Ghost (glass, grass, etc.) Shrimp

Ghost (glass, grass, etc.) Shrimp

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Survive in aquariums: Yes
Survive in warm ponds: Yes
Survive in cold ponds: Yes or No (depends on how cold)
Plant eating capacity: Low
Algae eating capacity: Low to Moderate

Ghost shrimp may also be called glass or grass shrimp. Ghost shrimp belong to the genus Palaeomonetes. Both Palaemonetes kadakensis and P. paludosus are found in freshwater. There are also brackish water species. Ghost shrimp are often sold as "feeders" for all sorts of aquatic life. I have found that they live in ponds at least as low as the 50's degrees F. They probably will not survive the winter (I added more after winter so cannot tell these apart from shrimp from last year); plus, their life spans are not that long (1 to 1.5 years). I have also yet to find out if they breed in ponds. Females carry developing eggs under their swimmerets or legs until they are ready to be released. In aquaria, the tiny newborns usually get eaten. Yet, there are a few success stories but the aquarists do not know what made the difference in the babies' survival. See the next few paragraphs for recounting of a few successes. Adding java moss and other plants that create hiding spots help increase the likelihood that some babies could survive being eaten. Ghost shrimp are clear except for any food in their digestive tract and any dark balls (babies) under mature females. They also have a orangish yellow dot at each side of their tail. They prefer leftover fish food and small pieces of plant and animal material to eat but will also catch and eat fry.

Female ghost shrimp with eggs are easy to identify. They carry small dark balls under their swimmerets. When she moves around, she often mixes them up by moving her swimmerets. This keeps them well provided with oxygen.

Information used with permission from Robyn

Other Aquarists' Ghost Shrimp Breeding Stories:

One aquarist who reports success in breeding ghost shrimp provided the following helpful information. The babies look like white mosquito larvae but are very small. To prevent their being eaten, they must be removed (they go through most nets) to their own tank. At first, they need live newborn brine shrimp (artemia) since they cannot eat like adults. Once they look like their parents, they eat fish food, dead animals, and young snails. He believes that a major cause of young ghost shrimp death is their propensity to move towards light. When the room is lighter than the tank (at night usually), they jam themselves into the glass and die. To prevent this, he covered the sides of the tank with black paper and kept a light on overhead 24 hours a day. They required feeding every 2 to 3 hours 24 hours a day.

Another successful breeder of ghost shrimp had the following setup. This fish wholesaler put about 10 ghost shrimp in a 33 gallon rubbermaid storage tub. He did not set out to breed them. Note that in such a tub, the above mentioned light problem would not exist so it may have merit. To the tub were also added bunches of anacharis, small trapdoor snails, and assorted microorganisms that came with the anacharis including daphnia, rotifers, worms, insect larvae, and copepods. After a few months, the tub was full of baby ghost shrimp. He believes that the small snails were a vital part of the setup. I think the plants and small potential prey that lived therein were the key. He plans to try to cultivate them.

Yet another aquarist had success after adding an artificial wood log to an aquarium with plants, fish, and ghost shrimp and turning up the temperature to 80 degrees F (for some fry). The ghost shrimp created a "cave" in the fake log and would come out several times a day in line. Now, the aquarist says there are more ghost shrimp "then I know what to do with."

Here is even another breeding account from Elara: "I've had ghost shrimp for years, and they're really easy to raise. A pump without too much force is required (sponge and very small air pump is perfect in a 10 gallon). I had a regular tank set up (gravel, aged water 65-80 degrees, depending on season) with lots of live plants (especially floating ones). As you know, the eggs are green. When they start to get a bit more clear and you can see the eyes on the babies (you really have to look), they are ready to hatch. The mother will go somewhere in the top third of the tank and hang upside-down on something. The babies will pop out of the eggs one at a time and go floating to the surface of the water, where they hang like bats (from their tails). They start to move around pretty soon and are then on their own. I didn't remove the parents or do anything fancy with the food. Soon I had so many ghost shrimp I didn't know what to do with them. All ages seem to be content with flake. Just make sure there is a lot of floating vegetation for the babies to hide in when they pop out (I used duckweed)..." Thanks for the information, Elara!

One aquarist says they kept record of when they first noticed a female ghost shrimp with eggs and when the babies were released. The time was 27 days. I do not know the tank temperature or other variables.

My "ghost shrimp:"

I "bred" a baby ghost shrimp myself by total accident. It is a mystery. I added four ghost shrimp on 4/1/00 to my 40 gallon tank. One was removed dead on 4/13/00, and none have been seen since then. Surprise! I found a baby (half an inch versus the 1+ inch adults I added) ghost shrimp in the tank on 6/24/00! Before the adults were eaten or died and were eaten, a female must have released babies. Normally, it is almost impossible to get baby ghost shrimp to survive. My tank is pretty bare with lots of danios and a huge pleco and yet this baby made it!? A photo of Shrimpy is at the top of this page.

Two more ghost shrimp were added on 3/16/01 to join my now big baby Shrimpy. The two new ghost shrimp are completely clear with one carrying eggs. My older Shrimpy has a larger and more intense band red in the middle of his front legs and on his antennae. I do not know if that means he is a different species or simply that he is male and the two new shrimp are female (one is for sure as she has eggs). On 6/2/01, I noticed a shrimp only half an inch long in the 40 gallon tank! So, the shrimp had another successful offspring. I guess he/she is Shrimpy Junior! A dead large ghost shrimp was removed on 6/30/01. It was white so it must have died during molting (it was not an empty shell which are commonly found). So, by 7/3/01, there are only three possible ghost shrimp left including the baby which is almost full grown. On 12/10/01, another white, dead ghost shrimp was removed from the tank. On 2/1/02, I added two large and three small new ghost shrimp to my 40 gallon tank. One of the largest ones turned opaque on 3/9/02 and died on 3/11/02 when she was an opaque orange/pink color. I now have six ghost shrimp. On 3/30/02, I was able to see that four of my shrimp are large females with eggs and one must be a male (I could not find the sixth shrimp just then). Although they make lots of eggs, the babies never survive. I guess I said that too soon! On 4/20/02, I saw one baby now large enough to not be eaten. How in the world did he survive with no plant cover left in the tank and all those hungry fish? Oh, well, the baby shrimp is cute and happy.

I was surprised on 5/18/02 to see at least four baby ghost shrimp! Then, when I searched the water from the tank cleaning in the bathtub for danio fry, I also found the smallest ghost shrimp I have ever seen. It was the size of the newborn danio fry! I put the baby in with the fry. I am not sure why the shrimp are breeding so well now in a nearly bare tank with other fish! Perhaps the addition of Kent Marine Iodide weekly is making a difference in breeding/raising success as babies need to molt more than adults and iodine is needed for that. On 5/25/02, I saw many babies including one that got sucked up but was big enough to go back and another really small one that I put in the five gallon tank. It was the size of the newborn danios. On 8/10/02, I removed one shrimp from the five gallon and put him in the 40 gallon tank. Maybe he ate the other one! I removed a dead ghost shrimp from the 40 gallon tank on 1/4/03. There are at least a dozen more! The babies are now grownup, and I cannot tell who is who! I found two wee ones on 3/1/03 and since I had a net breeder set up for baby danios, I put them in there. They are SO hard to see since they are clear. They may be 10 times larger than the newborn danios but they are completely clear (I catch the moving eyes with my eyes and sucked them up with a pipette with the tip cut off). I removed a big, dead ghost shrimp on 5/23/03 from the 40 gallon tank. I removed a part of a dead shrimp on 7/19/03 and a whole one on 7/21/03. Both had turned white and died during molting despite the addition of iodine to the tank. A non-white, dead intact ghost shrimp was found and removed on 10/4/03.