Anybody got Ghost Shrimp in their tank? Are they good for general clean up
or don't even bother?

Hi, Leigh. My LFS finally got some ghosts in and I was considering getting
some. I've never had shrimp before. I'm using snails, ottos, plecos, and
escaped feeder guppies for algae control now. What do you think? Are
ghosts a worthy addition, or redundant? How many would you put in a 75
gallon?

kush

"You can't have everything - where would you put it?"

LeighMo wrote in message
...
Anybody got Ghost Shrimp in their tank? Are they good for general clean
up
or don't even bother?

They are very good for general cleanup, and unlike Dinky, I had no trouble
keeping large clown loaches with them. The loaches left them alone.

Ghost shrimp can be predatory, so they aren't suited for a fry tank.
Generally, they won't bother healthy adult fish (even small ones, like
neon
tetras).

If it's an algae-eater you want, Amano shrimp are better, but ghost shrimp
are
good all-around scavengers, eating algae, fish food, dead fish, baby
snails,
etc.

They breed in the tank quite readily (and the babies are awfully cute,
with
their big eyes). They do need a little iodine in the water. (Just a drop
of
Kent Marine Iodine with each water change is enough.) And if your tank is
cycling, hold off. Shrimp are very sensitive to nitrite.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

I'm reporting back on adding ghost shrimp to my 75-gallon tank with Angels.

The Challenge: to get six ghost shrimp past the angels guarding the top of
the tank and into the shrubbery at the bottom.

The Plan: Blitz the angels with targets: 1) buy TWENTY ghost shrimp instead
of six, 2) overfeed with frozen brine shrimp at the instant the ghosts were
being released, and 3) add three new angels at the same time.

Results: All twenty ghosts escaped (so far). The Buenos Aries tetras are
hunting them through the shrubberies, but it seems to be just for sport and
no actual killings have been perpetrated (that I know of).

The angels are sulking. They know I pulled a fast one but they haven't quite
worked out what it was yet.

kush

"You can't have everything - where would you put it?"

LeighMo wrote in message
...
Hi, Leigh. My LFS finally got some ghosts in and I was considering
getting
some. I've never had shrimp before. I'm using snails, ottos, plecos,
and
escaped feeder guppies for algae control now. What do you think? Are
ghosts a worthy addition, or redundant? How many would you put in a 75
gallon?

You don't *need* ghost shrimp in your tank, but they are interesting
critters
to keep.

Ghost shrimp are good to start with if you've never kept shrimp before,
because
they are cheap and hardy. They are general scavengers, rather than
algae-eaters. (They eat some algae, but not as much as Amano shrimp.)
They
should be kept with fish around their own size, since they can catch and
eat
fish that are a lot smaller than they are, and will be eaten by fish that
are a
lot larger.

As for how many...I would recommend five or six. Getting more than that
is a
waste of money, because they breed readily in the tank. You'll soon have
plenty of shrimp, without having to buy them. :-)


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

Results: All twenty ghosts escaped (so far). The Buenos Aries tetras are
hunting them through the shrubberies, but it seems to be just for sport
and
no actual killings have been perpetrated (that I know of).

I like this idea. If you could get this "shrubbery" deep enough that the
shrimp could create a self-sustaining colony and not worry about a few
angel-related deaths, that would be awesome. Why is my strategy for
breeding always to add as many of an organism as possible and hope they
breed?
-Cesium



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One side of my tank is planted as a "refuge." I've got Ludwigia repens and
Hygrophila polysperma which are pruned down tight at about 6" - 8" with
Sagittaria subulata as a "back wall" and little 4" ozelot swords planted as
a "hedge" in front.

In theory, any small fish which can escape into the "refuge" should be safe
from the bigger fish. In practice, the Buenos Aries tetras go torpedoing
through the plantings like, well, like little 3" torpedoes.

kush

Cesium wrote in message
...
Results: All twenty ghosts escaped (so far). The Buenos Aries tetras
are
hunting them through the shrubberies, but it seems to be just for sport
and
no actual killings have been perpetrated (that I know of).

I like this idea. If you could get this "shrubbery" deep enough that the
shrimp could create a self-sustaining colony and not worry about a few
angel-related deaths, that would be awesome. Why is my strategy for
breeding always to add as many of an organism as possible and hope they
breed?
-Cesium



---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.422 / Virus Database: 237 - Release Date: 11/20/2002

Aye!

I'm off to score some!! my val's are so dense that neither my clowns,
panda's or baby pl*co's won't move through them!

their babies can feed my juvenile discus


"LeighMo" wrote in message
...
The Challenge: to get six ghost shrimp past the angels guarding the top
of
the tank and into the shrubbery at the bottom.

Yikes! I didn't realize you were keeping angelfish.

But some of the ghosts might survive, given enough hiding places. I've
heard
of people buying ghost shrimp to feed predatory fish like oscars, only to
have
some survive in the tank, and learn to evade the predators.

You may end up with a continuous source of live food for your angelfish.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

FWIW this months TFH is on Freshwater Inverts; there's a decent
article on breeding red "crystal" shrimp by Oliver Lucanus.


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I have not investigated shrimp because I have heard/read that they can
be quite fragile, especially in regards to temperature. This house is
not centrally cooled, nor do we have air conditioning for where the
tanks are located so during the summer temperatures raise to low 90s
for weeks at a time (the fish amazingly do fine as long as it is only
2-3 weeks, and don't mind high 80 degree weather during the length of
the summer). I'd be worried the the amano shrimp or other varities of
shrimp could not take this kind of abuse as why I have strayed away
from shrimp as algae eaters.

My local fish store that I respect highly always carries amano shrimp
in large quantities if I ever had the temptation, but until the time
there is AC for the house I think I won't risk the lives of a $3.25
shrimp or any shrimp. They also carry wood shrimp and the occasional
odd-ball shrimp, but I havene't seen the red shrimp in that picture
stocked before (very attractive, btw).

tose (LeighMo) wrote in message ...
The
SAE's ignored the hair algae. The Ottos ignored the hair algae.

Have you tried shrimp? IME, shrimp are good with filamentous algae.

And it doesn't have to be Amano shrimp. There are a lot of shrimp that eat
algae, many of which are very interesting and attractive. Like this:

http://www.franksaquarium.com/cherryredshrimp.htm



Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

Shrimp don't ever seem to mind that I have no heater at all. I've kept
them this way for many years now. I have warmer summer temps, cooler
winter etc.

Once adjusted and eating fish food and fattened up, these shrimp are
actually agressive. They ate some 1 inch long wimpy bait minnows I put
in after they had established themselves.

They are quite hardy if you maintain good plant health=good shrimp
health.

They are very good at eating most all attached algae species. They are
not good for old BBA, green spot, Staghorn or Green water.
Pretty much everything else is attacked.

If you ask the LFS for lots of 50 or 100, I get them here for and
elsewhere for 68$ per 100.
The red cherry and the crystal reds especially are hot and will
hopefully come down in price later, since they are breedable, much
more so than the Amano's, they should drop in price. They are smaller
also. Bumble bee shrimp are also very nice.

A pack of shrimp is really a good thing to have, they are the best
algae eater I've seen but folks often add one or two to a 20 gallon
tank and then complain they do not do anything. Add 15-20 of them and
they will.

The number can be increased or decreased to suit almost any sized
tank.
SAE's cannot do that, they get too big and get lazy.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Regards,
Tom Barr