Question About Ghost Shrimp

[HannahBear77]

browsing around the fish store today and finally decided to get some ghost shrimp to put in one of my small tanks got them as feeder fish so only $2.66 for 6 of them

what exactly do shrimp eat or what can you give them...ive found it before on this forum some where i think some one mentioned it but i forgot

 

[thereverendturtle]

Hikari and others make shrimp specific foods, but really ghost shrimp will eat just about anything. Some foods contain copper and this may lead to copper poisoning, as it's toxic to inverts, though a little copper wont hurt, and is usually in trace amounts like other elements. Usually though if it's safe for fish, it's safe for them.

 

[Baccus]

I dont have ghost shrimp but I do have plenty of other types and really most shrimp are happy cleaning the plant life and eating whatever the fish eat. As something sepcial I do give my shrimp (and fish) shinking shrimp and crayfish pellets, they are also happy to help the bristle noses eat zuchini and a lot of shrimp are reported to like eating mulberry leaves (mine showed no interest), as well as sushi wrap (again mine wheren't fussed by it). As stated copper can be a problem for shrimp (or any inverts) so always read the ingredients and if the copper seems to high avoid giving that food to them or only in limited amounts. The same goes for medications in the tank, any residual medications could wipe out your shrimp. I have found one broad spectrum medication that I have found to be safe with shrimp, but that was more of a fluke and being willing to try it since I couldn't possibly remove every single shrimp (literally hundreds) from that particular tank. Also I made sure that in the medications active ingredients there was no copper listed.

Good luck with the shrimp and welcome to a highly addictive part of fish keeping.