Ghost shrimp

OnyxFishies

OnyxFishies

Fish Nut
Aug 29, 2004
139
0
0
51
Gulfport, MS
A LFS in my area has Ghost shrimp for $1.00 for 8 of em. I'd done some reading up on em, and found that with clean water they are hardy and easy to care for. So, I went and bought some. I asked for 8, but actually got 13 in the bag. I went home, popped the bag in the tank, and slowly added some tank water to the bag, ect. (Normal fish acclimation procedures) After a while (hmm... 2 hours?) I poured the bag into my net and popped them in the tank. (one actually jumped out of the bag, missed the net, and went down the sink :eek: ) The other twelve went into the tank.

This was last night. This morning, I can count 4 dead ghost shrimp :sad and I can only see 2 live ones. I'm not too worried about not seeing them all, they are hard to see and good at hiding. But is it normal to loose so many after introducing them to the tank? I'm pretty sure nothing in my tank will eat them, and the dead ones are intact.

Water params:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 15ppm

pH: 7.4
kH: 3-4
gH: 5 or so

The tank is moderately planted, 1.9 wpg lighting, and no CO2 injection. I've got 2 dwarf gouramis, 6 neon tetras, 4 small cories, 3 otos and a weather loach in there with em.
 
Have you used copper based meds in the tank?

I might just chalk it up to weakness or stress....or they got attacked by the dwarf gouramis...
 
I know one of my local LFS raises their ghost shrimp in brackish conditions and no shrimp I bought from them survived the transition to my FW tank, no matter how slowly I acclimated them. The only way I was able to get ghost shrimp (from Petsmart, of all places, lol) to survive was to use water filtered by my Brita.

But I second the gourami theory... my paradise fish (a type of gourami if I'm not mistaken) LOVES munching on ghost shrimp.
 
Hmm.. you know, I feel kinda silly now...

I didn't even think to check if the shrimp were raised in brackish water. :o

I'll call em up and ask.

I imagine if they were raised in brackish water the osmotic pressure would make em pop.

I don't *think* the gouramis have been eating them, they don't seem to be very interested in the shrimp. There are places for the shrimp to hide from em, too. Most of the shrimp are a little big for em to eat, anyway. It's always a possibility, though.
 
Personally, I doubt that the dwarf gourami are to blame... they didn't so much as go baby guppy hunting in my tanks :).

THe weather loach makes a more likely candidate.... I know that they loved snails when I had them... not to mention that they nibble on anything they come in contact with ;).
 
I've never seen my dwarf Gourami for after my ghost shrimps, but it's always a possibility. When I buy ghost shrimp I usually see some losses for the first two days and after that the one's that stay around last for a long time.
 
$1 for 8 is a good price! i get 4 for £1 which is about $1.60!!
 
My dwarf gouramis adore shrimp snacks:D
 
I wouldn't even worry about it. I go down to the walmart every week and buy 12 or so. If any last till the next time I buy more I'm lucky. I use them as cleaners and feeders. My loaches love to chase them.

Trash
 
well, that saved me a question... I have some gouramis, and I was looking for small tankmates to clean up after them- would snails be any better?

I suppose I could always try the ghost shrimp. At the very least, it's a treat, if they survive, they'll feast on algae flake leftovers.
 
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