Ghost Shrimp

By Mike Gilbert and Bethany Watson

Also known as Glass Shrimp, these are favorites of many larger species. Both Freshwater and Saltwater varieties are available, but are somewhat costly. One specific use for ghost shrimp is to "gut load" them. This can be done by feeding them flake food soaked in medicine or HUFA booster, or lifting the carapace and injecting it immediately prior to feeding.

The same tub for gammarus works well for ghost shrimp. Just be sure to give them lots of hiding places. They do well on flake food, and can be carnivorous if not fed well or kept in large numbers.


Culturing Ghost Shrimp

Culturing Ghost shrimp is a little more work than Gammarus, but not that difficult. In addition to the main tub or tank, you'll need two other ten gallon tanks. One of these is a hatching tank and the other is the grow out tank.

The Hatching Tank:

Top view of the hatching tank

The hatching tank consists of a "basket" that holds the pregnant shrimp. To construct the basket what we used is 1/4" square acrylic rod available at a plastics shop. The frame was made so that 3 or four inches are submerged in the water and it is held up by tabs on the top. This frame is then covered with crinolin, a netting material you can find at any fabric store. It's very important that there are no holes that the shrimp can get through. The whole idea is to keep the eggs away from the shrimp. An airline is also used to keep the water aerated. When the female releases her eggs, they fall through the netting and hatch on the bottom. Every day check the shrimp and remove any that have released their eggs, placing them back into the main tank. Lifting out the basket and temporarily setting it in the main tank so the shrimp are still under water you can use a brine shrimp net to collect the young shrimp and transfer them to the grow out tank.

The Grow Out Tank:

The grow out tank simply contains a sponge filter and lots of hiding places for the young shrimp. Some wadded up crinolin or unused bath squeegee thing's work well. We fed ours a little of the nanno paste daily as well as a little flake food.

We didn't culture the ghost shrimp for too long but the above method seemed to work pretty well. The main problem is it takes along time for them to grow out to a feedable size.

Most recent revision: 2002

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