# Ghost shrimp eating Betta's tail



## trono

Un-effing-believable. I thought our Señor was showing the first signs of fin rot, but I caught one of the stupid little ghost shrimp munching on his tail while he was sleeping at the bottom of the tank.

I was so angry I wanted to put them down the drain. 

I ended up throwing them in the 1 gallon that was originally for Señor. Señor is now in a 10 gallon. 

Anybody ever heard of this before? I didn't think they would ever do such a thing and wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself.

The picture isn't the best, but you can see that's it's frayed at the end. 

(His tail is split because he snagged it on a plastic plant that we immediately replaced with silk plants.)


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## Littlebittyfish

I had one of my ghost shrimp do the same thing.


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## trono

What did you do about it?

I never would have bought the damn things if I knew there was even a remote possibility of that happening.


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## JKfish

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=63880&highlight=lupin+shrimp

this explains the difference between true ghost shrimps and what you have... unfortunately there are some more agressive shrimps that look a lot like ghost shrimps and are sold under that label...

I would return them if possible


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## Here Fishy Fishy Fishy

Shrimp are excellent high protein snacks for bettas who need to grow & repair their fins! 

^_^

Considering that they are attacking your fish however, I'd make sure the shrimp meet their maker before tossing them in.


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## JKfish

Actually.... HereFishy's suggestion is rather good... you could dispatch them humanely, cut them up and feed them to him as a few meals...


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## shinybetta

That is NOT a ghost shrimp. It is a similar looking more aggressive shrimp. True ghost shrimp never attack fish.


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## Littlebittyfish

My shrimp was a true ghost shrimp and it still nipped and hung off my betta.(made a post here with photos of it because I was worried it wasn't) 
Of course it died a few days later..so I believe they may have been sick when I bought them...They all died one by one..besides one..I only have one left in my 10 gallon and he is a nice little guy. He thinks he is a corycat.:lol:
Do you have any photos of the shrimp or can you get some? That may be helpful in finding out if it really is a ghost shrimp or not.


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## shinybetta

In your case they may have been very starved and and about to die.


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## trono

Here Fishy Fishy Fishy said:


> Shrimp are excellent high protein snacks for bettas who need to grow & repair their fins!
> 
> ^_^
> 
> Considering that they are attacking your fish however, I'd make sure the shrimp meet their maker before tossing them in.


Too late for that, they're already dead and disposed of. They didn't last long after I took them out of the 10 gallon tank. I don't think I'd want to risk feeding him live (or recently dead) food anyhow. They could have been diseased.



shinybetta said:


> That is NOT a ghost shrimp. It is a similar looking more aggressive shrimp. True ghost shrimp never attack fish.


I wouldn't say it attacked the fish. It was stealing a snack while he was sleeping.



Littlebittyfish said:


> My shrimp was a true ghost shrimp and it still nipped and hung off my betta.(made a post here with photos of it because I was worried it wasn't)
> Of course it died a few days later..so I believe they may have been sick when I bought them...They all died one by one..besides one..I only have one left in my 10 gallon and he is a nice little guy. He thinks he is a corycat.:lol:
> Do you have any photos of the shrimp or can you get some? That may be helpful in finding out if it really is a ghost shrimp or not.


I'll attach one. It's the only picture I have of them.




shinybetta said:


> In your case they may have been very starved and and about to die.


I don't think they were starved. They ate everyday when I fed the fish. Maybe they didn't think they had enough. *shrug*


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## trono

JKfish said:


> http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=63880&highlight=lupin+shrimp
> 
> this explains the difference between true ghost shrimps and what you have... unfortunately there are some more agressive shrimps that look a lot like ghost shrimps and are sold under that label...
> 
> I would return them if possible


It wouldn't even have been worth taking the trip to return them. I had 5 originally and they died within a couple weeks and they only cost 33 cents each.


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## ethandevine

I had this happen too, They bullied, harassed, and tried to eat my Betta, and I was so angry I killed them.
That was something I made a consecutive decision, as they made my betta eventually pass.


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