Are Ghost Shrimp Aggressive?

I had a tank with a betta and some ghost shrimp that I found dead with his tail and fins eaten off. Today I found the new betta that I got Sunday barely alive being eaten by the ghost shrimp! They are her fins off and she wasn’t even dead! Are they usually this aggressive?

 

I had a tank with a betta and some ghost shrimp that I found dead with his tail and fins eaten off. Today I found the new betta that I got Sunday barely alive being eaten by the ghost shrimp! They are her fins off and she wasn’t even dead! Are they usually this aggressive?

ghost shrimp are bottom feeders, so they will eat anything that lands on the ground. If your female was laying down, she is weak and the ghost shrimp are just cleaning up. there is a species of shrimp that are extremely aggressive that look exactly like ghost shrimp. They are called prawns. or whisker shrimp. Here Freshwater Prawns

 

My ghost shrimp have been known to pick on my guppies and kill them quite often so for any fish with long flowing fins yes they are aggressive (it also depends on the personality of your shrimp)

I would not reccomend housing your ghost shrimp with any more bettas

I know that a lot of people claim that they are not aggressive but I hope my story will help you out a bit cause I have SEEN mine attack fish three times larger than them

Mine are not prawns/whisker shrimp they are true ghost shrimp

 

My ghost shrimp have been known to pick on my guppies and kill them quite often so for any fish with long flowing fins yes they are aggressive (it also depends on the personality of your shrimp)

I would not reccomend housing your ghost shrimp with any more bettas

I know that a lot of people claim that they are not aggressive but I hope my story will help you out a bit cause I have SEEN mine attack fish three times larger than them

Mine are not prawns/whisker shrimp they are true ghost shrimp

some ghost shrimps are just plain old mean.

 

I’ve had 3 bettas from this one store die in 2 weeks so I wasn’t sure if it was the bettas or the shrimp or a combo of both.

 

Is it possible for you to send me pictures of the betta please?

It can help me determine if it is the shrimp or not

 

The dead body? The male double tail had literally no fins left but he died last week so I froze his body. The female I haven’t done anything with yet.
But I have an outdoor pond in a pot with a mosquito fish so I am putting them in there. I only bought them to feed my hermit crabs with, not to keep as pets so at this point idk if I care what happens to them. I also got some small feeder guppies last week and I did catch one eating one and then the next day all of them were gone.

 

If the fins are gone from the fish it is most likely the shrinp

 

The male had zero fins left! But I'll send you a pic of the koi female.

 

Yeah that looks like a shrimps doing

 

But I wonder if the shrimp attacked the bettas or if the bettas were weak to start with and made them an easy target for the shrimp? Either way the shrimp are going!

 

Yeah, ghostys can get a shrimpatude.

 

Oh my goodness that is so sad!!

I got four ghost shrimp from Petco about a year ago, and only two made it. They ended up breeding and 3 of the babies actually survived without me even knowing they had been born. The mom got weak after that and the dad started to attack her so I moved her into a small tank and let her die in peace. Other than that I've never had my shrimp hurt any of my fish. I've always had guppies with them, and now have a few tetras, and I've never noticed any missing fins or anything that would make me think they've been picked on. Same with my ottos.

But it doesn't surprise me at all that you're having this issue because I've read many stories about aggressive ghost shrimp. I'm just really lucky I guess. It's such a bummer because they are so cool looking.

 

I have two murderous "ghost" shrimp in a 10 gallon. I pulled them out of my 29 because I saw them attacking a serape tetra. I lost one serape and 9 neon tetras before I figured out it was the shrimp. I have to assume they are a machro of some sort. My 5 gallon has true ghost shrimp and they aren't aggressive at all except with each other when food is involved.

 

So I've been wanting to get some ghost shrimp, but I get conflicting info on their aggression. The question I really need answered is, are they peaceful enough to go with cory's a clown pleco and neon tetras?

 

I have ghosts with a rio-negro plec, corys, rams, keyhole cichlids and rasboras. I would be surprised in the ghosts were even aware of the other fishes existence. They just roam around paying no attention to anyone else from what I've seen. Although I have seen a ghost scury into a pile of corys attacking a shrimp pellet, pick up the pellet, hoist it over his head victoriously and scury back into a dense pocket of plants with it. So besides emotional battery they're docile from my own experiences.

 

Hmmm, then I hear some people say they can and will kill each other, and some people have actually had them take out guppies
See how I'm confused here?

 

Hmmm, then I hear some people say they can and will kill each other, and some people have actually had them take out guppies
See how I'm confused here?

Mabey their comfusing them with whisker shrimp.

 

They do look very similar, but aren't those supposed to be peaceful too?

 

They do look very similar, but aren't those supposed to be peaceful too?

No I heard whisker shrimp will even pull snails out of their shell and also catch small fish.

 

Whiskers get bigger than Ghosts, more aggressive, and are known to catch and eat small fish.

 

I have kept ghost shrimp before and just put three in my 38 gallon but I only seen one once I put them in but I have never seen any aggression in them.

 

Ok, thanks. What's a good number to start with?
I'll take a picture of the ones at the store tomorrow just to confirm they're ghosts

 

I hot some shots shrimp last year in May and they were evil and ate a bunch of guppies and two bettas before I realized that they were the reason all the fish were dying. I caught one eating a Guppy love. I even posted a picture of it in the picture thread here. Almost a year later, I got some new ghost shrimp. These ones are great little guys and live with otos and Pygmy Cory cats. No issues with them at all. I think I got some whisker shrimp which were labeled as ghost shrimp. If you get actual ghost shrimp you should be fine though!

 

So what's the most obvious difference between them then? I don't want them to start going after my fish if I get the wrong ones

 

So what's the most obvious difference between them then? I don't want them to start going after my fish if I get the wrong ones

They will have two red dots on the tail and a red band on the base of each attenae and red bands on the base of the pinchers heres a bad picture that you can kind of see the red on the attenae and tail.

WP_20180806_001

• fish 321
• Aug 6, 2018

Ghost shrimp

 

They will have two red dots on the tail and a red band on the base of each attenae and red bands on the base of the pinchers heres a bad picture that you can kind of see the red on the attenae and tail.

WP_20180806_001

• fish 321
• Aug 6, 2018

Ghost shrimp

Sorry, is that for the ghosts, or whiskers?

 

Sorry, is that for the ghosts, or whiskers?

I forgot to specify its ghost.

 

Just got some, I'm fairly certain they're ghost and will post pics in a bit. One is carrying eggs too

 

How many did you buy? How are you acclimating? Expect at least 33-66% of them to die in the next few days if you bought them as feeders.

 

How many did you buy? How are you acclimating? Expect at least 33-66% of them to die in the next few days if you bought them as feeders.

I got 10 expecting about a 50% survival rate, so in few weeks I expect to only have about 5 adults, plus how ever many of her eggs hatch. They're still temp acclimating at the moment, and I haven't decided if I'm going to do a drip, or just add some tank water every 20 minutes or so. I don't think anything is big enough to eat them since they're on the big side

 

I got 10 expecting about a 50% survival rate, so in few weeks I expect to only have about 5 adults, plus how ever many of her eggs hatch. They're still temp acclimating at the moment, and I haven't decided if I'm going to do a drip, or just add some tank water every 20 minutes or so. I don't think anything is big enough to eat them since they're on the big side

Drip is better. I drip for about 1-2 hours depending on the store's water. Or you could do drop and plop (temp acclimate for 20-30 minutes with no other acclimation).

 

Here they are, including the egg carrier. Please tell me they're ghost

 

They don't look like ghost shrimp to me (no red). Can you see red on their tails and antennae?

 

Yeah my camera isn't that good
Some only have it one their tail, some only the antennae. All of them have a little red I think

 

They are probably ghost shrimp then. Some of mine were like that.

 

I read that whisker shrimp have little claws on their front arms, is that a defining characteristic that ghosts will not have? I think 2-3 might have those claws

 

Ghost shrimp have claws also. Mine ate a bladder snail with its claws. (I am sure it's a ghost shrimp).

 

Alright, I don't think I have anything to worry about with them then

 

I have 5 ghost shrimp on a Fluval 2.6gal tank together with a Betta and 4 Rasboras... I saw them "flying" to the surface to get some flakes all the time and never bothered any fish... One time the betta was surprised by one of them that touch his tail and ran away like crazy, it was so funny lol
They just mind their own business and help me a bit eating algae from the tank. No hostility there.