ghost shrimp?

[jhayes6405]

Any one use these as feeders? I broke down and traded my full grown eupterus cat for a BN pleco and about 40 of the ghost shrimp. For some reason, I have it in the back of my head that these things are known for being desease ridden. Any thoughts? I don't know anything about the quality of the breeder or anything like that. They came from petland.

[allierw]

Ghost shrimp are probably ok for feeders but I would gut load them first (aka make sure what they have been eating is food you know and would want your other fish to eat when they eat the shrimp). They are not easy to breed like red cherry shrimp and some other shrimp varieties. I've never had any shrimp carry disease, in fact they seem pretty immune to ich and other diseases like that. My RCS are very hardy, in fact.

[jhayes6405]

k thanks, i feel a bit better now. I tried some in my tank with some of my larger tangs in it. It was pretty cool watching them tear the shrimp apart.

[jon carman]

I use them all the time.

[jhayes6405]

is it too much to have them all in a 10 gal?

[jeremyh81]

Per LiveAquaira, ghost shrimp reach an average adult size of 2", and they recommend a 10-gallon tank as a minimum. Here's their link:

www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=1075+1468&pcatid=1468

I've learned to take the water parameters with a grain of salt, as most species that are purchased locally, have been acclimated to the area's water quality (pH, hardness, etc.), and have had much luck doing this. All of my fish were bought from Critter.

A lot of websites say that my current livestock prefer slightly acidic/soft water, but my Otocinlus and Cories are doing just fine!

Of course you know not to overstock the 10, unless you're willing to do water changes more frequently than once per week.

[jhayes6405]

Yeah the 10 has kinda been set up for quarantine. I have a few neon tetras in there, who like low ph. I keep it set up with high ph to be tang ready. The tetras seem to be just fine. So just goes to show, your right Jeremy.