Ghost Shrimp

[Invader Xan]

Hey all...

My local pet shop has some ghost shrimp in. Actually they're just labelled as "shrimp", but I recognise them as ghost shrimp (I'm fairly certain they're not baby macros). I was thinking about buying a couple, but was just wondering if anyone could tell me a little about them.

I heard they're quite peaceful, but seeing as they're a little bigger then my amanos. I don't really know much about palaemonetes sp, so I figured I'd better play it safe and ask here first.




EDIT-
Did a quick check on the net and found out that a macro species often mislabelled as 'ghost shrimp' is macrobrachium lanchesteri. Don't suppose anyone knows any good way of telling the difference...?

 

[dizzied]

They are peaceful from my experience.

I've heard some LFS that mislabel longarms as ghost shrimp, but I've yet to see it myself. What I have seen though is saltwater and brackish ghost shrimp that are mislabeled as freshwater ones.

 

[fishboy619]

havent got a clue how to tell the difference, didnt even know about the other species your on about, i bought a few a while back and added to my communities, great shrimps they were, cleans up my tank a lot, i think they require brackish and marine to breed, but live in freshwater as adults.cheap and effective, certainly a good buy
i think all shrimps are pieceful, apart from the odd species such as claw shrimps (?) they grow bigger and use claws to catch fish, rarely seen though.
some bigger fish such as gouramies wil eat them, but usally the shrimps mine their own business

 

[dizzied]

A true freshwater ghost shrimp would live their complete life cycle in freshwater, it's just that because of all the different species of shrimp that fall under the name "ghost shrimp", the LFS might end up stocking a species that is actually brackish or marine.

 

[fatboy]

Did a quick check on the net and found out that a macro species often mislabelled as 'ghost shrimp' is macrobrachium lanchesteri. Don't suppose anyone knows any good way of telling the difference...?

Easy. If it grows large and tries to eat all your fish, it's m. lanchesteri.

As young shrimp they're so similar it's virtually impossible to tell the difference. The only reasonably succesful way I've found is to watch the shrimp. If it hovers around the tank with its legs dangling, it's a palaemonetes. If it doesn't, it could be either, or even an m. rosenbergii, which also gets called a ghost shrimp occassionally.

One thing to be aware of is that evn the more peaceful palaemonetes can be a vicious little brute. Depending on the shrimp (or maybe it's the particular species) they can be fin-nippers and bullies.

 

[Invader Xan]

Thanks guys... Forgot to mention, my tank's shrimp only. Guess if I do buy a ghost, whatever it turns out to be, I should be cautious about buying any dwarfs like crystal reds, huh?

I might buy one and see how it does... All I currently have in my tank are amanos, and they're pretty feisty.