Ghost shrimp

May 29, 2011
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#1
I'm looking for some information on these cute litle buggers. I had three of them in my 20 long and two of them have mysteriously died on me. My daughter is very upset by this and I just don't know what to make of it. They were living with about 10 guppies (some are young) and one lake snail. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 

#2
It's hard to say. It's possible that the water parameters may have been off for them, but they're pretty easily maintained in a wide range. It's also possible the guppies bothered them and it's possible that you just bought some that may have been sickly.

Did you notice if they were white/creamy looking when you bought them? Healthy GS should be glass clear or have hints of orange. They are also aggressive and may prey upon each other if they notice one is sick and dying and eat it, comes with being a scavenger. Did you feed them a food with enough protein? Shrimp enjoy live foods as well as fish, they do scavenge for leftover food debris but still need proper nutrition.

It really could be a variety of things. Especially since many salt water owners use them to feed their lionfish or seahorses (other difficult to feed fish) as well as fresh water owners and feeder fish are in even worse off tank conditions than the other fish at pet stores.
 

Tooj

Medium Fish
Apr 9, 2011
61
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Vancouver, B.C.
#3
ive come across the same problem myself. ive had 3 die on me for no apparent reason. My friend had 10 die on him, one by one, also. However, his 1 cherry shrimp survived whatever was going around
 

May 4, 2011
76
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Ohio
#4
Did you notice any empty shells right before they died? When they molt they are much more vulnerable. Do you know if the ghost shrimp were young or old? I had an old white one (probably sick) that only lived a few weeks before he died during a molt. The older ones are obviously larger and they do not spend as much time hiding and can harass fish.

Not to sound condescending but did you recover bodies? The ghost shrimp will hide often and very effectively, my shrimp managed to hide with just gravel in the tank. When they die they turn very pink and look kind of like little worms. One good way I learned to lure them is with bloodworms, they will definitely come out of hiding for a bloodworm and usually perch up high since the fish scour the bottom, puts them right out in the open. If they are alive they also eat waste and detritus so they could be keeping hidden because they don't have to come out for food, if they are young maybe nervous with all the guppies or can't compete for food.

As riseabovethesun said they are sold as feeders by a lot of fish stores so they are kept in bad conditions, the only upside to that is they are very cheap.
 

Kiara1125

Superstar Fish
Jan 12, 2011
1,142
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Florida
#5
I had 8 ghost shrimp (4 in each tank) and i had 4 of them dissapear on me. 3 in one tank and 1 in the other. I don't know why either. They were doing good (healthy and had enough food) but they just dissapeared one at a time. My fish never attacked them (in one tank they couldn't cuz they were all fry) and yet they never looked sick and i never found a dead body.
 

Thyra

Superstar Fish
Jun 2, 2010
1,891
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Yelm, WA
#6
Like it or not, Bettas will eat ghost shrimp. They are probably very "gentle" about it - a little snack here and a little snack there. They are after all primarily meat eaters.