# toughest shrimp?



## David J (May 2, 2010)

Hello shrimp experts!
Which type of shrimp, other than cherries, are the easiest to keep at room temperature? If you have a suggestion, could you also add where you think I might be able to find them.
Thank you in advance.


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

not an expert, by any means; these have worked form me at room temperature: yellow (a neocaridina heteropoda colour variety same as red cherry), blue pearl, wild neocaridina heteropoda, amanos and ghost shrimp (one of my faves).

wsl has wild types neocaridia as well as red cherry, mykiss has yellow and amano and I've got blue pearl. Haven't seen ghosts anywhere I shop for awhile.

since you said 'tough' I've left out the crystal reds, bee etc. I have no experience with tigers, so I'll leave that to others.


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## plantedinvertz (Apr 21, 2010)

Amanos and Malawa Shrimp(maybe at higher temps)


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## wsl (Apr 21, 2010)

Yeah, as ursus sapien has said, cherry variants and ghost shrimp can definitely survive at room temperature (I'm saying this from personal experience), although I haven't seen any ghost shrimp in stores for a long while either. Amanos are probably feasible as well, but I haven't tried keeping them at room temperature personally, so I'm not 100% sure.


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Petsmart usually have ghost shrimps for 99 cents or something. I see them there every time I go.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

InfraredDream said:


> Petsmart usually have ghost shrimps for 99 cents or something. I see them there every time I go.


Agreed, that's where I got mine. They're more of a feeder type shrimp but based on price they're a good starter.

I prefer amanos, but I didn't keep them at room temperature, I'm sure you could acclimatize them though.


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## user_error (Aug 15, 2010)

anyone know how green shrimps will fare?


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## VinnyD (Apr 21, 2010)

i would say amanos...these critters will eat almost anything and they are not shy about it...


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Definitely Amanos. Wild type cherries are also pretty much bomb-proof as well. Both fare well with many fertz, Metricide (Flourish Excel), CO2, medications (not copper based). Hopefully this helps.

Best Regards,

Stuart


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Are the ghost shrimps easy to breed?
I am still waiting for my cherries to start breeding, but they are not 
And I want babies


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## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

InfraredDream said:


> Are the ghost shrimps easy to breed?
> I am still waiting for my cherries to start breeding, but they are not
> And I want babies


How long have you been waiting? Are there fish in the tank?


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## jiang604 (Apr 21, 2010)

i personally find CRS to be extremely hardy and of course amanos are. I've kept CRS in extremely hard and straight out of the tap water which is extremely soft with no substrate and nothing added.


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Tom, I had them as babies in July. Now I have 2 saddled females for maybe 3 weeks or more. Not sure if I have males, but in about 20 shrimps there should be males!! They were in a big tank with fish before, but for about a month they have their own 3 g. For the last 2.5 weeks they share it with baby endlers and shrimps are much bigger  So I don't think the fish are bothering them, but? You tell me.
Sorry for the off topic


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## discuspaul (Jul 2, 2010)

*A little aside*

effox mentioned that ghost shrimp are generally thought of as "feeder Shrimp".
How right he is !
I've had Amano shrimp in my discus tank for a long time, and the discus have ignored them altogether. Recently I added a couple of ghost shrimp - not that small, almost the same size as the Amanos - and they did stick around for a few days - BUT THEN, my 4" juvie discus had them one morning as a treat for brunch !!!
Ah well, one lives and learns.


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## discuspaul (Jul 2, 2010)

*Aside*

OH, and they sure looked like they enjoyed them a hell of a lot more than frozen brine or mysis shrimp !!! I watched them enjoy themselves to a great breakfast, utterly powerless to save them !


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## user_error (Aug 15, 2010)

InfraredDream said:


> Are the ghost shrimps easy to breed?
> I am still waiting for my cherries to start breeding, but they are not
> And I want babies


i've had 10 ghosties but never been able to get them to breed i am not sure if they are like amanos and need salt water or not...


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

user_error, yeah, this is what I was thinking. But because they were mentioned here I decided to ask instead of using google


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

do the ghost shrimps breed very fast? 
and do the CRS make good feeders?
im thinking of doing a small shrimp tank to make fun food for my calvus's, was thinking CRS cuz something that bright isnt gonna have an easy time hiding from the calvus :/


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

I've never bred ghost shrimp, although I had about 10 of them at one time. They are cheap at a buck each and are suppose to breed prolifically in freshwater which is why they are considered feeder shrimp.

CRS cost you about $3-4 each for mid to grade A shrimp, so you'd have to invest about 100 bucks to get a good colony started. You'd be better off with Red Cherry Shrimp as they cost so little and breed so often. .50-$1 each.


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## Tn23 (Apr 21, 2010)

I don't think CRS would make good feeders, I agree with effox cherries would be great for feeders as they breed like rabbits 

CRS are pretty hardy to me as well, I guess it depends on how the CRS are raised and where you get them from. Some people have troubles keeping them and others can't stop them from breeding......


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

how much are low grade CRS? if its just for feeders can i possibly find some from a member that are not worth much or would otherwise be culled? idk much about shrimps
i had soem blue pearls but they slowly disapeared


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## David J (May 2, 2010)

*Thanks!*

Thanks everyone for the information.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Mferko: The trick is buffering you water, either through substrate or buffer additives. I'd stick with cherries man, I know you want CRS, but start with cherries.

Cheers David.

-Chris


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## wsl (Apr 21, 2010)

As effox has said, ghost shrimp are supposedly very prolific in plain freshwater. I only ever kept a handful for just a few months, so have never been able to breed them. The thing I don't like about keeping ghost shrimp is that they are very very opportunistic. Unlike most other dwarf shrimp sold in the hobby, ghost shrimp definitely have a more predatory side to them (you can tell just by comparing their claws to other dwarf shrimp). Kept in a community tank, they can be very dangerous to small inhabitants. I often saw them eating my bladder snails, and I even had a small neon tetra of mine fall prey to a particularly big ghost shrimp.

Oh, and to Mferko, getting some nice red RCS would probably be a lot cheaper/easier to keep than CRS, and they should still stand out enough for them to be able to find and catch them. I'm pretty sure RCS carry more eggs in a clutch compared to CRS as well.


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

ghost shrimp are more like macrobrachium shrimp in their build and behavior than the small grass shrimp (cherry, crystal reds etc). 
they are quick and opportunistic, large ones will eat anything vulnerable.
From a behavioral aspect, I find ghosts far more interesting to watch than the grass shrimp.
Baby ghosts are tiny -much smaller than a cherry shrimp at hatching- and vulnerable to even the smallest predator, which may be why people don't see many young. With lots of hiding places they reproduce readily.


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

WOW, no ghost shrimps for me then, thanks for sharing that, wsl!
And for bladder snails, I think cherries eat them too!! I guess maybe I solved the mistery of why mine are breeding so slow. Now as I have the shrimps by themselves in a small tank and I can watch them! They often get a snail and roll it all over. I had eggs and I saw them rolling the babies. I can't tell 100% they eat them or the snails died, but I have a few big and many small empty shells now.
The 20 g tank has no shrimps now and I saw 3-4 bunches of eggs the last week. So, I hope to see baby snails soon. If that happens I will definately think shrimps were eating them before.


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## wsl (Apr 21, 2010)

I definitely agree with you about them being interesting to watch, Storm. Watching a shrimp catching a fish it's own length was definitely a sight to see, not to mention the resulting struggle. It's just that I can't keep them in my community tank for fear of losing my other shrimp and snails. Maybe a small species tank is in order...

Are you sure about the snails being eaten Milena? I've never seen any of my cherries lay hands on snails before. I think it's more likely that the shrimp are searching for algae and such off of the shells of the snails than anything. I have a ton of shrimp in my tank, but I rarely ever see empty bladder snail shells. I find the remains of ramshorn and MTS shells much more often, the work of my assassin snails.


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

wsl's right about the cherries, they don't attack snails. If the snail is already dead, though, they will clean up the remains, and feed on whatever may be growing on the shell.


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

As I said, I can't be sure. But I have a few empty shells in my shrimp tank already, it's been a month or so only. Maybe they were already dead, I don't know. But than it is an interesting question why the snails are dying in a tank where I have many shrimps and endler babies that seem to be doing very well.
Sorry for the big offtopic.


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