Ghost Shrimp

[0morrokh]

What are the guidelines for how many Ghosties you can keep in an aquarium? Like, for fish it's 1 inch per 12 square inches of surface area, or some people go by 1 inch per gallon. I've heard no more than 8 in a 10g, but I am going to keep them with fish so I only have a little room left for them so I want to know how many I can get. Should I just count them as 1.25 inch fish (males are 1", females 1.5), or can they be more crowded? Oh yeah, and they should be fine with Guppies and Platys (male & female), right?

 

[atmmachine816]

as far as I am aware of they produce so little waste that you only have to start counting them for anything when you start to get around 5 or more and so yes if you got 3-4 you should be ok and yes they will get along with your fish they may just eat the fry

 

[Jon]

anyone know where I could get some... I can't find any at my lfs or at petco ( though I don't go to petco anymore )

 

[0morrokh]

I've heard that Ghosties are fine with livebearer fry, but I don't know if I'll even be raising fry in that tank anyway.  I think I might get 4 of them...although it will be a while, since I'm going to set up a few more tanks and move some fish around...anyway, what do you feed them?  (Besides colored fish flakes so their stomachs are say, green or red... )
Jon, try a specialty fish store that sells live foods, or you can probably order them over the internet.

 

[Jon]

ty for the advice... neone know where to find amano shrimp?

 

[0morrokh]

Never seen those...actually I dunno a thing about them.
Anyone know what you feed Ghosties? I've heard anything from algae wafers to fish flakes to spinach, and then I've heard they need protein in their diet...but of course I've never seen "shrimp food", does anyone know if they make it??

 

[Jon]

I don't think so... just try feeding them some veggie based foods ( flakes / wafers / vegetables ) and also throw in some protein rich foods ( blood worms / brine shrimp )

amano shrimp are a type of shrimp that eat algae... famously written about in some book by some japanese guy that I can't remember

 

[atmmachine816]

you can feed them almost anything from veggies to sinking catfish pellets they are scavengers and so fun to watch just make sure they have something to hide in or under so when they molt they won't be afraid heres stuff I know they will eat

flake food
algae wafers

that's what I feed mine

heres what I have read and heard they can eat

veggies
sinking catfish wafers
anything that will sink they will eat

 

[0morrokh]

OK, thanks everyone.
So basically I just feed them whatever I happen to be feeding my other fish...various flakes, algae wafers, veggies, freeze-dried foods, catfish wafers I need to get rid of, etc. And I'll be sure to have some hiding places for them.
Any other things I need to know about them? Do they care about the water?

 

[atmmachine816]

I don't think so

 

[0morrokh]

OK, sweet! Now I just hope my Otos hurry up and get better from finrot so I can get some.

 

[wolfman21]

pretty much ghost shrimp are easy to take care of. They will eat anything and don't produce much waste