# ghost shrimp



## yellowfox123 (Sep 24, 2008)

I have a lot of ghost shrimp that have eggs. i know they won't live when they hatch because they need saltier water , but does this mean my shrimp are healthy?


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## JohnPaul (Aug 28, 2006)

*Re: gohst shrimp*

Yes, eggs are a good & healthy sign. It usually signals that your water conditions and other environmental factors are too a shrimp's liking.

As for baby shrimplets surviving, it is not out of the question. Part of the confusion on this matter is the fact that there are several (many?) different species of shrimps that are marketed by pet stores as "ghost shrimp." However, most of them--including the two most common ones in US pet stores (The American Freshwater Glass Shrimp, _Palaemonetes paludosus_, and the Amazon Glass Shrimp, _Palaemonetes sp._)--do *not* need brackish water for shrimplet survival. However, the babies are born as free-swimming larvae and thus require lots of microoganisms in the water column in order to having a fighting chance, making successful fry survival in most aquariums pretty rare. In very aged tanks with lots of decaying plants, detritus, etc., combined with a lack of anything else in the tank that would eat the larvae, you might indeed see successful breeding.

*EDIT:* the shrimp most commonly seen in the hobby that *does* require brackish water for fry survival is the Amano shrimp (also called the Yamato shrimp or Japonica shrimp), _Caridina japonica_.


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## yellowfox123 (Sep 24, 2008)

*Re: gohst shrimp*

Well, I need to get my guppies out of the tank. if it wasn't for them, its posable that I might get some baby shrimp as there seems to be plenty of food for the baby guppies. Though, they are probably the ones eating the larvae.


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## Sunstar (Sep 17, 2008)

*Re: gohst shrimp*

I got baby ghosts in a brackish bottle. I had them with some cherries and removed the adult. I still got them, they're cute. baby ghosts swim upside down while they're in their larval stage.


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## cwilfinger (Aug 1, 2008)

I had an outbreak of ich a while back and I had the temp raised on my tank and salt in the water. During that time I had a female ghost shrimp give birth. Now I have several 1/2 ghost shrimps in my tank. I have plenty of decaying plant matter due to my heavily planted tank and plenty of hiding places. So raising them can be done.


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## Sunstar (Sep 17, 2008)

That sounded like a beneficial side effect of the ich there. I hope your fish got better.


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## cwilfinger (Aug 1, 2008)

My mollys all survived but all the tetras didn't make it (28 of them). I'm right now concentrating on getting the plants back in shape. With the higher heat and salt in the water, my plants are now looking kinda ragged.
My tetras did not make it due to many posts that state to "add salt" but not how to add the salt So I dumped the salt in. Needless to say, the shock of the salt killed them all. Mollys like having a little salt in the water so they were happy as clams. So lesson learned the hard way - Add salt VERY SLOWLY - like over the course of several days.


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## Sunstar (Sep 17, 2008)

I think some tetras do not like salt. I cannot remember exactly But I know what you mean. Add salt a bit at a time to get them adjusted.


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## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

sunstar i'm chasing you around the forums. So how can i identify my ghost shrimp? I'm sure it'll be hard as crap ut i wanna give it a go. If my preggers ghost shrimp needs brackish water then i guess i'll have no new babies But if they will survive then i need to go get a prefilter.


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## Nelumbo74 (May 2, 2008)

You probably have P. paludosus. They are raised in huge freshwater ponds in Florida without any exposure to saltwater. I've had many babies survive in heavily planted tanks.


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## waton8 (Aug 13, 2007)

post a picture... i`ve succesed on raising ghost shrimps feeding them with bakers yeast (the same i used to use for mi DIY CO2 reactor) of course no fish was in the tank (the yeas might kill them by blocking the gills).


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## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

Do you want pictures from the front? Side? Back? I checked out a Canon S5 IS this weekend with a tripod. Maybe in super macro mode i'll be able to get you a quality shot.


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