# Ghost shrimp and salt



## mestar (Jan 22, 2012)

Do ghost shrimp require salt in the water? 

If so how much? 

Is the salt bad for other fw fish and snails in the tank (white cloud minnows, guppys, apple snail, etc..)?


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## Lifeblood (Jan 31, 2012)

ghost shrimp is really vague, but generally if you buy "freshwater ghost shrimp" then no they do not need any salt.


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## mestar (Jan 22, 2012)

Yeah, I was talking about "freshwater ghost shrimp" like they have at petsmart. The ones they sell for 33 cents. Their tag said they need a little salt but I didn't think so.


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## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

They don't. Even the fish that say they need salt don't necessarily need it.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Yea those ghost shrimp don't need salt. They will also breed in freshwater even though their young have a larval stage. Just be careful as some macrobrachium shrimp are often mislabeled as ghost shrimp and will eat everything in your tank when they grow.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

mestar said:


> Yeah, I was talking about "freshwater ghost shrimp" like they have at petsmart. The ones they sell for 33 cents. Their tag said they need a little salt but I didn't think so.


Unless you're putting them into RO water that hasn't been amended to fix its mineral content, they don't need anything. I won't pretend to have done a rigorous study to prove it, but mine tend to do better (for breeding purposes) in pH > 7 rather than less. That could be due to a whole bunch of things, of course (TDS being one serious candidate in my case.)

I suspect that the store puts the Needs Salt label on them to sell aquarium salt.


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## motorcycle242 (Feb 19, 2012)

mestar said:


> Do ghost shrimp require salt in the water?
> 
> If so how much?
> 
> Is the salt bad for other fw fish and snails in the tank (white cloud minnows, guppys, apple snail, etc..)?


I am someone who put salt in my tanks. *I see putting salt in the tank as up to you*. Salt is in all water it just how far down stream you are. The only place it is not in is the mountain but alot of fish do not live up there.

Back to your ?. As far as I know no FW animal *require *salt in the water but it can help make it a little easier to keep because they do not have to balance there salt level as much.
How much to put on is about half of want they tell you because Plants and fish from the mountain (your white cloud minnows) do not do will when the full dose is use.


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## GhostShrimpKeeper101 (Jun 17, 2017)

they do need a little bit of salt andd the salt in the fishes water can help improve gill function so even if i sm wrong it helps your fishes gills


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