ghost shrimp info

happychem

happychem

redorkulated
Dec 9, 2003
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Halifax, NS
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Hi,
I got some ghost shrimp to eat at some algea I've got on a piece of driftwood. I don't know how effective they are, but there doesn't seem to be any accumulation. Anyway...

This morning I looked into my tank (I love trying to find them) and it looked very much like one shrimp was eating another!:eek:

So, I really know nothing about shrimp, but I thought they were vegetarians. Do they cannabillize if hungry enough? Is this what shrimp mating looks like? What are my little guys doing?
 
From what I understand Ghost shrimp are more detrivores than herbivores. They are opportunists and will eat nearly anything that falls before them.
 
I had some ghost shrimp in a tank with a beta..... they DO eat each other.... I saw the same thing you probably saw and thought well, maybe it is just a molt.... then the numbers dropped from 5 to 3 and then 3 to 1..... Now, I can't be sure if the other shrimps were alive when they became lunch because I didn't see the dinner bell, but they were definately eating each other. I still have the 1 remaining shrimp.... he has gotten pretty large these days, and I guess he has found another source of food....

I'm glad you posted this. I was beginning to think I had lost my mind because no one else had seen them doing this!
 
They will eat each other but I don't think it would be from starvation. Its hard to believe your tank could be so spotless that they couldn't find debris to eat. I would think any cannabilism would occur as the result of a death.

The moulted exoskeleton can look startlingly like a real shrimp. I was horrified to see one of my shrimp eating another until I did a head count and realized it was a shell he was eating.

These guys are tough to keep alive IME. I never had any luck with them until someone here turned me on to adding a few drops of marine iodine solution to the tank with every water change. There is some evidence, at least anecdotal, that suggest the iodine helps them to moult. I understand that its the moulting period that kills these little guys off more often than not. Since I started adding iodine I've only had one shrimp death and the current crew has been in the tank for a couple of months.

Tom
 
pelled shrimp, yum, yum

and, how fat did the betta get during this time?
 
Ghost shrimp aren't very good algae eaters from what I hear. For algae your best is amanos. They are sold as "algae-eating shrimp" around here. I think they are also called japanese swamp shrimp and they're scientific name is cardonia japonica. Somethin like that.
 
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