Ghost Shrimps

[Aquarius0015]

Thanks for all the earlier advice regarding my betta buddies. Ace and Gary are doing fine in their 2.5 MiniBow w/ divider (of course). Rather than replace the clear divider with an opaque one, I added a plant and a decoration. Although they can still see each other, they don't see each other as often and have somewhere to retreat. Confrontations are much less frequent now.

However, I have not had nearly as much with ghost shrimp. I've gone through about 12 of the $0.39 wonders, in groups of 3 or so. The longest survivor I've had is two weeks. The bettas ignore the shrimp and the shrimp ignore the bettas. The people at the pet store told me that they eat whatever betta food sinks to the bottom, so they said not to purchase any additional food for them.

I'm beginning to think this might not be true, however. Maybe I should have gone with sinking tropical pellets? How many ghost shrimp can be kept in a 2.5 gallon? In the store the floor of the tank was covered with them... Also, do ghost shrimp prefer special gravel or hiding places? Thanks in advance for the high caliber advice ;)

[famman]

No, you don't really need additional food for the ghost shrimp. The most likely cause of your shrimp deaths are 1) copper pipes in your home, 2) high nitrates or other toxins or 3) high general and/or carbonate hardness.
good luck
:)

[OrionGirl]

Ghost shrimp are usually sold as feeders, so as with feeder goldies, they are not kept in good conditions. They are susceptible to the same rough treatment as fish, and are usually short lived. You may want to look into something like amano shrimp--they are cared for better, and will live much longer. They cost a bit more, but since they don't die off in a week, it's a good investment.

I would go with a group of 2-3 on each side of the divider.

[RTR]

I'm a little confused - is there a divider between the betta and the ghost shrimp? If so, how are the shrimp to get the supposedly left-over food from the betta? Since the biomass of a single ghost is near that of a betta, I'm unclear on just how 3 ghosts are supposed to live on the leftovers of one betta.

Also, IMHO,3 ghost shrimp and a betta are too much for a 2.5 gallon tank. One of each would be plenty.

The water parameters do matter for long-term maintenance of the ghosts. They do prefer and need at least moderately hard alkaline water over the long haul.

[Traci]

I added several ghosts to my 18g work tank since my cae isn't interested in algae anymore. They were all gone in a hour except for 4 that were stranded on the glass above the water line. I splashed them back into the water, and they kept beaching themselves back onto the glass. I netted them out and tossed them. Feh! That was a waste of $2.12:D

[Aquarius0015]

RTR,
There are two bettas in the tank separated by the divider so they won't kill each other. When you say "biomass" I assume you mean something roughly equivelent of regular mass, but the ghost shrimps are much, much smaller than a single betta. In fact, the smaller ones can cross through the divider freely, and did so often when they were alive.

I don't think my water runs through copper pipes. I live in a dormitory, though so I cannot be certain.

OrionGirl,
Where do you suggest I look for Amano shrimp? I've haven't seen them in the LFS or in Petsmarts.

[OrionGirl]

Talk with the LFS and see if they can order them for you. Some stores carry them, others don't--but they do seem more common in the early summer, so may be a seasonal thing as well.

[ewok]

the bettas aren't eating them?

if they are clear they are healthy, they tend to get opaque before they die.

considering the setup.......... do you use regular filtration and is the tank cycled? ghost shrimp need something similar to a regular aquarium setup, which bettas usually don't get.........