Please Tell Me This Is A Ghost Shrimp :)

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AlitaConejita

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I bought two "ghost" shrimp from my local pet shop about 5 days ago to live with my ADFs. One is twice as big as the other. I took some pictures today for a different post and now I'm worried that the bigger one is not actually a ghost shrimp.
 
The pinned Ghost shrimp info sheet on this site says "They are completely clear, so you can watch their food digest. The only pigment they posess is in two places, their eyes, and the yellow spot on their tail."
 
This shrimp has red bands on its front arms and antanae as well as red circles on it's tail:

 
Is it a ghost shrimp or something else?
 

oh, and even though it is a blurry pic, you might be able to see that the lower/right front limb splits so that there is a little pincer
 
If it has a pincer, it's likely to be a crayfish, not a shrimp; correct me if I'm wrong :) Also I've had ghosts and never noticed any color in them. They also stay quite small.
 
Its macrobrachium genus but cant tell the exact species. It is hard to tell.

Macrobrachium are somewhat very aggressive and will literally harass your fish to death. Rehome it if you dont want to turn your tank into a horror story
 
DerpPH said:
Its macrobrachium genus but cant tell the exact species. It is hard to tell.

Macrobrachium are somewhat very aggressive and will literally harass your fish to death. Rehome it if you dont want to turn your tank into a horror story
Will it also harass ADFs? There are no fish in the tank, just frogs. Incidently, I looked at the other "ghost" shrimp that is half the size ... it doesn't have the red bands on antanea/legs, but it does have two tiny red spots on it's tail like this one does.
 
The shrimp and ADFs have been doing fine for the week they've been together and up until now I was more worried about the shrimp being eaten than the frogs.  :(
If I have to re-home, may-be I'll start a shrimp only tank (my hubby will NOT be happy about that :p) as my kids are really enjoying the shrimp. Would I only be able to keep 2 shrimp in a 2 gal? (currently have a betta in there until my 10 gal cycles) Do they need a filter?
 
...and what do they eat? The pet store said anything, so they've been sharing the frog food pellets with the ADFs.
I just googled ghost shrimp with red dots on tail and found lots of other similar posts to this one. Many said that the ghost shrimp from their pet store look the same.
 
I will assume they are ghost shrimp, but keep an eye on them. If they get bigger or get aggressive I will separate them.
 
I have five indian whisker shrimp in my tank, and they only harass weak/ill fish that would likely die anyway, and they are excellent at cleaning up fish that have died...even if I still need the bodies for store returns, doh! Good at cleaning up pretty much anything actually, food leftovers, plant matter, like little vacuum cleaners! let me see if I can find a picture of mine for you to compare.
 

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Palaemonetes paludosus
 
I have bought these under than ghost shrimp, and they didn't develop their orange spots and marks until they became comfortable in the tank.  They bully each other a lot, especially when their is food involved.  I have even watched them fend off one of my particularly timid bettas from a shrimp wafer.  I was telling my betta, "You're a betta, c'mon!  Don't get bullied by a shrimp!"
 
NeonBlueLeon said:
Palaemonetes paludosus
 
I have bought these under than ghost shrimp, and they didn't develop their orange spots and marks until they became comfortable in the tank.  They bully each other a lot, especially when their is food involved.  I have even watched them fend off one of my particularly timid bettas from a shrimp wafer.  I was telling my betta, "You're a betta, c'mon!  Don't get bullied by a shrimp!"
yay! the images on this site (http://www.planetinverts.com/ghost_glass_grass_shrimp.html) look very close to the shrimp I have - so "Grass" shrimp instead of "Ghost" shrimp.... although the site has them labeled as Grass/Glass/Ghost shrimp. I guess they are happy in my ADF tank if they've developed the orange/red spots and marks :).
 
Some sites say they are agressive and others say they are non-agressive, so I'll just keep observing them closely and pull them out if they begin to harass my frogs.
 
Thanks for all the responses!
 
Yea, there are various clear/white shrimps that all fall onto the names of ghost/glass shirmp, so when dealing with them, it's easier to use their scientific names. :)
 
I haven't found them to be aggressive (besides to each other), but they certainly aren't as passive as other shrimp.  They just have a feisty personality. :D
 
NeonBlueLeon said:
I haven't found them to be aggressive (besides to each other), but they certainly aren't as passive as other shrimp.  They just have a feisty personality.
biggrin.png
:)
 

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