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Amateur Ghost Shrimp Mini-Journal

This 20G high tank is at 25'C and has 1 tablespoon aquarium salt per 5 G, it is planted and has 2 female guppies and one fry so far. I am feeding powdered flakes by adding them to the filter waterfall and thus the fry and shrimp can feed easily.

April 5, 2007
- purchase 6 ghost shrimp with eggs for $1.25 each
- floated the bag and gradually added tank water to it for 1 hour then poured them into a net over a bucket

- I added a pinch of table salt for the iodine

April 10, 2007
- one has laid or lost her eggs somewhere

- noticed 1 shrimp upper body shell on the gravel, and thought there was a death, although it was odd that the meat was eaten so neatly. Turns out someone molted.

April 11, 2007
- a second shrimp is eggless

April 12, 2007
- only two shrimp are still carrying eggs

The eggs hatch while the females are still carrying them. If they are successful you should see little balls of the same color as the female under her tail. Sometimes you have to look very closely until they get bigger. She'll shift them around and feed them until she decides they are big enough to release. However chances are your guppies will eat most if not all of them especially if you don't have any good hiding areas like java moss.

April 13, 2007
- another molting has taken place. This time I left it in the water and they are taking turns eating from it.

Do the GS need salt to live?


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There are different species but overall no. Most ghost shrimp are highly adaptable to different salinity and I have some in my 55g with no salt on probably their 8th generation. The store I got them from has two 8' tanks for their breeding colony of ghost shrimp and with no salt they claim to have surpassed their 100th generation. I also have some of those same shrimp in my brackish tank with around 1/4th cup salt per gallon. They've been there for a few months and 1 is now carrying eggs. However there are saltwater species that will die after a few weeks if not put in true saltwater. You can usually tell the difference because in the store tanks there will be more dead shrimp than usual, they will be less active, and none will have eggs. Saltwater ghost shrimp release larvae not eggs so if they have eggs they aren't a saltwater species. After you see them a few times you can tell the difference immediately.

Pizpot-

Wow, a 1.25 for GS?!? Maybe its the eggs that did it. I buy my GS as "feeders" so they are generally cheaper. The GS in my tank i think are less quality, as only 1 has eggs, and some are missing legs and feelers. I hate when they molt! It looks like they died, and it gets me sad.

BTW, where do your GS hang out? Mine have been congregating around the bubbler, and they use it as a ride! It is so cool and cute!

Hope to see more posts!

Sham-

My GS are FW because as you said, My GS have eggs, so theyre FW, right?

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Yes they are basically freshwater but they all tolerate various amounts of salt. As long as they are active, healthy looking, and have eggs then they are fine in your current water conditions. I wouldn't try adding salt unless some health isues start to come up or they consistently fail to hatch their eggs. Then they might be a species that does slightly better in water with salt than 100% fresh. You kinda gotta play it by ear since it's hard to ID the exact species you have but they are adaptable to such a wide range it's usually not an issue unless you get the true salt species. All the others handle freshwater pretty well and I'd only try salt if they really don't seem to be thriving.

I cant ad salt, even if i have to. I have a betta and a tetra and platy fry in there...

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April 14, 2007
- since I still had 2 GS with eggs left, I decided to set them up a tank to be safe in. I set up a 10G with gravel, water, and a rock from the original tank, and a heater and some new java moss. The water was an even 25'C throughout the move. They seem happy, as does the new 1 cm pointy shell snail that hitched a ride. I have an aquaclear mini to put in there when the water gets higher, if I don't decide it is overkill. I also got some empty media bags and a sheet of flossy/foam to get creative and cover the intake. Right now, I am planning to cycle water changes from the 20 to the 10 and then off to the sink. I have 3 table spoons per 5 gals in each of my 3 tanks because I am keeping animals that like it, but my plants sure don't I think.


The GS were double the price, because of a store policy, that if you make them pick each shrimp you pay more. I love this store so much I could care less. Hundreds of tanks and no UV sterilizers... they have pride and won't sell fish from tanks sometimes. Oh dear now I have 3 tanks.

They generally hang out where they can walk, although in the 20G they swim freely with the guppies sometimes. Then when they want a break they head for the plants.

Here is a shot of the 20G. Oh dear I think it is melting or is it just my eyes? Maybe thats how I look to them. The plants on the left are very popular for the guppy fry and ghost shrimp. There are two plants on the left, not counting the reflections, and the tall one near the middle is loved most. Then again, they like the java fern on the right sometimes too and wedge in among the roots and stuff. I can be silly on my birthday. G'nite, eh.

April 17, 2007
- setup an Aquaclear mini on the 10G and raised the water level to the top with some aged water treated with Prime and 2 tablespoons per 5G. Matched the temp. Both shrimp are still carrying their light green egg-things. I used a media bag, and filter floss to make a pillow, because I don't know how small these critters will be.


April 18, 2008
- woke up to find a complete molt-shell including whiskers and legs. I've not seen them that complete before. She even left about 5 eggs on it. She is not carrying any eggs now, but I won't move her back for a while since she must have a soft shell.
-Noon: Wohoo, I just saw one baby ghost shrimp about 2-3 mm long. Looks like a shrimp. I will have to find it again and look harder. What do I feed it I wonder. /:'

April 18, 2007
- I've seen two babies together at the same time. I saw one flick its tail and go a cm quickly. I went and found some Small Fry liquid food. It is like adding pink milk to the water. Should be interesting.

April 19, 2007
- today I spotted three babies at the same time, floating freely in the current. They float upside-down and their little legs are moving about. They have grown double their size since yesterday morning. Oh, one is by the glass I will measure... 5 mm long. And if you scare them they can really move fast.

OK, I'm learning to use my lame (for this purpose) camera's manual focus better. I still have a long way to go though.

Sinking foods that fall apart in the water will work better than liquid fry foods. The baby shrimp probably won't find the liquid foods before they dissolve away in the water to increase nitrates. Shrimp pellets or similar foods always worked well for me. New shrimp first added to a tank tend to molt within the first week or so and females will often lose eggs. If you've got at least 1 male though and keep the shrimp happy they will usually all be carrying eggs again within a couple weeks.

April 21, 2007
- yesterday, I couldn't find the babies and thought they might have died. Apparently it is because they are now strong enough to swim around and go where they want.
- today, I see them hanging beneath the java moss, or floating around and then zipping across the tank at the speed of sound. They are still 5mm long.
- the mother GS with eggs is still carrying, but they have turned from light green to clear. I hope they hatched.

April 22, 2007
- the last of the 6 has set her babies free. I don't see them yet. She and the 2nd last with babies are still in the 10G.
- the three 5mm baby GS are still alive and kicking. They are probably 6mm now.
- I am doing a 10% water change now, hope I didn't suck any of the new hatchlings up. Had I noticed that she had dropped them, I would not have done the change I think, or used a screener. I kept the hose near the top and watched and nothing got sucked in. *crosses fingers*

May 5, 2007
- the 3 babies are still alive and growing slowly. They sure are cute. I hope at least one is male.
- the 2nd batch of babies were nowhere to be found.

May 10, 2007
- My better half, just counted 9 babies swimming about. I think that would be 3 from the first batch and 6 from the second, but I admit, I have no idea.

May 19, 2007
- well I'll be darned, I'm looking at the 20G tank (not the 10G baby shrimp tank) and there is a baby shrimp out in the open, with the guppy fry school. I wonder how many others surived being eaten by guppies... 4 of the mothers gave birth here before I moved the last 2 with eggs to the 10G.
- two of the mothers in the 20G have changed colour. They are still a little clear, but very cloudy. They have red stripes on their whiskers, red dots on their tails, and red bands on their big legs. Their tail sections are greenish and bluish striped. They look great! The baby in the 20G has these colours. I wish I could take a good picture of them. Until I can, here is an attempt. Ignore the blur... just look at the colours. Her head and tail are white, the rest is greenish and the reds are glowing.

I have started using Prime for my weekly water changes rather than just 7 days of aging. I wonder if that made the colours appear? Probably just a coincidence but they coincided.

You are right Sham, sinking hermit crab food is working out great. Liquid fry food is hard to figure out. At first I thought small particles would float around for the small fish to see. Now I think, you are supposed to turn off the filter current, and let it in gently... it forms 1mm diameter balls which I have seen fry suck up. But in reality, it is just a cloud that feeds the filter I think. Powdered flakes for guppy fry seems smarter and well, they are growing.

The color change is a bit of a mystery. I've asked around and noone seems to know. A few have said it's a sign of them dying or that you have a brackish species which shouldn't reproduce in freshwater but then plenty of others including myself have the darker shrimp still reproducing and some have lived another year that way. So far all the theories about the darker color change have been disproven. Not all of mine changed either. Some are still clear while others are nearly brown and some are in between with a chalky cloudy color. They've all continued to do fine and constantly produce young.

Sham, will the babies be able to fertilize the mothers do you think? I should need no more males now that I have 6 large females and ~10 small offspring, right?