Freshwater Shrimp

[JesseL]

Has anyone tried keeping freshwater shrimp? Everytime I order some They dont live long. Cant find anything wrong with the water. Ghost shrimp live well and multiply so why dont the more expensive ones like Cherry Reds for example?

 

[Purrbox]

We'll need more information to figure out what's going on.
1. Water parameters (for both the aquarium and your tap water - your area's water report would be even better)
2. Is the aquarium planted?
2.a. What types of plants?
2.b. Do you fertilize?
2.b.i. What fertilizers, how much, how often?
3. What are you feeding the shrimp?
4. How do you acclimate them?
5. What size are they when shipped?
6. Where did you order from?
7. What type of filter do you have?
8. How long has the aquarium been established?
9. Did you notice any symptoms before they died? Sluggish, swimming frantically, etc.

 

[bs6749]

Has anyone tried keeping freshwater shrimp? Everytime I order some They dont live long. Cant find anything wrong with the water. Ghost shrimp live well and multiply so why dont the more expensive ones like Cherry Reds for example?

Congratulations if you DID get ghost shrimp to breed in your tank. They are one of the more difficult shrimp to breed.

As far as not being able to keep RCS alive you may have just gotten bad stock. They are generally easy to keep alive. Mine are very prolific breeders and the babies are miniature versions of the parents unlike ghost shrimp which go through a larval stage. That is why ghost shrimp are harder to breed. If you want some good quality RCS let me know and I'll put you on the top of the list and I can ship out Monday or Tuesday. Just PM me for the details.

Before you think about ordering though you should make sure nothing is wrong with your tank/water.

 

[Purrbox]

Congratulations if you DID get ghost shrimp to breed in your tank. They are one of the more difficult shrimp to breed.

Actually this is highly dependant on what shrimp you are sold under the name ghost shrimp. There is a large variety of shrimp sold under the same name, some which are easy to breed in freshwater while others are nearly impossible. I've had the ones that are can breed strictly in freshwater and they did so without my doing anything special or having a clue about breeing shrimp at the time.

 

[bs6749]

Didn't know that. I've had berried ghost shrimp females often when I brought them home but the babies/larva never survived for some reason. Didn't know there was more than one ghost shrimp/glass shrimp. I'll have to check that out and do some research!

 

[Purrbox]

You probably had one of the varieties that has larva that need SW for them to develop, much like with the amano shrimp.

 

[bs6749]

I'm not sure. When I searched I only came up with the American ghost shrimp and one that is found in the Amazon and supposedly the Amazon version is never imported for some reason. I wonder how many different species there are that are called ghost/glass shrimp.

 

[JohnPaul]

This doesn't cover every possible explanation, but it's a good start that might allow you to eliminate some of the more likely possibilities. It's an article called, appropriately enough, Why Are My Shrimp Dying?

If you can eliminate any of those things as possibilities, then post back here and there are other possible explanations we can explore.

 

[JesseL]

I use the dip strip tests. Everything is fine except the water tests hard. I use Prime water treatment. The tank is a 75 gal. planted tank. It has a lot of Water Sprite various bunch plants thatususally dont do very well. Some smaller plants wit large rounded leaves(sorry i'm not up on scintific names) which do very well and I have acually made 5 cuttings off the origional one.Once in a great while I'll use Seachems Flourish but most of the time I forget about it.The substate is a mixture of Flourite, Volcanit, Flora Base, Some gravel and some sand.. The tank is stocked with Rasbora Hets, Neon and Cardinal Tetras, Cory CatsWhite Clouds- general peaceful small community tank. It hs been established for 4 years. I filter with a Fluval 400 canister that sprays into my homeade bio trickle filter full of lava rock and Bio Stars, ther is also a large Aqua Clear 110 with a sponge on the intake tube. The shrimp were ordred from varius places I found on the internet. I aclimated them by puting 1 cup of water from the tamk into the bucket every 30 to 45 min. They were small and looked very healthy and active.when I finnally put them in of course they all go hide in the plants and caves I have in the tank. In a few days I only see a few oof them. Each day only afew. as weeks go by I see less of them Finally I see none.

 

[JesseL]

The ghost shrimp were bout at a local pet shop. They sold them as feeders. No telling what they really were.

 

[Purrbox]

It sounds like you haven't actually seen any dead shrimp then? My guess is that either the fish are slowly pecking off the shrimp when you're not looking or that they're still there but hiding due to the presence of the fish. Cherry Red Shrimp are much shier in community aquariums than Ghost Shrimp in my experiance. I suspect this is at least in part due to the smaller size of RCS.

When keeping RCS in a community aquarium your best bet is to establish the colony before adding the fish to ensure that there are sufficient numbers present so that they breed faster than they become food. The other option is to setup a small species only aquarium just for the RCS and periodically supplement the community aquaium with shrimp from the species aquarium.

 

[JesseL]

No I havent seen any dead shrimp, only molted shells( probably from the ghost). What I dont understand is if my fish kill shrimp or if my water conditions are not good for shrimp then how com the ghost shrimp are doing so good? I really have seen new Juvies that I know I didnt get at that size. I did read the article "Why are my shrimp dying" In might not have enough algea for them to live off of. May try a shrimp only tank and see what happens.

 

[JohnPaul]

May try a shrimp only tank and see what happens.

I will say, shrimp-only tanks are the way to go (IMO). You really see the lil' guys come alive when they have a tank to themselves without any fear of predation...they tend to be much more active, which in turn makes them much more enjoyable to watch.

If you have the space for it, I'd recommend it 100%.

 

[MichaelsLilGray]

or get 3 tetra 2 bala sharks and 2 loaches... my fish are more afraid of the **** ghost shrimp than vice versa LOL

 

[JesseL]

My fish seem to aviod the ghost shrimp too!

 

[bs6749]

Cherry Red Shrimp are much shier in community aquariums than Ghost Shrimp in my experiance. I suspect this is at least in part due to the smaller size of RCS.

Ever notice that ghost shrimp can "float/hover" in midwater? They seem to be much quicker than RCS in my experience with them and they seem to be able to get away more quickly when they need to. Maybe this is why they are willing to come out from hiding in a community tank. They also use the hover technique to keep their food away from other ghost shrimp from what I have learned.

 

[Purrbox]

Ever notice that ghost shrimp can "float/hover" in midwater? They seem to be much quicker than RCS in my experience with them and they seem to be able to get away more quickly when they need to. Maybe this is why they are willing to come out from hiding in a community tank. They also use the hover technique to keep their food away from other ghost shrimp from what I have learned.

I've seen the RCS exhibit the exact same maneuvers. They can move just as quickly in proportion to their size. So funny when they go dashing off when I get to close too quickly.