Ghost shrimp set up/maintenance

lion king

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I'm jumping in here a bit late, but definitely gained some insight. Thanks to all contributors. I recently purchased a 4 1/2" purple Rhinopias frondosa (weedy scorpionfish). I've been feeding saltwater ghost shrimp (gut packed w/calanus and Hikari Marine S) and grab a few peppermint shrimp (gut packed the same) and my friend seems fat and happy. It's fascinating to watch him hunt. The lfs that I purchased him from has recommended trying to convert him to dead/frozen food, but I think I'm going to stay with live. It just seems to make sense to me. This animal wouldn't feed on dead food in its natural setting even if it landed in front of him, gotta wonder why. May try the mollies at some point but I have no lfs that sells feeders (to be honest, no lfs that's truly "local") so I travel about 1 1/2 hrs one way and pick up the live shrimp about once every 2 weeks. Keeping them in a 10g w/a sponge filter, changinging water between batches. So if anyone is still following this thread, I would be interested in their input, lion king in particular. I have a 4o breeder that used to be my frag tank, now is void of all but a few pieces of live rock. I've found a seller on ebay that sells saltwater ghosties in 250 lots. Do you think the 40 would be adequate sizewise to house 250 ghosties (getting fewer every 2 days)? Also, could I house a few feeder mollies in the same tank?

I don't see the necessity to go the salt water shrimp route, the classic ghosties you get from the lfs is actually a variety of shrimp that lives in fresh, brackish, and salt water. If you get salt water shrimp make sure they come from a pure invert only system, and sadly most just plumb everything together these days, which means they could be transporting marine fish disease. Keeping a fresh water feeder tank is so much less maintenance, and getting your own ghosties you will have much less losses. If you get a batch of 250 expect to lose at least half, I tried the volume route and it just wasn't worth it.

The rhino will likely require food of much more substance at some point, like mollies. I keep ghosties, guppies. and mollies in my feeder tank; but my feeder source is literally about 3 miles from my house, so I restock once or even twice a week. Ghosties and guppies are more forgiving with water quality and stability of temp, with mollies you'll have to keep the water quality up and the temp stable.

Rhinos can take dead food and seem to still live a decently long life; but you will have a more active, entertaining, vibrant, and happier rhino if he is hunting.
 

Nep2nRevision3

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Thanks so much for the response. Sounds like solid advice. It'll be easy enough to convert my 40 over to fresh water, and I definitely see your point concerning maintenance. Also being able to maintain several different types of live food in one tank would be a big benefit. I have a store about a half hour away that sells the freshwater ghosties (actually a bit cheaper as well as closer). They sell both mollies and guppies too, but not the feeders. Saw above where you feed the fancy guppies when you can catch then on sale, I'll have to start watching their adds.

I keep a 240g mixed reef and have been a reefer or many years but have never really kept carnivorous fish. The store I purchased the fish from has a great and very knowledgeable staff, but I got it at 1/2 price and I believe because they were having trouble getting him to convert to dead/frozen food. No worries, I committed to keeping him healthy when I purchased him so I'll do whatever it takes. I sincerely appreciate your input. I'll be getting to work to put it to use.
 

bar|none

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I put mine in the refugium, but the majority went through the pump to the main display. And they are fine and I'm actually loving them there. Great scavengers, active and fun to watch. A few stayed in the fuge for a bit and that great, but eventually they all ended up in display or maybe lost to the pump or powerhead.

I'm talking about feeder shrimp 1/2" to 1" long
 

SerThor

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I'm sure I'm probably overthinking it, but I was looking to set up a tank for dwarf lions this fall/winter and wanted to have a set up for feeders ready too. I've seen people say just change out the water when you run out/get new ones. I assume the tank doesn't need to cycle for feeders? I have a RODI filter at home that I use for my bio cube, is that overkill? I usually over-research and plan, but I have had really good results with my reef tank (especially going into it as a newbie and not having any friends who do it) so I'd rather be over prepared. I know they're kept in pretty bad conditions at the store, but I also don't want to make any stupid mistakes. Thanks in advance!
 

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