Ghost Shrimp Eating Platy Fry

[allan078]

I have recently set up a small tank for my 12 platy fry. Also have a pregnant ghost shrimp that I would like to put in with them, because A) her babies when born will have a better chance or survival and B) I need something to clean up the uneaten food etc. will she eat the platy fry who are a month old now?

Thanks.

 

[lefty07603]

I have a platy fry who is just over a month old. I just added 6 ghost shrimp to the tank. They get along great. They are curious of each other. Sometimes the fry gets in on the battles for pellets. Also, i have two prego shrimp and im gonna house them elsewhere too. its funny how our situation is so similar.

TIP: ONCE THE EGGS HATCH TAKE OUT THE MOM. SHE WILL EAT THE BABIES!!

Hope it helped and i look forward to hear how the eggs turn out. Im curious cuz of my situation!
Good Luck

 

[allan078]

Do you have any experience of breeding shrimp fry? She has been preggers before. She had green eggs as she does now, and carried them for quite a few weeks (3-4 I think). The eggs then turned greyish and disappeared. I don't know if they hatched and were eaten or if they died or what.

 

[lefty07603]

i only have had shrimp for a small time but i know with my play i didnt know i had fry until 2 weeks later. They are insanely small, semitransparent, and they hide all the time. Give em time. When they are big enough to come out in the open they will do so

 

[allan078]

Well nearly 2 weeks later...

I started with 13 platy fry, and now i have 9. 4 have mysteriously disappeared. I've checked inside the air powered filter and there wasn't any in there, so I'm guessing they either died and were eaten by the ghost shrimp, or they were just eaten by her. Either way i've removed the ghost shrimp and put her back in the main tank as a precautionary measure, so unfortunately when her babies arrive (if they still do) I'll just have to hope i notice them in time to transfer them to the fry tank.

I can't confirm that she ate them but i wouldn't recommend having a ghost shrimp in your fry tank to anyone in the future. The fry are 5 and 7 weeks old now, so they're not tiny anymore (some a lot smaller than others though) but like i said, I'm not convinced they weren't eaten.

Lesson learned! Fingers crossed my platys have more in the near future to boost my fry numbers again!

 

[DanTheFishMan11]

I reccomend getting a breeding trap and putting her in that.