# Ghost Shrimp Babies???



## siulongluiy (Jan 30, 2015)

Hello fellow forum friends!

I am pretty new to fish keeping and decided to take a stab at keeping Ghost Shrimp in my Marble Cloning tank. I have a total of 3 crays and 1 of them have berried =D

Don't worry, there have been no issues whatsoever with the 2 species co-habiting!

When I bought the shrimp 2 of them were already berried and tonight I noticed that there are tiny white zooming around in the water and hanging on the glass walls on the tank! My 2 berried shrimp still have their green eggs...so I'm not entirely sure what the specs are!

I was wondering if I can get pointed in the right direction! If someone can please let me know if those are in fact the babies or if they are parasites that I have to get rid of!

I have a large Marimo Moss ball in the tank so both food and hiding spaces are plentiful for both species of critters.

Thanks in advance guys!!! =)


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

Likely seed shrimp. Harmless if they are. Ghost shrimp babies will not survive in freshwater.


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## siulongluiy (Jan 30, 2015)

darkangel66n said:


> Likely seed shrimp. Harmless if they are. Ghost shrimp babies will not survive in freshwater.


Thanks for the reply darkangel66n, but I did a quick google of what Seed Shrimp look like and I don't believe that they are the same! The critters on my tank have tails...it actually looks like little sperm!

I would love to post a picture but they are so tiny that I doubt any of the cheap cameras that I have at home will even focus on them...


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

Then they could be nematodes.


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## siulongluiy (Jan 30, 2015)

They have a little head though! That's why it is leading me to believe that they are baby shrimp!

Such a mystery...=\


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

They could be, but not ghost shrimp. Ghost shrimp need brackish to full salt to survive and mature into adults. If they are perhaps it is something other then ghost shrimp you have. Some nematodes do have heads and look like sperm.


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## siulongluiy (Jan 30, 2015)

darkangel66n said:


> They could be, but not ghost shrimp. Ghost shrimp need brackish to full salt to survive and mature into adults. If they are perhaps it is something other then ghost shrimp you have. Some nematodes do have heads and look like sperm.


I want to thank you again for your valuable knowledge!

If they are shrimp, how long do you think it will take for it to look like shrimp??? LOL and if they are nematodes, will they get any bigger? Also, will they affect my crays and shrimp???


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## fishy420 (Apr 14, 2013)

Heyy just wondering, do they look anything like this? They are called copepods.

http://sandbaraquatics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/IMG_4457.jpg

They could also be baby crayfish. They start off life a size mm in size.

Hope I could help


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## siulongluiy (Jan 30, 2015)

fishy420 said:


> Heyy just wondering, do they look anything like this? They are called copepods.
> 
> They could also be baby crayfish. They start off life a size mm in size.
> 
> Hope I could help


YESSSSSSSSSSS

OMG that's is exactly what they look like! I haven't really stocked my crays lately though...the berried mommy has had her eggs for around 2-3 weeks now I would say. Maybe they are crays like you said!

I will go check on mommy tonight!

Thanks fighy420!!!


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## fishy420 (Apr 14, 2013)

Not a problem! Glad I could help =D

I would assume the copepods joined the party as hitch hikers with the ghost shrimp.

I don't believe that is long enough for the crayfish eggs to hatch. But when they are close to hatching the eggs lose the black colour and if you look close enough you can see the little ones eyes!


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## siulongluiy (Jan 30, 2015)

fishy420 said:


> Not a problem! Glad I could help =D
> 
> I would assume the copepods joined the party as hitch hikers with the ghost shrimp.
> 
> I don't believe that is long enough for the crayfish eggs to hatch. But when they are close to hatching the eggs lose the black colour and if you look close enough you can see the little ones eyes!


I can barely even focus on a copepods, LOL more than likely they are those...are they ok in my tank though???


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## fishy420 (Apr 14, 2013)

I had an explosion of them in my cherry shrimp tank with no ill effects so I would say they are harmless


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## killer007 (Feb 10, 2010)

if your ghost shrimp's eggs hatch, they will not survive in freshwater


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Yup that's the little beasties...once they get in your tank you will have a heck of a time getting rid of them. They will eat baby shrimps, harass berried females too, so don't think they are harmless theyre not. 

Ghost shrimps can't have babies survive in freshwater they need brackish water for growth. Ghost shrimps get berried all the time, its common, but nothing will come of it.

Crayfish like shrimps take 30 days to hatch babies!


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## siulongluiy (Jan 30, 2015)

bettaforu said:


> Yup that's the little beasties...once they get in your tank you will have a heck of a time getting rid of them. They will eat baby shrimps, harass berried females too, so don't think they are harmless theyre not.
> 
> Ghost shrimps can't have babies survive in freshwater they need brackish water for growth. Ghost shrimps get berried all the time, its common, but nothing will come of it.
> 
> Crayfish like shrimps take 30 days to hatch babies!


Thank you for your input!!!

How do you think I should go about in getting rid of it??? Another member said that fish fry might eat them? I have a "few" baby guppies that I can pop into that tank =)


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Yep they will work, they hunt anything edible and baby guppies are fast, so they should be able to catch them.


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## siulongluiy (Jan 30, 2015)

bettaforu said:


> Yep they will work, they hunt anything edible and baby guppies are fast, so they should be able to catch them.


Thanks bettaforu!

I will try this once I get home from work!!!


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

if the guppies don't get them all, try putting an algae wafer inside a water bottle overnight, then just haul it straight up out of the tank....you will have a load of them in there, you can fish out any of your shrimps that got in there, and put them back and just leave the beasties to dry out in an empty water bottle.

These crustaceans feed on plant matter, that's how they got into your tank in the first place, but they are prolific breeders and 1 can become 100 in no time at all. I had to do that for days on end until I finally fished all my shrimps out of the tank and put a killiefish pair in there......that took care of
the little beasties, but then I ended up with a pair of unhappy killiefish, because the smorgasbord was finished LOL.


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## siulongluiy (Jan 30, 2015)

bettaforu said:


> if the guppies don't get them all, try putting an algae wafer inside a water bottle overnight, then just haul it straight up out of the tank....you will have a load of them in there, you can fish out any of your shrimps that got in there, and put them back and just leave the beasties to dry out in an empty water bottle.
> 
> These crustaceans feed on plant matter, that's how they got into your tank in the first place, but they are prolific breeders and 1 can become 100 in no time at all. I had to do that for days on end until I finally fished all my shrimps out of the tank and put a killiefish pair in there......that took care of
> the little beasties, but then I ended up with a pair of unhappy killiefish, because the smorgasbord was finished LOL.


HAHAHAHA that is awesome!!!

I had the guppies in for a few hours and the population definitely diminished! But I had to move my babies back to their tank as I think the temperature change was too large for them and they got too cold...will def try the bottle trick if needed.

Thanks bettaforu!!!


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## sector7 (Mar 29, 2015)

Just to add on to fishy420, you probably have cyclops. I found the below link helpful when I had random critters seemingly materialize out of nothing.

http://www.planetinverts.com/what_is_that_bug_in_my_aquarium.html


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

I think they are called water fleas or scuds. they look like shrimps but jump
instead of crawling around and they eat plant matter...dead leaves, mulm but also leftover food. They get more aggressive the more food they find in a tank, and often can be seen jumping on the shrimps to get at the food. 

here's what they look like.

http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/scud.htm


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## siulongluiy (Jan 30, 2015)

bettaforu said:


> I think they are called water fleas or scuds. they look like shrimps but jump
> instead of crawling around and they eat plant matter...dead leaves, mulm but also leftover food. They get more aggressive the more food they find in a tank, and often can be seen jumping on the shrimps to get at the food.
> 
> here's what they look like.
> ...


Nahhh they are definitely copepods. The guppies have adjusted to the water temp as the last few days have been warmer! I see them poking at the glass where the critters like to stay!

My babies are definitely fighting hard =)


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## Tamtep (Jun 20, 2013)

Yeah I think that too, those little critters are Useless and Harmful to shrimp colony.

I had a few of them in the past while making maintenance. So decided to wipe out all this tank which was da best way. At the end I learned always do treatment and clean my plants or moss before adding any inside...



bettaforu said:


> Yup that's the little beasties...once they get in your tank you will have a heck of a time getting rid of them. They will eat baby shrimps, harass berried females too, so don't think they are harmless theyre not.


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## siulongluiy (Jan 30, 2015)

Tamtep said:


> Yeah I think that too, those little critters are Useless and Harmful to shrimp colony.
> 
> I had a few of them in the past while making maintenance. So decided to wipe out all this tank which was da best way. At the end I learned always do treatment and clean my plants or moss before adding any inside...


Yes, I think it was the moss ball that carried them too! I had nooo idea =(


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## Tamtep (Jun 20, 2013)

Yes you are right, they come from mosses, moss ball, plants, driftwoods or rocks or dirty old soil which are Not well treated and cleaned before putting inside.

Best way it takes time to clean Property all the roots of those moss, plants, etc. Keep them in a temp container with water in a couple days and Observe what going on before deciding put them in your tank.

Hope it helps



siulongluiy said:


> Yes, I think it was the moss ball that carried them too! I had nooo idea =(


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