Ghost shrimp or macrobrachium?

Hi all. Got some "ghost shrimp" at my LFS today, and realized something was wrong after some of them harassed my betta. I then fell into the rabbit hole of what a ghost shrimp is and that it could actually not be a shrimp at all, but a prawn. Anyway, some of them have tried EATING my bettas fins, and obviously they're going to have to move. My question is, how do I tell the difference between the desirable "ghost shrimp" and the aggressive macrobrachium? Do I have some of both? I read sooo many posts about this, but I still cannot distinguish as some of them seem to look different.

 

With better close up side profile pics you may be able to determine what you have. richiep May be able to ID them for you. And seeing you can see them up close i found this link that may help u determine if their a; Ghosts or not. Good luck wit them!!
Ghost shrimp or macrobrachium (sp?)

 

With better close up side profile pics you may be able to determine what you have. richiep May be able to ID them for you. And seeing you can see them up close i found this link that may help u determine if their a; Ghosts or not. Good luck wit them!!
Ghost shrimp or macrobrachium (sp?)

Thank you! I have seen that post still am rather lost. They have some longer forearms, but they don't seem to look as strong/thick as the ones show in that thread. I can confirm that they are not amanos as mentioned in that thread, I own amanos and they look nothing alike. I've tried to get better quality pictures to no avail. My camera just can't do it.

 

One of the ways to tell is the "real" ghost shrimp has little orange bands on the claws and antennae.
I had one that didn't have those and still had babies that had orange bands so it isn't 100% but pretty close.

 

Thank you! I have seen that post still am rather lost. They have some longer forearms, but they don't seem to look as strong/thick as the ones show in that thread. I can confirm that they are not amanos as mentioned in that thread, I own amanos and they look nothing alike. I've tried to get better quality pictures to no avail. My camera just can't do it.

I think a good way to get clear pics is to put them into a water test vile that way they cant turn when you snap your pic and your also able to get a bunch of different angles. Good luck figuring out the species u have and if possible i would remove the harassing ones to a differnt tank if possible to avoid your Betta from really getting messed up when the lights r out and your not monitoring the tank.

 

One of the ways to tell is the "real" ghost shrimp has little orange bands on the claws and antennae.
I had one that didn't have those and still had babies that had orange bands so it isn't 100% but pretty close.

I've read this as well, but all of them have red bands on their antenna and I can see them on most of their claws (some are too small to tell). Perhaps they are some kind of hybrid? Unless ghost shrimp are just aggressive sometimes?

 

I think a good way to get clear pics is to put them into a water test vile that way they cant turn when you snap your pic and your also able to get a bunch of different angles. Good luck figuring out the species u have and if possible i would remove the harassing ones to a differnt tank if possible to avoid your Betta from really getting messed up when the lights r out and your not monitoring the tank.

They have all been removed and are floating in another tank while I figure out what to do with them I feel like I would end up hurting it if I try to shove it in those tiny vials...

 

 

Regular ghost to me