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Got shrimp?

I have a tank with some ghost shrimp. Been in there a few months. They don't seem very prolific either. I was hoping they would breed into snacks for my larger newts.
 
Ghost shrimp is easy to breed, but very hard to raise, specially in aquaria. The new shrimps have a minuscule larval phase that makes them hard to feed and care for.
That´s probably why you are not seeing any or much of a population growth. Try cherry shrimp instead, those are the easy, very prolific ones.
 
Great thread, Azhael! I soooo badly want to try cherry shrimp, now. But about a month or so ago I got some ghost shrimp that were on sale at 2 for $1 at the pet store for my guppy tank. I soon deemed them the biggest waste of $2 I ever spent. They looked so cool in the store, and the guy at the store said they were easy to keep. But in my heavily planted guppy tank at home, they dissapeared! didn't see them for about a week, then one by one they turned up dead! :( My parameters were good and the guppies suffered no losses, so I'm not sure what happened. I'm afraid the same would happen to the cherry shrimp too. Shrimp are so interesting. But I think I'm no good with them.
 
Shrimp are just delicate, some types very much so. For example, you need to take a much longer, gentler time acclimating them to the new tank water (adding less water at a time) than with more some common aquatics. They are also often quite sensitive to water quality and its fluctuations. I'm trying unsucessfully to remember what the pet shop boy told me when I bought mine last year - that the pet shop water is purified somehow, something I don't have at home, and that I had to be very careful when transferring the shrimp to their new home.

Don't be discouraged. Try something more robust like the cherry shrimp and work your way into understanding them like any new creature.

-Eva
 
I bought 34 Ghost Shrimp (some form of Palaeomonetes) at a local shop to help start cycling my tank. About 16 survived the ordeal. I got them because they are plentiful around here and are sold at 12 for $1 US. I was only supposed to get 24... but the guy just eyeballed it and handed me the bag. I used the shrimp and the water to start the cycle. I figured the Axolotls would take care of whatever was left when I got them.
Now everything is going along nicely... except that I've become attached to the Shrimp! They are fun to watch and amazing little animals. I'm actually going to set up a small tank on my nightstand with some Java Moss and some shrimp. Maybe even some (If I can find any) Hawaiian Red Shrimp "opae-ula" (Halocaridina rubra) or "Hawaiian Micro Lobsters". They are smaller and are frequently sold as seahorse food or in those stupid "micro habitats" that slowly kill whatever you put in there. :mad:
Really like watching the shrimp. Used to watch the Crickets I bred for Reptiles too. Actually fun to watch.
 
I can no longer say that shrimps are safe in my aquarium...
P5040032.jpg

But i am very proud of this little guy! Catching a shrimp definetely needs some skill!
 
Perhaps what is happening to some of mine...hope not anyway.

Glass shrimp(Palaeometes paludosus) don't usually succeed in growing in aquariums due their larvae being free floating for 5-10 days and prone to being sucked into filters or eaten by their parents/other animals. Cherry shrimp are better overall.

That being said, I have a goodly number of berried females in a large clothesbox with a baby musk turtle and lots of elodea. Some of the zoea that have been released have more than doubled in size and I recently got a batch released by a mom in a small container today that I can watch.

Contrary to popular belief they do NOT need to feed in the zoea stage to reach postlarvae. I will get back in a few weeks but unlike cherry shrimp that will simply fend for themselves, for ghost shrimp to survive takes some active effort on your part.

Also, (at least for P. paludosus) the larvae are not miniscule...quite big actually-bigger than the hatchling red cherries I've seen(the eggs of this sp. are pretty good size and each female can only care 30 or so). Size is not the issue here.
 
fishkeeper said:
Perhaps what is happening to some of mine...hope not anyway.

Glass shrimp(Palaeometes paludosus) don't usually succeed in growing in aquariums due their larvae being free floating for 5-10 days and prone to being sucked into filters or eaten by their parents/other animals.
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Click to expand...

That's what I've seen with my Palaeometes paludosus as well.... lots of berries... but the tank isn't suitable for their survival. :(
 
Well, its not hard to change.

I think the dwarf shrimp are best overall for newts. Ghosties get too big for anything but the biggest.
 
I'm interested in putting Red Cherry shrimp into the axie tank but dont the axies like it 15-16 deg C and the RCS like it tropical? I've got a chiller for my axie tank so there is no chance the RCS are going to have a warm tank if I put them in. Will they survive? Will they thrive?

Regards
David
 
Survive, yes, thrive/breed, probably not. I think low temps might be what is causing mine to not expand their population much(that and limited food supply praps).

Some of my ghost shrimp are now in the postlarval stage. I have maybe 20-30 now in a small container to see if they really can survive w/o any food during the zoea stage. So far they have grown quite well.
 
I have lots of cherry shrimp, but I don't feed them to anything. I can say they breed VERY well at 76 -78 degrees. Here is a video of mine cleaning up some dirty plants from an aquarium that has no shrimp. YouTube - Cherry Shrimp Cleaning Dirty Plants

And this is one of my very few super bright red shrimp
IMG_1335.jpg
 
I think I may try again with the red cherry shrimp. Thanks Eva, this time I will be more careful while introducing them. I did it the same way I introduced the guppies.:eek: And truth be told guppies are pretty hardy little guys.
 
I used to use my cherries as a cleaning team too xD You put an algae incrusted Anubias (really incrusted...one of those plants that you really consider throwing away because there´s no point) in their tank, and 4-5 hours later you have a perfectly clean plant....it´s just amazing xD
 
Ok now I'm convinced Azhael. I have enough problems with aquatic plants.:p I could use a good cleaning crew.
 
xDDD don´t expect them to rid your tank of algae in a few hours. They work very well in high densities over smallish surfaces, but in a big tank their impact on the algae is less noticiable.

Eric, i got mine from another hobbyists that breeds them. I think that´s the best way to find them, they breed so fast and so well that anyone who keeps them sooner or later has to get rid of a few dozen.
 
Cherry shrimp are generally more expensive than ghost shrimp, because of the "added value" of being a colour morph. They cost me 20euros 25 shrimp, pretty expensive, but since they breed so readily they soon pay up.
 
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