# Breeding Ghost/Glass shrimps



## arc (Mar 11, 2010)

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

So just for the hell of it I tried to breed these guys. They were the first shrimps I bought and 4 months on I still can't keep the shrimplets alive. They have a larvae stage which they can only eat infusoria/green water. I've had them hatch and feed them green water (home made) and managed to get them to survive only for 2 days. Just wondering if anyone has any experience in this.

Here's what I've tried. These are breeding tanks so no fish, only shrimp

Round 1 - dead within 24 hours
20 gallon tall talk, well planted
crushed flake foods and green water
ph 7.8

Round 2 - dead within 48 hours
20 gallon tall talk, well planted
green water
ph 7.8

Round 3 - I isolated a female with eggs - shrimplets dead overnight, female alive
2 liter container 
40% of water was green water
ph ?

Round 4 - I isolated a few shrimplets - dead within minutes/hours
2 liter container 
15% of water was green water
ph ?

*Currently
*Round 5 - Isolated a female with eggs about to hatch
10 Gall tank floating plants with driftwood. Bare bottom
Going to feed 60ml (2 ounce) of green water
ph 6.6-6.8

Any advice?!

I've moved on to other shrimps but I still want to do this.


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

I had some ghost shrimp breed for me years ago when I wasn't trying. (Isn't this always the case...) IIRC, I had a few adults in a tank with small gravel, java moss and plenty of mulm on the bottom. Ordinary Toronto tap water. After a while there were a dozen or so small ones that grew to full size.

Hope this helps!


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## arc (Mar 11, 2010)

> I had some ghost shrimp breed for me years ago when I wasn't trying. (Isn't this always the case...) IIRC, I had a few adults in a tank with small gravel, java moss and plenty of mulm on the bottom. Ordinary Toronto tap water. After a while there were a dozen or so small ones that grew to full size.
> 
> Hope this helps!


Sounds like round 1 and 2.
How long did you wait before you saw the new ones on the ground? I haven't seen the bodies from round 1 and 2 but just disappeared from sight rather then move around the water or on the glass looking for food.

what did you feed them/any fish in the tank?

Thanks


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

No fish in the tank. I probably dropped in a minute amount of flake food now and again for the adults -- it's been a long time and I can't remember the details.

One thing I do remember is that I was surprised any survived. I saw movement on the gravel, and with great difficulty saw the shrimp. They were very tiny and transparent -- the movement I saw was the antennae. They were past the larval stage. I don't remember how long this took.

One difference from your experiments is that I didn't use green water. The larvae must have eaten protozoa and whatever from the mulm and java moss. The java moss would also have given them some protection from the adults, although I don't know if that was necessary.


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## arc (Mar 11, 2010)

Looks like I'll have to wait and see then. The conditions sound alike but the 20 gallon is an test tank too so I'm giving it about 5-6 hours of direct sunlight on it. Oh and it has snails.

Thanks again for the insight though.


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

Good luck. Let us know what happens.


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## jamesren (Aug 27, 2008)

I have read somewhere there are some different species all called ghost shrimps. It depend where you get your shrimps. Some can breed in fresh water some require brackish water.


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## arc (Mar 11, 2010)

Just wanted to update and close the thread.

The shrimps eggs hatched a few days after I posted this on May 22. I've managed to keep them alive and most of them have moved pass the larvae stage and are little shrimplets now. Heres what I did;

Round 5 - Isolated a female with eggs about to hatch
10 Gall tank floating plants with driftwood. Bare bottom
Going to feed 500 ml of green water everyday for 4 days
ph 6.6-6.8
temperature at 24C constant.

On the 5th day I didn't see anymore floating shrimplets and thought they were dead again. However once I looked carefully I could see a few of them walking on the floating plants.

The green water I used this time was made with just aquarium water and a tree leaf. The stuff I had before was spiked with mircale grow to increase production of green water.

I used an air stone on one side of the 10 gal to generate water flow. I had this same air stone in the 2 liter container and I think it was too much which may have killed them.

The tank had no light except for one corner with a small led light(Not the same side as the air stone). I left it on for 10 hours(during the day) and that was when the floating shrimplets moved to it and I could count them. Without this, it is very hard to spot them. I believe the ones in the 20gal tank got killed from too much light. They would get 6-8 hours of direct sunlight on them.

The two other things that were different in this round was that the ph was lower and temperture was constant(no heaters on the 20 gal or 2 liter container). I doubt the ph made a difference and the temperture fluxuations could have stressed the ones in the 20 gal.

When the tank was being cleaned and converted to a CRS tank, I found about 9 of shrimps, I imagine the rest were in the moss/plants I transfered over (I hope)



> I have read somewhere there are some different species all called ghost shrimps. It depend where you get your shrimps. Some can breed in fresh water some require brackish water.


I believe your right about the name "ghost" used for more trhan one type of shrimp but these were Palaemonetes paludosus so fresh water was fine.

Hope this helps anyone out there breeding these shrimps, email me if you have any questions.

Now its time to try my hand at CRS breeding.


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

Thanks for the detailed report. Very interesting!


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## jamesren (Aug 27, 2008)

Good job. Very helpful for someone like to try breed ghost shrimp.


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## arinsi (Mar 14, 2010)

congrats on your success


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