Shrimp in Brackish tank?

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PJGirl112

AC Members
Feb 22, 2005
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Rockford, IL
Since we can't have the normal catfish or clean-up crews that we can have in a FW tank...what would you suggest for a BW tank?

I went to Terry's AquaLand (Terry is the owner and the only one I will talk to about fish there) and he said that some hybrid "mutt" feeder shrimp could clean up the BW tank as long as I was just now starting to cycle to BW. That they will "adapt" to the water conditions and that they are tough to kill.

Honestly, they look like ghost shrimp with a few red spots over their tails and bodies and small bright red claws on them--different then I see on the internet pictures for ghost shrimp. They are only 1/2 inch to an inch long. Could it be a hybrid or FW/BW shrimp? Or a BW shrimp that is being sold as food and they just don't care? I tried to take a picture of one but it doesn't even show up in the tank!

I did buy 6 of them and put them in the tank with the gobies hoping that the little guys might just make a meal of them if nothing else...but they are all still in there this morning (bought them Friday afternoon)...drats!

Any suggestions on what "mutt" shrimp this could be and the possible problems I might have with them in the BW??
 

Oddball~

Brackhead
Nov 18, 2004
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Dallas, TX
Well, ordinary ghost shrimp live well in brackish water anyways. The ones that don't get eaten by my puffers have lived in my tank for several weeks now at an SG of 1.005.

I wouldn't trust his "mutt" shrimp and I'd just buy some ghost shrimp, quaratine them for a while, and use them as your cleaner crew.
 

RTR

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Oct 5, 1998
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Braddock Heights, MD
Ghost shrimp come as both FW and BW species, which are extremely difficult to tell apart. The BW species will live indefinitely in BW, the FW ones for some weeks to months. And the reverse, of course.
 

Oddball~

Brackhead
Nov 18, 2004
875
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Dallas, TX
Is that so??? I guess I've got a lucky batch then.
 

Veneer

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Dec 20, 2004
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PJGirl112 said:
Honestly, they look like ghost shrimp with a few red spots over their tails and bodies and small bright red claws on them--different then I see on the internet pictures for ghost shrimp. They are only 1/2 inch to an inch long. Could it be a hybrid or FW/BW shrimp? Or a BW shrimp that is being sold as food and they just don't care? I tried to take a picture of one but it doesn't even show up in the tank!

Any suggestions on what "mutt" shrimp this could be and the possible problems I might have with them in the BW??
I suspect those are simply regular Palaemonetes paludosus, acclimatizable (if rather unsatisfactorily) to brackish salinity.
 

PJGirl112

AC Members
Feb 22, 2005
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Rockford, IL
Hum...then I will watch those guys closely. So far, they seem to be doing a crack-up job of cleaning and are very active! The SG is just below 1.0 right now, so I still have a few weeks to go for the full BW effect.

One of the shrimp is carrying eggs and it looks like ghost shrimp eggs to me (from pictures on the internet). Unfortunately, I have to say that if the eggs hatch then the gobies will have a meal...these 6 shrimp where only $0.99 and my original thought was if the gobies eat them then "good"...if they live to clean the tank "even better".

I know, not a very nice thought either way...
 

Oddball~

Brackhead
Nov 18, 2004
875
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43
Dallas, TX
How can it be below 1.000???? 1.000 is pure freshwater, I thought. Are you reading it correctly and did you calibrate the refractometer??? Hydrometers won't work so well.

Also, even if the shrimp did hatch, your chances of raising the young are slim to none.
 

FishSeller

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Apr 28, 2005
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When I collect Sailfin Mollies in brackish water, I'll catch ghost shrimp and other shrimp varities right along with them. It wouldn't surprise me if they could handle brackish water full-time. For that matter, several types of food shrimp are being raised in freshwater despite the fact that they were originally fully saltwater shrimp.
 

Flusher

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Apr 4, 2005
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Oddball~ said:
How can it be below 1.000???? 1.000 is pure freshwater, I thought. Are you reading it correctly and did you calibrate the refractometer??? Hydrometers won't work so well.
I had to put a heckuvalot of marine salt into my tank before my hydrometer budged above 1.000, if I remember correctly. Once the SG actually registered, it could be altered by varying the salt by a mere teaspoon or two per five gallons.

I think I read somewhere (possibly on this forum) that this was normal.

Also, even if the shrimp did hatch, your chances of raising the young are slim to none.
I've had tiny little shrimp fry turn up in some of my tanks months after any live ghost shrimp or brine shrimp eggs have been present. I'm not sure which particular shrimp they were, though I always suspected ghost. In my Betta tanks, which usually get the tiny shrimp appearances, I don't recall putting in brine shrimp eggs.

Could the tiny shrimp hide out in aquarium gravel, then appear in a new tank with "used" gravel weeks or months later?
 

Oddball~

Brackhead
Nov 18, 2004
875
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43
Dallas, TX
....Are you sure they're shrimp fry?
 
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