# trying to breed ghost shrimp



## brandon O (Oct 23, 2010)

i'm trying to breed ghost shrimp. Got any tips?


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

It's not going to be easy.

Ghost shrimp have a pelagic larval stage that is also marine. That means that after the eggs hatch you need to adapt them to saltwater to raise the larvae. During this time the size and amount of food necessary to keep them alive needs to be very carefully supplied and regulated. After the larvae settle they make their way back to freshwater.

You may be better off breeding shrimp that have an entirely freshwater lifecycle like Cherry shrimp.

Andy


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Really?

We used to raise ghost shrimp in completely freshwater.. not in very large numbers, but we did have survivors. It is something I never knew about them.


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

My apologies. You are correct. I was thinking the Amano shrimp when I wrote it. The ghost shrimp or Glass shrimp commonly sold in the U.S. is Palaemontes paludosus and the larval stage does survive in freshwater.

Although feeding the larvae is still difficult requiring green water first, followed by rotifers, freshly hatched brine shrimp, and finally finely crushed flake food. They can survive on detritus in a larger aquarium without any predators but you won't get much of a survival rate.

Andy


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## brandon O (Oct 23, 2010)

whats a good way to make green water?


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

Green water is phytoplankton that you can culture to feed the larvae. You will probably need to purchase a starter culture and the method of culturing is more complex than can be explained in a forum post.

here is a link to a method of culturing green water. There are many methods that are also alternatives.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Culture ... ic-bottle/

Andy


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## brandon O (Oct 23, 2010)

i decided to not even bother


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## Anthraxx8500 (Feb 11, 2011)

i know there is readily available hikari shrimp food and such. just get a heavily planted tetra setup and toss some in there. i do also know that iodine or something similar can be necessary to get breeding going. pretty easy to tell when one has eggs too. another alternative to breeding ur own fish food, guppies, swordtails, mollys, pretty much any live bearer.


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## jordanroda (May 4, 2006)

I have 8 ghost shrimp in a fry tank!
out of the 8, 6 are female holding.
3 released the shrimplete only 1 or 2 survie to the next day. :lol:


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## czar_wilson (May 26, 2011)

so since brandon has abandoned his quest I believe I'll hijack his thread lol
Day One:
just bought decent amount of ghost shrimp and going to try my hand at breeding them
they are in a 10g fry tank by themselves with an airstone and 20% water changes every two days.
I have algea discs, brine shrimp, and veggies for feed depending on the stages, if I can make it that far. I'll post as I go.
Gave away two today to my oscar as a treat lol


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## mccluggen (Jul 5, 2008)

In my experience, if you are looking to breed shrimp for feeders, cherry shrimp are a better bet. Set up a 20 long with a sponge filter, throw a wad of java moss and a dozen cherry shrimp into it. Come back in a month. Cherry shrimp are easy to breed. Their young are born fully formed with no larval stage and they are pretty prolific.


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## czar_wilson (May 26, 2011)

Hmm wish I would of asked opinions before I started this experiment. That sounds a million times easier than the process of breeding ghost shrimp.

Cherry shrimp will be next if I fail here. 
At any case I believe I'll have quite a few weeks of treats for my Oscar lol


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## k19smith (Sep 6, 2005)

The cherries are also harder IMO and much more fun to watch. I started with 25 now I get 200 plus every 3 months in a 55g planted.


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## czar_wilson (May 26, 2011)

What setup do you have on the 55g


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## k19smith (Sep 6, 2005)

It's just a planted tank with BN pleco's, sponge filter, heater, sand bottom, guppies which eat my shrimp but not very many very often. Let me know if you have any questions.


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## smilepak (Aug 9, 2004)

Amano Shrimp rocks


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## czar_wilson (May 26, 2011)

Still no breeding activity, however they have molted twice.


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## good7879 (Sep 20, 2011)

Amano Shrimp rocks


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## czar_wilson (May 26, 2011)

Ok i feel the love for amano shrimp however im tryin to breed these guys so any advice on breeding ghost shrimp is appreciated


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## czar_wilson (May 26, 2011)

Still no eggs that I have noticed. However I did see a tiny reddish looking worm wriggiling around in the tank. Could it be a hatched one or maybe just an introduced worm somehow??


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## mccluggen (Jul 5, 2008)

No, the young shrimp won't look like a worm. Probably just some little bit of random aquatic life that was introduced from somewhere.


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