About a month ago I was in the wonderfull world of wal-mart and noticed that mixed in with the normal ghost shrimp were some monsters. In the middle of moving, we didn't have a place to put them so I passed as much as I hated too.
A few day's ago we were back and they had somemore of these giants. Now that we are at least a little better settled in I decided to get some.
I do recall a few posts from time to time on other fish fourms about 'ghost shrimp' that turn into large active hunters of fish. However photo's of these do not really match the guys that I bought. I do not think that they are ghost shrimp, but I've been known to be wrong on occasion before.
Several females are also with eggs. The tank that they are in is well established with many macro critters, so I figure if in a few months I see young ones, then that may help narrow down what the species could be.
The largest shrimp is about 2.5 inches. For the most part they all look similar. Any help would be great.
I'd say you have a ghost shrimp there-Palaemonetes paludosus. Check the shrimp varieties page. They can get pretty big, around 2". I'm betting if you actually measured them, that would be all the bigger they are.
Pardon my ignorance, but I was always under the impression that the majority of the 'ghost shrimp' were unable to reach adulthood in FW, or even last long periods of time. If these are P. paludosus that would be great as I would love the chance to get more shrimp breeding going on other than my cherries. Plus neat to have a larger species. They creep my wife out.
I am cursed with soft acidic water, but I buffer my water for my other shimp tank along with another one for fish so adding one more to the list isn't a big deal. One question however: whats the take on adding iodine? I've been using it with my cherry shrimp and haven't had any problems at about a quarter of the dose on the bottle.
Orion wrote:One question however: whats the take on adding iodine? I've been using it with my cherry shrimp and haven't had any problems at about a quarter of the dose on the bottle.
Adding Iodine is nonsense. Search this forum for the keyword "iodine" and see why. No reputable and successful shrimp breeder anywhere in the world uses iodine supplements. Might as well add tiny amounts of sugar and pepper to your tank and report back that you "have not had any problems." You won't have any problems (unless overdosed) but you would not have had any problems without it either. That's the definition of unnecessary or superfluous.
Soft acidic water is not a curse, it is a blessing. It is easy to change to basic with just a substrate. Not so the other way around. Put a little crushed coral in your tank and you'll have good basic hard water in no time.
These are really cool shrimp, but my experience is they should not be kept with cherry shrimp or other small species. Given the chance they will grab & eat a small shrimp. Enjpy them for themselves. They can be kept with gentle fish, but not bred unless you keep a shrimp only tank. Any fish worh it's salt will eat all the larva. From what I'm reading 100 micron golden pearls larva food works for the fry.
These can be bred as long as you make sure the fry have microfood and nothing to eat them.
I may think about adding sugar and pepper once I get some that will be big enough to eat.
I didn't really think that idodine would help, but figured it couldn't hurt.
Badflash- I hadn't ever really thought about my water like that before but you are 100% correct! With soft water, I can make it into whatever I want too farily easy. Very good point.
I hadn't planned on keeping them with anything else for a long time. Once I can get the guys on a steady schedual of breeding, then I may move some out to other tanks, but for now they will have a 10 gallon to themselves to call home. It's a well established planted tank, so I'm sure there will be plenty of micro-goodies to munch on.
