Can ghost shrimp be aggressive?

So this is a weird question spurred by some conversations I had many months ago with other hobbiests who said that some ghost shrimp being sold are not ghost shrimp but rather an aggressive shrimp species ? (I can’t remember the name or anything). I found some really healthy looking ghost shrimp locally which is really rare, and I would like to try some with my betta fish. Some of the ghost shrimp that I saw were huge- maybe bigger than an inch. I just want to make sure they won’t rip my betta’s fins are harm him in any way.

 

Sound like Amanos. They get pretty big. I think they will stay out of his way. He may pick at them though. Or they could get along fine. Depends on the fish as you know.

 

So this is a weird question spurred by some conversations I had many months ago with other hobbiests who said that some ghost shrimp being sold are not ghost shrimp but rather an aggressive shrimp species ? (I can’t remember the name or anything). I found some really healthy looking ghost shrimp locally which is really rare, and I would like to try some with my betta fish. Some of the ghost shrimp that I saw were huge- maybe bigger than an inch. I just want to make sure they won’t rip my betta’s fins are harm him in any way.

Do you happen to have a picture of the particular ghost shrimp you're referring to? That would help a lot. Ghost shrimp are usually used as feeder bait to larger fish and can grow quite big. During feeding they can be aggressive to each other and other smaller shrimp, but they should definitely be cool around your betta. I had a few ghost shrimp years ago when I bought my first betta, and everyone did fine together. I'd be more worried about your betta going after them then the opposite haha.

 

Do you happen to have a picture of the particular ghost shrimp you're referring to? That would help a lot. Ghost shrimp are usually used as feeder bait to larger fish and can grow quite big. During feeding they can be aggressive to each other and other smaller shrimp, but they should definitely be cool around your betta. I had a few ghost shrimp years ago when I bought my first betta, and everyone did fine together. I'd be more worried about your betta going after them than the opposite haha.

No photo but they are the really cheap 50cent feeder shrimp. Usually in other stores they have disease but I went to a different fish store today and they looked really nice. I’ll try some out I think

 

A few pics of my old ghost shrimp I had to Scour my old photos for these lol

 

A few pics of my old ghost shrimp I had to Scour my old photos for these lol

Very nice! Those are how the ones in the store looked, some were even bigger.

 

You can eat the mean ones with garlic and butter or send em my way. My aneomone loves crustaceans.

 

I've had some pretty big ghost shrimp before...would rival Amanos in size. Those would make a great snack for my Cichlids, but I don't want to chance introducing disease into my pride and joy tank.

 

I've had some pretty big ghost shrimp before...would rival Amanos in size. Those would make a great snack for my Cichlids, but I don't want to chance introducing disease into my pride and joy tank.

Definitely. I wonder if they would taste like crayfish.

 

Definitely. I wonder if they would taste like crayfish.

Or chicken!

 

Could you do a dip of some type?
In SW we do a FW dip to get rid of pests. I have no idea if you guys do something similar?

 

I’m going to try to get some pics of them. The only concern I have is that they are actually macrobrachium species and could harm my fish

Sound like Amanos. They get pretty big. I think they will stay out of his way. He may pick at them though. Or they could get along fine. Depends on the fish as you know.

They don’t look quite like amanos but I’ll try to get some pics!

 

I had a few ghost shrimp a while back and though they weren't as pretty as my neocaridinas, they were much more interesting in behaviour.

 

Its not impossible for a ghost shrimp to get massive. You guys should have seen my old bronze cory they said that it would get 2 inches in length but it was at 3 inches when it got introduced to my 37 gallon ( after being in my 10 gallon for a few months) and a bit bigger when it passed away. If its fed enough and has good water quality any fish can grow bigger than normal.

 

Its not impossible for a ghost shrimp to get massive. You guys should have seen my old bronze cory they said that it would get 2 inches in length but it was at 3 inches when it got introduced to my 37 gallon ( after being in my 10 gallon for a few months) and a bit bigger when it passed away. If its fed enough and has good water quality any fish can grow bigger than normal.

I raised Cories outdoors last year just to see. Zero feeding besides what nature provided. I also raised some indoors with regular feedings etc…


Guess which were bigger lol

 

Here are the infamous ghost shrimp! They are pretty big, I couldn’t get a good photo but they are currently drip acclimating

 

They are much stronger than the neos and when one of the other shrimp die, they can literally pick it up and swim away with it before eating it. They are really interesting to watch. I think you'll enjoy them.

 

When I had ghost shrimp I saw them grab my Endlers a couple times by the tail. Endlers would thrash around a bit and break free, no harm done. I've never been able to keep ghost shrimp alive for more than a month. I didn't realize how big they can get, saw some in Petsmart the other day that were ENORMOUS.