Are Ghost Shrimp "Reef Safe"?

sailnjay

New Member
I am looking for some cheap scavengers and wondering Ghost Shrimp (typically used as feeders) are reef safe. My LFS has a few fairly large ones and they are super cheap.

Thanks for any answers,

Jay
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
Well, they are not going to eat coralsand so on, but then almost every fish you can think of will look at them as a tasty meal.

I'd say if you have no fish or other large animals in the system then maybe, otherwise no.
 

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
Hi SailinJay :wave:
:welcomera WELCOME to Reef Sanctuary :crowd:
Hope you'll stick around and share your tank with us.
Tell us more about it anyway :D Like how big? And what are you keeping in it?
Love to see some pictures too :)
I'm with DaveK on thinking that ghost shrimp will probably get eaten in your tank. Depending on how much they cost & how much you're willing to spend on your fish a gourmet meal would be the factor of buying them or not.
 

sailnjay

New Member
Thanks for the replies. The only fish in the tank are a small clown and a lawn mower blenny. I'm not worried about the shrimp. They are cheap enough that if they get eaten it wont hurt my feelings, heck they are sold for food anyway. I think I'll try it.
 

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
Take a pictures, I wanna see 'em! :D
Might be hard to get a picture of a ghost shrimp, huh?
You have to have 5 posts & photobucket is easy to use to host/post pictures.
You really should start a tank thread, it's very fun & helpful to hang out here :)
 

sailnjay

New Member
I'm working on my tank now to get in better shape. I'd be ashamed to post pictures right now. I'm battleing algae, cyano, aptasias and pretty much anything else that you can thing of. I think I have it headed in the right direction now.
 

sailnjay

New Member
I think they are in brakish water at the LFS although I believe they can survive in either. I'll report back on this.
 

Steve L

Member
Ghost shrimp for sale at all LFS are the freshwater variety and will only live a few hours in a marine tank. There is a marine Ghost shrimp here on the west coast (Neotrypaea californiensis) are a cold water species that burrow in mud and are primarily used for fishing bait. There is another common bay shrimp that we call grass shrimp that can tolerate warmer temps but I'm not sure how long they would live in temps we keep in reef tanks. That species is Palaemontes Vulgaris and you can buy live ones for a few bucks per pound at bait stores on the east and west coast. I have used them many times to feed my puffers and other large predatory fish. If you do happen to find them and want to feed them to your fish, you should break off the rostrum (serrated point on their nose) so it doesn't get caught in your fish's throat. I catch them here in the San Francisco bay area by simply using an old colander and dragging it across the sea weed growing under a dock. I can usually catch several hundred in a few minutes.
 
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DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
It'd be a real good idea to find out FOR SURE if they will actually live in your tank & not die off to cause an ammonia problem. I bet they can hide pretty good & a dead hidden shrimp just wouldn't be good.
Snails (Mexican turbo = you may only need 1, they are HUGE & eat lots of algae) are good to help clean up messes.
 
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