What do your ghost shrimp look like?

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Lance M.

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
May 1, 2004
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Location
South Carolina
Just wondering cause it seems that there are many shrimp sold with the name Ghost shrimp. The regualr are just clear shrimp wiht no markings or anything. Yesterday I got some more and they look completely different. They have a couple small blue stripes wertical down their sides and have an extra set of claws. They are very aggressive too... When I got up this morning and looked at my tank there were at least three of the regular ghost shrimp cut in half in my tank!! (that looked wierd). Anyone seen these before?

I think I know what they are but I'm open to suggestions.
 
Yikes! That sounds scary. 8O

Hope someone wiser than me could offer some help. I'd hate to see my lovely ghost shrimps cut in half.
 
Amano shrimp won't eat other shrimp, and they don't have claws like that, so it may be more of a prawn. They will eat small fish, too.
 
I'd certainly suspect one of the prawns. I've posted these before but I'm too lazy to hunt down the post they were in. These are two long-armed prawns that came in as 'ghost shrimp'. They were less than an inch long when I got them. The top one is now at 6 inches (and has eaten a loach), the bottom one is about 5 inches long.

shrimp5.jpg


shrimp6b.jpg
 
Holy! Nice pics. They don't look like that, but what I think they are are Blue Claw Shrimp. I had three of them (about 3 inches each) for about three hours... I had to take them back. They were killing snails and other shrimp. But these shrimp I got as "ghost shrimp" look exactly the same just only about 3/4 inchs long.

I can't find any info on the blue claw shrimp.
 
I've got a 5g tank that I grow out ghost shrimp for my show tanks. Been keeping ghost shrimp for years. One thing I have learned is you get a wide variety of shrimp species when you purchase ghost shrimp.

I once got a prawn in a bunch of ghost shrimp. Just like the pics above Fruitbat posted. Well this prawn made it into my heavily planted Discus tank as a baby. To make a long story short. I had to relocate the Discus. Remove all the driftwood and rock work. Uproot 75% of the plants and drain the water to remove this monster, once he got bigger and more aggressive.

He's now over 5" long and has his own 5g tank along with a red claw crab. It's close to two years old now. Prawns are great in thier own species tank. Reflecting back, Id rather have a couple of root canals than have to catch that crazy prawn again :lol: It really was that bad.

Moral of the story. Make darn sure what ever you introduce to a tank, will play well with others in the community.
 
Your ghost shrimp have spots? That's cool. The regular ones are just plain clear.

I can only find one of those unknown shrimp in my tank with only two ghost shrimp now. The one I see has eggs so it looks like I'm gonna have some more soon.... What kinds of prawns are there?
 
Hah! Looks like I got a picture of my Amano in there as well....sorry about that. The ghost are all clear. sorry. The amano is a tad larger, has the spots on his side and also has a tan colored stripe that runs down the center of his back, from head to tail. The Amano is also a bit more active and does a better job of cleaning up algae in the tank.
 
Ya I see the amano on top and the ghost shrimp on bottom. But it looks like there are white spots on the ghost shrimp's tail?
 
Yes, they do have some markings. Although faint, the ghost shrimp is not completely clear with no other markings at all....most are clear to a tan or light brownish opaque color. On the larger Ghosts, if you look hard enough, also have some white spots along their sides and belly. Not all of them, but some. For one, I can tell the Ghosts are Ghosts because of their agressive reproduction. The Amanos are difficult to reproduce in captivity. The Ghost shrimp will reproduce very easily provided you have enough of them and the water params are good. They lay more egss than I can count on a regular basis. The Ghosts dont last as long as the Amano, even in great water conditions...they just have a shorter life span.

The Amano or,as I bought it, a Japanese Algae Eating shrimp (crazy lfs) is a voracios eater.....they really are quite efficient at cleaning up in the tank. They also tend to get a little larger than the Ghost shrimp....up to an inch longer in some cases.
 
gotta be the camra 8). anyway fruitbat where the heck do you shop. not saying by any means i could get there and not in like a diserspect or anything since your prolly 4-6x my age (im 13) like ghost shrimp that turn into giant cool prawns. you own fish ive never heard of and by no means seen in my life. its crazy. i wish i had ur shopping skills and location :). but still i like my lil middle of nowhere (not really). but country..
 
I'm in the Dallas, Texas area and there are a few great local fish stores that will often special-order things for me. And yes, krap 101....I am about 4X your age!! :D I visit each of my three favorite local stores at least once a week just to see what 'oddities' they've gotten in and have managed to pick up a few nice fish in the process.

My prawns are in a tank with loaches, barbs, and large gouramis and so far they've only managed to eat my smallest loach. I'd take them out but I'd have to dismantle the entire tank to do it and my plants are finally growing the way I want them to! Just FYI....I saw another of these prawns in an outdoor pond at an LFS that was at least 16 inches long!! I understand they're VERY tasty!!! I might have to find out one of these days!! :roll:
 
One of my local lfs' will special order anything I want and she gives them to me at 10 percent over her cost. Just get to know the person that orders the fish and theyll work with you in most cases.

My camera isnt so spectacular, I just got lucky with those shots. What you dont understand is, I probably took twenty pictures just to get one or two that actually turned out good enough to post. My camera can take beautiful pics if the lighting is perfect, but it just isnt very adjustable so I have to really work hard to get good pics.
 
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