# Ghost Shrimp Care



## ShawnS (Dec 13, 2011)

I'm in my 2nd week of cycling my 20 gallon aquarium, and was wondering other than 7ph lvl and 65-80 degrees temp, what requirements ghost shrimp have. Like large water changes or extensive cleaning. 

Or, if there was a better reconmendation on type of shrimp to have.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Your parameters are perfect. Just make sure ammonia, nitrites, nitrates are low/zero and the ghosts will be fine. They're pretty sturdy.

Better shrimp would be RCS. Pretty much same requirements, only they don't look ugly.


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## ShawnS (Dec 13, 2011)

woah the nitrates have to be zero too? Why, and what do i do about their waste since it produces amonia? I thought shrimp could live in an aquarium with other fish...:frown:


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

No nitrates don't have to be zero. But it definitely shouldn't be above 20ppm.

For both fish and shrimp, ammonia/nitrites should be zero, or insanely close to it.


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## jedimasterben (Aug 21, 2011)

ShawnS said:


> I thought shrimp could live in an aquarium with other fish...:frown:


They can, but just keep in mind - ALL shrimp are on the bottom of the food chain, no matter where they come from.


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## Rev_jim_jones (Sep 25, 2011)

As they age Ghost shrimp can develop some pretty color patterns usually Brown or green Spots and golden back stripes. They also have a Horrible habit of Eating each other after a molt.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

Ghost shrimp will be fine in a tank with most community fish. 

They're fine with a huge range of temperatures (32-90, give or take) and pH's, though they prefer the pH to be neutral to basic in the long run, though they'll live in a low pH tank. They scavenge rather than pick at algae/biofilm, so you do need to feed them, but take care not to overfeed. If you want them to breed, their larvae need either very good cover or no predatory fish (in this context, things like guppies and neons are predators, cories, plecos, and otos are not.) The larvae also require a mature tank to survive (so that they have a sufficient food supply) so you probably won't see any babies from the first batch or two that hatch, assuming you get some that are berried to begin with.

If you like ghost shrimp, keep them. I like them a lot and have a 30 gallon tank devoted to them. I can't see how a typical ghost shrimp is any more or less attractive than several other commonly kept shrimp (tigers, wild type neos, malawa shrimp, amanos...) If you keep them in a tank with vegetation and relatively dark substrate, they'll tend to develop darker colors themselves over time.

You can also keep them in conjunction with other shrimp like RCS (which also accept a wide range of temperature and pH) without any concerns of hybridization. You read lots of stories of ghost shrimp being predatory and molesting other shrimp. I've not seen any of it in any of my tanks. They'll eat injured or dead shrimp, sometimes, but they have never bothered any of my other inhabitants beyond the usual "Hey, this is my leaf, bugger off!" posturing that all shrimp do.

The only real concern for ghost shrimp is the source from which they are obtained. Most of them are sold as feeders and are kept in appallingly bad conditions. As a result, they tend not to live once you introduce them to the tank. You may lose a substantial fraction of the shrimp you buy do to this fact, but any that survive are more or less bulletproof. If someone is selling them as pets rather than feeders, you want to make sure that they are actually ghost shrimp as well. Sometimes red claw macro shrimp get mixed up and sold as ghost shrimp. These have large claws and are extremely aggressive. If it has anything other than tiny feeder claws, take care before buying it.

ETA: Just wanted to add that the bit about aggression wasn't directed toward the previous post. It's just my personal experience and was written at the same time Rev was writing. My ghost shrimp typically don't even consume the corpses of dead ghost shrimp in their tank, let alone going after living ones. I do keep them well fed though, which may make a difference.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

I forgot to add, whatever type of shrimp you keep, their babies are tiny. You'll need to put something on your filter intake to keep from sucking them up (unless you're using a sponge filter or UGF. Some people use pantyhose, a few use specially made stainless steel prefilters, and a fair number (myself included) use sponges such as this.


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## ShawnS (Dec 13, 2011)

Alright thanks everyone. But as a quick side question, does anyone know if ghost shrimp will get along with Tetras? I know that Neon tetras wont harm them, but what about Golden Pristella tetras? are they particularly aggressive?


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Can't say much about the golden tetras, but when ghost shrimp get large they get into a nasty habit about eating everything else in the tank. Word of warning, as they often get mislabeled as "ghost" shrimp even though they are juvi macrobrachium shrimp. Happened to me :\


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## Fishies_in_Philly (Dec 8, 2011)

ShawnS said:


> Alright thanks everyone. But as a quick side question, does anyone know if ghost shrimp will get along with Tetras? I know that Neon tetras wont harm them, but what about Golden Pristella tetras? are they particularly aggressive?


they will definitely get along with adult ghost shrimp. my neons do and so do my harlequin rasboras, and golden tetras don't get much bigger that those two. heck, my betta doesn't even mess with my adult ghosts. they get a LOT bigger than the other shrimp i have (rcs and malawa). that being said, will they get along with the shrimplettes? that's another story. but like was said before, have enough plants and enough hiding spots for them and they have a better chance without them. 

and i agree about them coloring over time. most of my ghosts have definite red bands on their antennae and have been gaining brown streaks since i swap substrates from play sand to floramax.

have fun with 'em, they're great little critters!!


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## samamorgan (Dec 31, 2011)

jedimasterben said:


> ALL shrimp are on the bottom of the food chain, no matter where they come from.


Tell that to these guys, i dont think they got the memo. I added one of them from my LFS when they said that they dont go after fish and arent aggressive. Woke up the next morning with half my population of fish with missing tails or half eaten and stuck to the filter intake. He had even kicked my very aggressive rainbowk shark out of his cave and claimed it as his own.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

That's a macrobrachium samamorgan. All dwarf shrimp are on the bottom of the food chain. Those guys... are up there.

And your pic angle kinda makes it look like an Blue bolt with claws haha


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## xjasminex (Jul 26, 2011)

I bought what was labeled ghost shrimp from petsmart and all the little ones got eaten by my betta and the last surviving one that was larger was battleing and shredding my bettas tail! I have read that they get agressive in higher temps and my tank was like 78-80, so thats what im attributing this too!


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## samamorgan (Dec 31, 2011)

diwu13 said:


> That's a macrobrachium samamorgan. All dwarf shrimp are on the bottom of the food chain. Those guys... are up there.
> 
> And your pic angle kinda makes it look like an Blue bolt with claws haha


When i got him it was labeled "Chameleon shrimp". Apparenly they can change colors fairly regularly.


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## sayurasem (Jun 17, 2011)

Different people have different taste. IMO ghost shrimps are one of the most interesting shrimps you can watch. You can see their organs moving around inside their body while consuming its food. :thumbsup:


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

The ghost shrimp I have kept always get aggressive as they age. Usually there is one 'alpha male' that will be a berserker. I had one that would catch and eat molly fry, and try to catch rides on my angels fins (while actually just eating them).


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## ShawnS (Dec 13, 2011)

I'll probably just get some amano shrimp then.


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