# Ghost Shrimp: Peaceful resident or aggressive pest?



## PMD (May 3, 2005)

Do you think freshwater ghost shrimp belong in a community tank with smaller shrimp?


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## Volenti (Oct 12, 2007)

Exactly what shrimp are you referring to? from my experience ghost* shrimp are completely peacefull and more likely to be a victim than anything else, though there are other larger freshwater shrimp, Macrobrachium genus that could predate smaller community fish/shrimp.


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## hooha (Apr 21, 2005)

I have heard (but haven't experienced myself) that some types sold as 'ghost' feeder shrimp are actually Macrobrachium species that if not eaten by a large fish, will reek havok on smaller inahbitants in the tank....


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## almostaskater62 (Apr 28, 2007)

i have two ghosts in my 20 gallon with a few smaller shrimp (cherries, tigers, amanos) and they're totally fine


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## mikenas102 (Feb 8, 2006)

I must have had some of those Macrobrachium things because the 1 time I bought some "ghost" shrimp from Petsmart they were pretty harsh on the cherry shrimp. They would mount on top of them like they were humping them but it seemed more like an attack. I put them in the bigger tank and let the fish eat them.


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## elaphe (Aug 24, 2006)

I have been meaning to post some pics of mine. I bought them as "feeder shrimp" at a LFS. I put about 12 in each turtle tub and there are a few that were able to hide and not get eaten. These suckers are now close to 3" long and keep growing. They are pretty cool with nice pretty black lines and two black antenna (the rest of the antenna are white). They also have the long arms.

I've got guppies, mollys, and minnows in each tub as well. They don't seem fast enough to catch any of the fish, but I have seen them eat fish that were already dead. They also will go up and grab turtle pellets and eat them in no time flat. I was thinking about taking them out and putting them in their own tank to see if they will breed?

I'll try and get some pics up tonight.

I did some digging and found that mine are _Macrobrachium lanchesteri_. I'm going to pull them out and give them their own tank. They seem to breed very similar to American ghost shrimp, only the laval stage is longer and the larva are quite canibalistic from the info I found online. They seem to be more popular in Europe, since most of the sites I found were in German, etc. It should be a fun little project to play with.


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