# Question About Ghost Shrimp... I have one missing!



## Atena (Apr 29, 2012)

Okay, so I have, correction, had two ghost shrimp in a quarantine tank waiting to go in to my betta tank. 

I went away for a two day trip, fed them a couple extra pallets before I left.

I come home to one shrimp - it could not have been hungry, it is not that late... WTF???!!!

Are these little guys violent, do they eat each-other?

Will it bite my beta? 

Did it escape? 

Where would it go, it's a fish!?

I am baffled, anyone know these little freaks better?

Any advice will help, i am somewhat reluctant to add him to my tank, guppy can be a little sensitive sometimes, I don't want him getting hurt.


----------



## Silverfang (Mar 25, 2011)

IT might have escaped, or it might have died and been eaten by the other.


----------



## Orito (Aug 20, 2012)

Did you tank have a top on it? If not, it might have gotten away, like Silverfang said.

Was one shrimp larger than the other? If so, ghost shrimp are aggressive to each other if there is a size difference. If not, the other situation could have been one is not a shrimp (probably the one that is still alive). Look into young macrobrachiums.

My thread has a bit of information on them. [ LINK ]


----------



## Atena (Apr 29, 2012)

Yes, one was slightly bigger, was growing much faster. I think the larger one is the one that survived.

What do i do?

I am certainly not putting it in with my fish. I got them from Petsmart, you would think they would know the difference?

Is it normal for them to get mixed up together?


----------



## megaredize (May 21, 2012)

if that one "ghost" shrimp ends up being a macrobrachiums dont put him with your betta, i searched online about ghost shrimps because i was interested at the time of getting some. but once i heard that small macrobrachiums can be passed off as ghost shrimps and i dont trust my LFS i decided not to get them. i read one story that the macrobrachium killed a persons betta. they are highly aggressive. i would do soem research on macrobrachiums to see if you can find out of what you got.


----------



## Atena (Apr 29, 2012)

Thank you. I will keep him separated. I feel bad for him because I have him in a cup bit don't want to risk my boy.

I will do my best to figure it out. I will try to take some photos of him with my.micro lens. 

I have to figure out how fast they grow, at some point there should be a visible change where I know for sure.

Thank you for your help. I will let you know how its going.


----------



## xShainax (Feb 11, 2012)

Your betta could have eaten it


----------



## Orito (Aug 20, 2012)

PetSmart has a 15 day no question return policy with fish. Grab your receipt, your "ghost shrimp", and if you can find the others body, you can actually get a full refund for both.

Edit/P.S.
Yes, they're confused all the time, and most LFS's do not know the difference.


----------



## LittleWatty (May 13, 2012)

I've had a very similar thing happen to me (with no top on the tank at the time of some disappearances, but with a top at the time of others). I've also found Ghosties to be very aggressive towards one another at times, to the point where they might kill one to eat it. I've had several of mine become victims to cannibalism in Sonas' tank. The fact that I started out with 20 shrimp and am down to about 5 can tell you just how bad it got XD

I will also say that I have no idea if any of my ghosties are macrobrachiums in disguise.


----------



## Atena (Apr 29, 2012)

I did some research based on everything you all said and I learned quite a bit. I have no diea why I did not learn any of this during my preliminary research, it might have been that I was not searching for the right things. But at least now I know.

*This is what I learned: *
I did find out that "ghost shrimp" is a generic name people use to describe all the little shrimps. It is not the pet store's fault they get the most aggressive species (there are several specie families in the ghost shrimp umbrella).

The two most popular are Macrobrachium and Palaemonetes who both have a gazillion sub species. The main overall difference is the Palaemonetes are calmer and friendlier. But they are actually both considered to be in the ghost shrimp category.

I found this picture of a Macrobrachium amazonicum:










and this one of a Palaemonetes ivonicus:









I obviously have the above, what I need is the one bellow.

I will see if some of my fishie friends would like my shrimp and will try to better identify the species I want in the future. If no one wants him I will return him to the store. Not because I need my 37 cents back but because I don't want to release him to the wild, we have enough invasive species in these parts.

This is the website I got the comparison photos, look at fig. 14 and 15. http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/ucamara/crustaceans.htm

I don't remember the website where I got the species tempermint definitions, I think it might have been mostly and petshrimp.com they have a very nice library of shrimp personalities: http://www.petshrimp.com/shrimpspecies.php

I hope this helps others in the future.


----------



## Pogthefish (Mar 24, 2012)

In my observations, ghost shrimp get red bands on their wirsts when they are fully mature, and if they are fully mature and NOT 4 inches long, they are safe.


----------



## LittleWatty (May 13, 2012)

I can second that. 75% of mine have the red bands on their wrists and antennae, and while some of my shrimp are quite large, they're under 1.5 inches.


----------



## Atena (Apr 29, 2012)

well, that gives me something to look for, thank you!


----------



## LittleWatty (May 13, 2012)

Here's some pictures of my ghosties, just to show what we mean by the red bands. One of my smaller males, and then my behemoth female.


----------



## Atena (Apr 29, 2012)

wow, mine looks nothing like that, he is completely translucent with no markings.


----------



## Pogthefish (Mar 24, 2012)

Well then he may be young. mine didn't develop markings for awhiel after I got them


----------



## Jully (Aug 7, 2012)

If you can take some pictures, it might help


----------



## Atena (Apr 29, 2012)

working on that 

I did go back to the store and find the actual species, whish is palaemonetes vulgaris so I can do some more research. found a great paper on them here:http://www.dnr.sc.gov/cwcs/pdf/grassshrimp.pdf

the comforting is they say the shrimp will resort to cannibalism and will attack anything smaller than himself. So there is hope.


----------



## Atena (Apr 29, 2012)

Found another reference to the two shrimp that have more similar photos of them.

Macrobrachium:


Palaeomonidae:


And this is my little bugger... I think I will call him that if I decide to keep him.









and









he is very hard to photograph so I hope you can tell from these shots.

This is the store label:


----------

