The story of the murderous ghost shrimp

[JoeyB]

My brother has a betta tank and decided to get tank mates for his betta. We went to the lfs and he chose two ghost shrimp. He put them in his tank and after a few days his betta killed one. He gave me the other shrimp and i put it in my 15 gal.


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[JoeyB]

Within a week the ghost shrimp killed
A healthy full grown guppy. Two weeks later it killed my small albino bristle nose algae eater. Today i flushed the algae eater and moved the ghost shrimp to my betta tank. My betta seems afraid to go too close to the shrimp. I only hope i don't wake up tommorow and see my beta dead.


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[JoeyB]

Sorry for bad quality pic , ghost shrimp aren't photogenic.


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[Delapool]

Yikes! Sounds like a trouble maker.

 

[IllusionX]

I never liked ghost shrimps. Keep them as feeders.

If you want inverts in your tank, get an amano or rock shrimp.

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[Beej1254]

Ghost shrimp are photogenic! haha

but wow I haven't heard of a ghost shrimp going on a rampage like that. usually mine just got eaten.

 

[Aliray]

Are you sure it is a ghost shrimp? Could it be a whisker shrimp? They look similar but the whisker shrimp has longer arms and will kill fish. Google pictures of whisker shrimp and notice the arms with the pinchers on them. Alison

 

[Fresh2o]

There is a remote chance that a macro brachium shrimp slipped into the ghost shrimp shipment (say that 3x!). Young specimens look similar to ghost shrimp, however, the front pair of claws are on these very long arms.
Or it simply could be an aggressive ghost shrimp.


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[t4runnr]

There is a remote chance that a macro brachium shrimp slipped into the ghost shrimp shipment (say that 3x!). Young specimens look similar to ghost shrimp, however, the front pair of claws are on these very long arms.
Or it simply could be an aggressive ghost shrimp.


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I used to want a species only tank of that shrimp. Then when they got big enough, grill them. Lol.

In the meantime, they would be my piranha shrimp.

 

[Mebbid]

What are the parameters of the tank?

Unless you see the ghost shrimp actively pursuing a live healthy fish then I would seriously hesitate to call it a murderous shrimp. Even then, it would be a heck of a task for a shrimp to kill a healthy fish, especially one that is as heavily armored as a bristlenose cat. African cichlids (brutes of the fish world) regularly attack plecos eyes because that's the only sensitive part on them; otherwise plecos completely ignore them.



If you see a shrimp eating a dead fish, then it's doing it's job. They are scavengers and dead fish is a scavengable treat for them.

 

[JoeyB]

I looked at it more closely and noticed that the first two sets of legs have claws and the rest dont. Is this normal for ghostshrimp? Also the bristle nose he killed was tiny , about the same size as the shrimp mabye a little smaller.


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[JoeyB]

Oh and the shrimp and betta are both fine. The ghost shrimp learned to go upside down and skim along the surface grabbing all the flakes before the betta can eat them.


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[Fresh2o]

I think shrimp, lobsters, and crayfish share that characteristic; the first two pairs of "walking" limbs have claws and the remaining pairs do not.


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[Fishy Fever]

There is a remote chance that a macro brachium shrimp slipped into the ghost shrimp shipment (say that 3x!). Young specimens look similar to ghost shrimp, however, the front pair of claws are on these very long arms.
Or it simply could be an aggressive ghost shrimp.


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I have heard that some "ghost shrimp" were hunting down guppies. They turned out to be something else. I think it might of been the macro brachium shrimp mentioned in the quote. I would keep an eye on that shrimp if I were you. If your shrimp has any red bits on it's feet odds are it isn't a ghost shrimp and will kill your Betta when it gets larger.



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[JoeyB]

There's no red in its feet but the bottom half of the ghost shrimps antennae are red. I don't think it could kill my betta (at least not yet) as my beta is full grown.


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[Fishy Fever]

I would think that it is a macro brachium shrimp not a ghost shrimp. Those shrimp can get pretty big so beware!


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[JoeyB]

If absolutely have to i can confine him to the breeder net in my 15 gal so he can't harm any fish.


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