but I do not think that is what it was. Maybe Java moss? I ordered some real christmas moss from a trusted seller and made another one this week.


 

Oh wow that is cute , looks great.


----------



## Lia (Aug 2, 2007)

Bluebugs said:


> You heard me! I have a 10 gallon tank just waiting for something to go in there. Over the past couple days I've been researching breeding ghost shrimp (tempting, as the only non-special order/expensive shrimp I can get at my LFS). The tank will be shrimp-only. But I have a few questions;
> 
> Will I need a heater? I'm thinking sponge-filter only.
> 
> ...


I have only been able to breed them outside but never inside . They were local ghost shrimp by a canal.

I put a few in a 20 gallon half barrel in aged water that was green partial sunlight with driftwood on the bottom . I dropped in a cichlid pellet every other day , In a couple months had countless shrimp.

The water was rather warm but it was warm where I caught them. No filter but floating plants . The whole thing got fairly nasty because other than when it rained and barrel over flowed ,I was not changing water as did not want to suck out shrimp . It was pretty much ignored but topped off if needed .

The "Mongol hoard" (Cuban treefrogs) arrived and they laid lots eggs which without fish grow into tadpoles so I drained it, removed the shrimp and put them in with my guppies and endlers . I did get 1 albino tadpole , lol.

Lots adult shrimp but never babies again since I added them to my fish stock tank plus that water in it is clean.


----------



## wildroseofky (Mar 5, 2013)

I would say the guppies and endlers ate the babies. That has happened in my 29 gallon right now. I had lots of fry and didn't increase the food enough. The little brats started eating my baby shrimp. I still have my huge females and males so hopefully, now that I have increased feeding and started thinning out my fry, I will get more ghost shrimp. I just had a 5 gallon tank crash and have to restock it. Lost all my blue pearls.


----------



## Lia (Aug 2, 2007)

wildroseofky said:


> I would say the guppies and endlers ate the babies. That has happened in my 29 gallon right now. I had lots of fry and didn't increase the food enough. The little brats started eating my baby shrimp. I still have my huge females and males so hopefully, now that I have increased feeding and started thinning out my fry, I will get more ghost shrimp. I just had a 5 gallon tank crash and have to restock it. Lost all my blue pearls.


Lol that is funny because that certainly makes sense . For some reason I assumed that it was the lack of green water that stopped them from breeding.

Never thought that they could have bred in the stock tank but the livebearers there ate the babies.


----------

