Identifying brackish/non-brackish ghost shrimp.
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 2:54 pm
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.
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.
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.
If you do get to catch some shrimp, post pictures of them here. 