Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

I have about 15 ghost shrimp in a freshwater invert only tank. Mustafa and I were talking several days ago about whether or not they were truley freshwater or brackish shrimp. We basically came to the conclusion that it would be impossible to tell and that I would just have to wait to see if they start to die off.

Well, I've got a female that's had a medium sized clutch of eggs under her swimmerettes for about 3.5 weeks now. A couple of days ago I couldn't see the eggs any more and thought they had hatched. Upon closer inspection, the eggs have turned completely clear except for 2 eye spots on each of them. I did some reading online which stated this is normal right before the eggs hatch. I also read that the true freshwater ghost shrimp young do not hatch as planktonic larvae, instead they hatch and immediately assume a benthic lifestyle.

After seeing some egg clutches of some Amano shrimp at my LFS (which the young DO go through a planktonic stage) I've noticed that my ghost shrimp's eggs are MUCH larger than the Amano's eggs. So I'm hoping that these guys hatch benthic style instead of planktonic.

Can anyone confirm what I read about freshwater ghost shrimp hatchlings? Or anyone have any comments?

Thanks, Brandon.

Hey Brandon,

Sounds like you do have freshwater ghost shrimp. Their eggs are much larger than amano eggs and they only carry few eggs (about 20-30). However, the larvae do not assume a benthic lifestyle right away...they are planktonic at first (although they are HUGE compared to Amano shrimp larvae) and assume a benthic lifestyle after about a week when they turn into "postlarvae" (i.e. miniature versions of adults). They will need the right food when they are still floating around, though (i.e. smaller planktonic food).

Mustafa

GREAT! Thanks Mustafa, even though I was kind of looking forward to searching for my own freshwater shrimp down here in the nearest river I knew it was going to be a pain in the neck. Now I don't have to, unless I just really want to.

A couple other websites I checked said it may be possible for the young to eat newly hatched baby brine shrimp. From your experience, do you think this is possible? I hope so because it's the easiest and I've still got about 1/2 pound of brine shrimp eggs left.

Well, the eggs have hatched. Unfortunately I didn't get to witness the occasion

So I'm going to go ahead and try the brine shrimp feedings to see if they can ingest the little buggers. I'll let you guys know how it turns out!

Hi Brandon,

You can feed them brine shirmp larvae without problems. Alternatively, you can feed them finely crushed (i.e. mortar and pestle needed) flake food, which you mix into the water.

Good luck with the larvae! If everything goes right, you will see mini ghost shrimp in about a week.

Take care,
Mustafa

What about rotifers?

Rotifers work, too. My ghost shrimp larvae were also jumping at copepods that were "naturally" occuring my their tank (i.e. I did not put them in).

Mustafa