# Pregnant ghost shrimp, what should i do



## cjp999 (Nov 18, 2008)

dylanserbin said:


> Hey, i have a pregnant ghost shrimp, what should i do? its in a 5 gallon with amonos and ghost shrimps, and one bloodfin tetra and 2 cobra endlars. any help would be appreciated.


I've had ghosts for a few months now, and they berry all the time. I've never managed to get a proper tank setup for them to actually grow out. I know there are two things you need to do


Get a low flow filter with a sponge protecting the inlet. Otherwise the babies get sucked into the filter
Isolate the pregnant shrimp from all other fish and shrimp. They will eat the babies when they hatch.
Remove mom after the eggs hatch.
Provide *very* small food. I've read suggestions before, but can't recall offhand.
I think there may be some salt requirements for the babies, but I'm not sure.
Good luck!


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## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

I think salt water is only required for larger shrimp that have a larval stage after they've hatched, like amanos.


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

I'm not sure if they need salt in the water, but the fry are very hard to raise, since it's almost impossible to feed them.


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## cjp999 (Nov 18, 2008)

Dollface said:


> I think salt water is only required for larger shrimp that have a larval stage after they've hatched, like amanos.


I'm pretty sure ghosts have a larval stage.


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## CKJ (Oct 3, 2008)

I thought they also needed brackish water to start out with. Not sure though.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

A big part of the problem is that there are many different species that fall under the common name "ghost shrimp," and may have different husbandry requirements.

That being said, I've had ghost shrimp successfully reproduce in my tanks in the past.


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## RandomKayos (Oct 3, 2008)

lauraleellbp said:


> A big part of the problem is that there are many different species that fall under the common name "ghost shrimp," and may have different husbandry requirements.
> 
> That being said, I've had ghost shrimp successfully reproduce in my tanks in the past.


The American Glass Shrimp is the most common Ghost shimp sold in the US. I breed these in a 10 Gallon tank with Java Moss and plant sold as Scarlet Temple. The only difference between this tank and my normal fish tanks is the sponge on the intake of the HOB and I don't use a substrate at this time. No salt added to the water. They do have a larval stage that lasts about 4 or 5 days.
Berried Female:









Male:









And one shrimplet about 1/16th of an inch long that posed where my camera could focus:









The young, once out of the larval stage feed off the same pellets the adults do. The first berried female produced about 12 young that I can still find in the tank almost 2 weeks after I found the first one. I have 4 other berried females in the tank at this time.


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## cjp999 (Nov 18, 2008)

RandomKayos said:


> The American Glass Shrimp is the most common Ghost shimp sold in the US. I breed these in a 10 Gallon tank with Java Moss and plant sold as Scarlet Temple. The only difference between this tank and my normal fish tanks is the sponge on the intake of the HOB and I don't use a substrate at this time. No salt added to the water. They do have a larval stage that lasts about 4 or 5 days.
> 
> The young, once out of the larval stage feed off the same pellets the adults do. The first berried female produced about 12 young that I can still find in the tank almost 2 weeks after I found the first one. I have 4 other berried females in the tank at this time.


So no special feeding and you did not need to remove the adults? What does your plant coverage look like. Is it really thick so the babies can hide. Also, I heard the larva float to the surface? Is this true and do you have plants at the surface?


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## RandomKayos (Oct 3, 2008)

cjp999 said:


> So no special feeding and you did not need to remove the adults? What does your plant coverage look like. Is it really thick so the babies can hide. Also, I heard the larva float to the surface? Is this true and do you have plants at the surface?


No special feeding at all and the parents stay right there breeding more. Here is a picture of the tank they are in. 









I have yet to actually see the larva. In my case I noticed one of my females was without eggs and frankly thought she had lost them. 4 Days later she was berried again and 2 days after that I saw the first shrimplet. I had never heard that the larva float to the surface though they are phototropic so would move up to get to the lights that I run 24/7 unless someone remembers to turn them off once in awhile. At first I thought only a couple were in there but as they get bigger I count more and more every day now that I can see them.


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## Dwarfpufferfish (May 29, 2004)

I did a series of blog posts on my Dwarf Shrimp Blog that followed my breeding of American Glass Shrimp. 

I have kept the larva in a dedicated aquarium as well as in the aquarium with the adults. Both worked equaly well if the larva have places to hide. 

You can read more about it here: Breeding American Glass Shrimp

Hope that helps


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