Breeding Ghost Shrimp; Am I Ready?

[Native American]

Three of my ghosts are from a previous spawn. I've set up a separate 3g Eclipse, put an oversized sponge filter over the inlet, and wrapped the sponge in two layers of pantyhose (the weave looks much tighter than a 250 micron media bag).

I just took out the floss and carbon so that only the sponge will be doing the work, and the tank is stuffed full of java moss with some hair algae on it. I added a ramshorn snail and a couple juvenile malaysian trumpet snails to do a little cleanup work.

Tank bottom is bare, the mother shrimp is by herself. I can see the eyes on the neonates, she has had visible eggs since 25 Jan 2006, and has been getting twice-daily feedings of various types of flake and pellet food.

I'm going to start adding small amounts of very, very finely ground fish flake and pellet food (use the back of a spoon and a small ceramic dish, like a mortar and pestle) to get some free-floating nutrients going in the water column. This is in addition to the mother shrimp's regular feedings.

My questions:

1.) Does anybody have any experience with this, and if so, what has worked for you?

2.) Am I doing something wrong? Need to know, so I can stop and do the right thing.

3.) How long is the gestation period for these shrimp? 17 days so far, and the eggs are getting so big that they're starting to look like they'll fall off.

v/r, N-A

 

[Native American]

Somebody has to have something to say about this...there is absolutely no way I can even be doing 75% of this correctly!

Still carrying the eggs, now they really look like they're about to fall off!

v/r, N-A

UPDATE: The napulii all hatched, one at a time, last night. Kind of neat watching each egg elongate, then see a miniature version of an adult ghost shrimp drop out. I'm calling them "headstanders", as they float around freely in the water column upside-down until they latch onto a piece of Java Moss.

Looks like I had about 20 hatchlings, but they're difficult to see as they've taken up residence in the moss. Just showered the tank with a small amount of finely powderized food.

Crossing my fingers, and hoping they make it through the first molt.

v/r, N-A

 

[Native American]

Well, I saw 9 of the "headstanders" this morning, much bigger than before, and they do latch onto some of the particles of powderized food.

How effectively they are eating is a mystery to me, but nearly half of the hatchlings are still alive, as far as I can see.

So far, so good.

v/r, N-A

 

[grahamsokel]

sorry i have no experiance in keeping shrimp but i am glad things seem to be going well

 

[Native American]

Thanks, Graham. I thought things had gone poorly, then realized that it was simply a few shed exoskeletons floating around the tank.

They made it through the first molt; well, at least a good number of them.

Still feeding them regularly to up their odds of survival.

v/r, N-A

 

[grahamsokel]

Hope they continue to do well for you.I am going to be looking into shrimps of some kind when i start to stock the new tank

 

[penguinpimp1990]

I can from experience tell you that breeding ghost shrimp is not worth the time. I used to breed ghosties as feeders in a 60 gallon tank and raised the fry in a 10 gallon tank. I fed the fry baby brine shrimp, liquid fry foods, crushed veggie flakes, and other fry foods. The fry are somewhat slow growing and I dont have the patience for the whole breeding thing anymore. I just quarantine 10 cent ghosties as a food source now for my predatory fish.

 

[Native American]

Man, they really ARE slow growing. Counted 11 this morning before heading out to work.

This has been a pretty educational experience, for sure. The mother shrimp, now in my other 3 gallon Eclipse tank w/ some siblings, is already sporting another clutch of eggs. It'll take 2 to 3 weeks for these to hatch, if the last batch of rovers is any indication of ghost shrimp gestation period.

The powderized food is working marvelously, though I seem to have stumbled onto this feeding method more by luck than anything. The little 3 gallon Eclipse tank with sponge seems to be a good place to grow them.

This is a fun hobby.

v/r, N-A

 

[Alix]

once i bought a buncha ghost shimp fror my african dworf frog and i thought it would be a good idea if they could breed an stuff but soon as the clutch was down my lil frogy ate them all(all the babys)...i was sad...then she got knocked up again an the same thing happened its like an on going cycle i feel sad each time but it also saves me money on food an my frog does seem to love the crap out of them...an some times one makes it to be an adult so its not all a loss. but i never do anything special for them at all i just act like they arnt there.

 

[annka5]

Wow, they must be teeny tiny when they hatch. If you've enjoyed doing it, then great and I'd say that would make it worth while. I enjoyed reading about how it went, too!

 

[love_fish]

I thought ghost shrimp babies need a slightly brackish environment when they're young.

 

[Native American]

Thanks, annka5, it's been a pretty neat experience. Their insides are starting to darken up a little. In other words, you can see what they've eaten. If I drop in finely powerderized Betta Min flakes (they're pink), that's what color their gut tract becomes for a short while.

And love_fish, you may be right. I have no idea what I'm doing, it's all been fortunate guess work. Maybe adding a little salt might keep the mortality a little lower next time. The mother shrimp will probably be ready to drop those new eggs by mid-March.

v/r, N-A

 

[TracyRene]

Hi Native American,

I have had ghost shrimp in my tank for about 2 months. Just last night I noticed 2 of them have eggs. How long do they carry the eggs? They were purchased as feeders for my turtle and are in a 55gal. with guppies, white cloud minnows, plecos, and long finned danios......oh and a little turtle. Should I move the ghost shrimp that are carrying eggs to another tank?

 

[love_fish]

If you want to keep the babies, then yes move them. And im pretty sure the babies need a slightly brackish environment for a little while. I'm not how long though. If you want to breed shrimp, get cherry shrimp, i hear they're fairly easy to breed.

 

[Native American]

Hello, Tracy Rene: Ma'am, I had mine hatch once in only two weeks, but left the mother shrimp in the tank...and none of the young survived.

I should have moved her immediately after the hatching. And yes, the little guys need to be in their own little tank; I think they would be instant food for any fishes during their free-swimming stage after hatching. They are very, very tiny after hatching and look like adult ghost shrimp, only ultra-miniature sized. I'm using a sponge filter over the filter intake w/ a doubled-up pantyhose wrapped completely over it to keep the inflow slow and prevent any of the napulii from being sucked into the filter. It only flows 35 gph unrestricted, so this sedate flow is even a bit less than this with my current setup.

During this last batch she held onto the eggs for three weeks, then they hatched. I removed her the next day. While the eggs hatched one-by-one over the course of about 36 hours, the mother shrimp did not eat any of the flake food presented to her. Normally, she would swim excitedly to catch a flake and eat it, so I think their eating is naturally supressed temporarily during egg hatching to prevent the mother shrimp from eating the young until they have a chance to get away.

I have a pair of 3 gallon Eclipse acrylic tanks right now; one with the adult shrimp, one for the juveniles. Not sure how much marine salt to add to enhance survival odds (i.e., is there a proper temp-adjusted specific gravity to attain?). Right now about 50% of the eggs have made it, and the 11 juvenile shrimp are doing pretty well.

This has been a neat experiment of sorts.

v/r, N-A

Edit: Hmmm, counted 12 of the little guys, now. B)