Hey guys! Great site by the way, I'm glad there's finally a website devoted to such an increasing niche in the world of aquariums!
I've kept some ghost shrimp in a couple of my aquariums for quite a while now. Only problem is that they keep dieing after a couple of months. After doing some very extensive research online about a week ago I discovered that they may be dieing during or right after molting due to a calcium/iodine deficiency. My tap water has no measurable hardness at all, so that was my original assumption.
But after a few things I read today, I may have the brackish water ghost shrimp variety. From what I've read, they can live in freshwater, but not for more than a few months. The owner of my LFS claims they are freshwater shrimp and not brackish, but when I asked her what the scientific name was and where their habitat is she said she didn't know and that she wouldn't be able to find out.
Last week I set up a new 10gal tank just for my shrimp to see if I could sustain them and breed them. It has a crushed coral substrate, sponge filter, lots and lots of plants (especially hornwort and anacharis), and I use Kent's Liquid Calcium Concentrate and Kent's Iodine Concentrate every other day. The Ph is high, above 7.8 and the calcium hardness is also pretty high. So I guess if these shrimp start to die within a few months then I know that I've gotten the brackish water species.
If this is the case, do you guys know of an online dealer where I can get FRESHWATER ghost shrimp?
Any information would be helpful, thanks a lot!!
-Brandon.
Identifying brackish/non-brackish ghost shrimp.
Moderator: Mustafa
Hi Brandon,
Forget about Idodine and all those useless additives from Kent. Go buy yourself a "cuttlebone" (sold for birds to give them calcium) and stick part of it in your tank. It will take care of both hardness, ph and everything else a shrimp needs.
As to your ghost shrimp...it's really hard to tell the freshwater ones apart from the brackish water shrimp. I can't really recommend any online site to you where I am absolutely sure that they have the freshwater variety. It's all luck.
Mustafa
PS: If I ever breed my freshwater ghost shrimp in sufficient number I will offer them online (but don't wait on it)
Forget about Idodine and all those useless additives from Kent. Go buy yourself a "cuttlebone" (sold for birds to give them calcium) and stick part of it in your tank. It will take care of both hardness, ph and everything else a shrimp needs.
As to your ghost shrimp...it's really hard to tell the freshwater ones apart from the brackish water shrimp. I can't really recommend any online site to you where I am absolutely sure that they have the freshwater variety. It's all luck.
Mustafa
PS: If I ever breed my freshwater ghost shrimp in sufficient number I will offer them online (but don't wait on it)
Unfortunately the temperature gets waaaaay too cold for them here. In the winter it gets below freezing and most of the rivers/lakes/ponds/creeks freeze over to an extent, so I don't think they could live here.Brandon, trust me...there are Palaemonetes kadiakensis and P. paludosus in Oklahoma. They can take the cold without problems.
Read here (pdf document) for information on where (which rivers, creeks) they occur. This list is not exhaustive and I am sure there are more drainages where they live. If you never try to find them, you'll never know.
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/oas/ ... p77_78.pdf
Take care,
Mustafa
Read here (pdf document) for information on where (which rivers, creeks) they occur. This list is not exhaustive and I am sure there are more drainages where they live. If you never try to find them, you'll never know.
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/oas/ ... p77_78.pdf
Take care,
Mustafa
Oh my god..
Holy crap!!! 
I had no idea they lived in my area!! I've lived here my whole life and have never seen or heard of them around here!
This is amazing because I'm only about 40 miles from 2 of the largest collection sites in this study! I'm gonna have to go find some.
Thanks Mustafa!! You're a helpful person!
I had no idea they lived in my area!! I've lived here my whole life and have never seen or heard of them around here!
This is amazing because I'm only about 40 miles from 2 of the largest collection sites in this study! I'm gonna have to go find some.
Thanks Mustafa!! You're a helpful person!
If you do get to catch some shrimp, post pictures of them here. 
Know any place that has this information for Alabama? I don't live near the coast, so would hope I could catch freshwater Ghost shrimp (and maybe breed them).Petshrimp.com wrote:Brandon, trust me...there are Palaemonetes kadiakensis and P. paludosus in Oklahoma. They can take the cold without problems.
Read here (pdf document) for information on where (which rivers, creeks) they occur. This list is not exhaustive and I am sure there are more drainages where they live. If you never try to find them, you'll never know.
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/oas/ ... p77_78.pdf
Take care,
Mustafa
RN
