Quick I was trying to catch ghost shrimp for fishing and I took them home in a livewell and they had babies...

Amethyst

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This is an urgent emergency there are tiny saltwater ghost shrimp and I cant go back to let them free for a while, I need to know how to keep them alive and raise them. I have not found anything on the web about what to feed new saltwater ghost shrimp, it is all about freshwater ghost shrimp. I need someone's help before they die and I don't want that to happen, there are 3-5 I believe (3 of them are so tiny I can barely see them). By the way I will post a picture of the type of saltwater ghost shrimp I am talking about. I need to know how to raise them and keep them alive!
help ghost shrimp.jpg this is the type of saltwater ghost shrimp
 

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This is an urgent emergency there are tiny saltwater ghost shrimp and I cant go back to let them free for a while, I need to know how to keep them alive and raise them. I have not found anything on the web about what to feed new saltwater ghost shrimp, it is all about freshwater ghost shrimp. I need someone's help before they die and I don't want that to happen, there are 3-5 I believe (3 of them are so tiny I can barely see them). By the way I will post a picture of the type of saltwater ghost shrimp I am talking about. I need to know how to raise them and keep them alive!
help ghost shrimp.jpg this is the type of saltwater ghost shrimp
Looks like a pistol shrimp or similar and a container with water they were in and an airstone should keep them thriving

please- this is in No Way an emergency which is a crisis situation where someone is quickly losing fish or coral or has a tank leak or overdose of chemicals as an example and are eagerly awaiting help
 

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This is an urgent emergency there are tiny saltwater ghost shrimp and I cant go back to let them free for a while, I need to know how to keep them alive and raise them. I have not found anything on the web about what to feed new saltwater ghost shrimp, it is all about freshwater ghost shrimp. I need someone's help before they die and I don't want that to happen, there are 3-5 I believe (3 of them are so tiny I can barely see them). By the way I will post a picture of the type of saltwater ghost shrimp I am talking about. I need to know how to raise them and keep them alive!
help ghost shrimp.jpg this is the type of saltwater ghost shrimp

Are they larval? I would probably just try foods that work for other types of larval shrimp. This has some info:


The shrimp babies will likely kill/eat one another. This doesn’t happen with peppermint shrimp but common among other shrimp so it’s a fair chance anyways.
 

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This is an urgent emergency there are tiny saltwater ghost shrimp and I cant go back to let them free for a while, I need to know how to keep them alive and raise them. I have not found anything on the web about what to feed new saltwater ghost shrimp, it is all about freshwater ghost shrimp. I need someone's help before they die and I don't want that to happen, there are 3-5 I believe (3 of them are so tiny I can barely see them). By the way I will post a picture of the type of saltwater ghost shrimp I am talking about. I need to know how to raise them and keep them alive!
help ghost shrimp.jpg this is the type of saltwater ghost shrimp
For clarification here, you are asking about Bay Ghost Shrimp (Neotrypaea californiensis - formerly Callianassa californiensis) and how to rear the larvae, correct?

If you are, then first things first - these are a "coldwater" species, and they will likely not fair very well at tropical reef tank temperatures; they are also an intertidal estuarine species, so they will likely prefer slightly lower than normal salinity levels (probably more like 30 to 33 rather than the standard 35). Secondly, these guys have planktonic/pelagic larvae, which will almost certainly die in a normal aquarium (i.e. they will be eaten/starve/be removed by skimmers, get pureed by powerheads, etc.). Thirdly, this is way passed the end of the natural breeding/hatching season for most populations that I'm aware for these guys (though there is at least one known population that breeds year round with peaks in the summer), so the young shrimp you're seeing (assuming they are the same species) may actually be post-larvae/juveniles rather than true larvae.

All of that said, however, here is what I can tell you:
- You will need a planktonic larvae safe tank to rear these guys in (generally speaking, the simpler the better with these setups - you basically just need an airstone and, in this case, a chiller in a tub of water). Based on their suggested type localities, I'd suggest keeping the water at about 55F.

- Larvae of this species have a strong preference for mud substrates for settlement (meaning you will need mud or possibly some fine sand in the bottom of the tank or the larvae may not settle at all - they will simply die after a while).

- Larvae of this species are noted as being voracious carnivores and cannibalistic, so if the tank is too small and/or other feeds to scarce, they may eat each other. I would try to feed the larvae baby brine shrimp (Artemia nauplii), rotifers, and/or copepods - keeping size in mind, I'd say Parvocalanus crassirostris and Apocyclops panamensis would probably be the best pods size wise for new larvae, but for older ones you should be able to use pretty much any pod. Buying pods/BBS/rots to feed can get pretty expensive, so a lot of people who raise their own animals culture their own feeders - if you have larvae right now, you would need to feed the larvae now, but you could get your own feeder cultures going as you try to raise the larvae.

- Adults are known as deposit feeders (i.e. they feed by basically digging through the substrate to fish detritus out of the sand), so you'll probably want to offer small, sinking foods for them if the larvae ever settle (I'd probably suggest TDO Chroma Boost Type A, as it's the smallest, good quality food that I'm aware of, and it should sink).

Good luck, let us know how it goes, and welcome to Reef2Reef!

Edit: forgot to add, please don't release any specimens that you've kept in an aquarium back to the ocean. Amongst other issues, this can spread non-native diseases.
 
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Amethyst

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For clarification here, you are asking about Bay Ghost Shrimp (Neotrypaea californiensis - formerly Callianassa californiensis) and how to rear the larvae, correct?

If you are, then first things first - these are a "coldwater" species, and they will likely not fair very well at tropical reef tank temperatures; they are also an intertidal estuarine species, so they will likely prefer slightly lower than normal salinity levels (probably more like 30 to 33 rather than the standard 35). Secondly, these guys have planktonic/pelagic larvae, which will almost certainly die in a normal aquarium (i.e. they will be eaten/starve/be removed by skimmers, get pureed by powerheads, etc.). Thirdly, this is way passed the end of the natural breeding/hatching season for most populations that I'm aware for these guys (though there is at least one known population that breeds year round with peaks in the summer), so the young shrimp you're seeing (assuming they are the same species) may actually be post-larvae/juveniles rather than true larvae.

All of that said, however, here is what I can tell you:
- You will need a planktonic larvae safe tank to rear these guys in (generally speaking, the simpler the better with these setups - you basically just need an airstone and, in this case, a chiller in a tub of water). Based on their suggested type localities, I'd suggest keeping the water at about 55F.

- Larvae of this species have a strong preference for mud substrates for settlement (meaning you will need mud or possibly some fine sand in the bottom of the tank or the larvae may not settle at all - they will simply die after a while).

- Larvae of this species are noted as being voracious carnivores and cannibalistic, so if the tank is too small and/or other feeds to scarce, they may eat each other. I would try to feed the larvae baby brine shrimp (Artemia nauplii), rotifers, and/or copepods - keeping size in mind, I'd say Parvocalanus crassirostris and Apocyclops panamensis would probably be the best pods size wise for new larvae, but for older ones you should be able to use pretty much any pod. Buying pods/BBS/rots to feed can get pretty expensive, so a lot of people who raise their own animals culture their own feeders - if you have larvae right now, you would need to feed the larvae now, but you could get your own feeder cultures going as you try to raise the larvae.

- Adults are known as deposit feeders (i.e. they feed by basically digging through the substrate to fish detritus out of the sand), so you'll probably want to offer small, sinking foods for them if the larvae ever settle (I'd probably suggest TDO Chroma Boost Type A, as it's the smallest, good quality food that I'm aware of, and it should sink).

Good luck, let us know how it goes, and welcome to Reef2Reef!

Edit: forgot to add, please don't release any specimens that you've kept in an aquarium back to the ocean. Amongst other issues, this can spread non-native diseases.
You are correct about the type of ghost shrimp, I won't release them anymore. I sorta understand what you are saying but can you dumb it down a little?
 
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Amethyst

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Looks like a pistol shrimp or similar and a container with water they were in and an airstone should keep them thriving

please- this is in No Way an emergency which is a crisis situation where someone is quickly losing fish or coral or has a tank leak or overdose of chemicals as an example and are eagerly awaiting help
that picture isn't mine and I found it on the internet to show you what it was
 
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Amethyst

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Are they larval? I would probably just try foods that work for other types of larval shrimp. This has some info:


The shrimp babies will likely kill/eat one another. This doesn’t happen with peppermint shrimp but common among other shrimp so it’s a fair chance anyways.
do I use like freshwater shrimp food? or like whatever they have?
 

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You are correct about the type of ghost shrimp, I won't release them anymore. I sorta understand what you are saying but can you dumb it down a little?
Of course! - sorry for being technical in my first response.

To put things simply, these shrimp are from colder than tropical waters, so I’d keep them in a tank where the water is ~55 F (this will require a chiller) rather than a normal tropical aquarium. These shrimp are also from estuarine habitats, meaning they typically live by where rivers run into the ocean. These areas usually have somewhat lower levels of salt than the rest of the ocean because of the river water, but I happen to know that these guys prefer to be on the saltier side of their habitat. So, I’d probably keep the salt level (the salinity) at 30 or so rather than the normal ocean level of 35. I personally might go as high as 33, but basically you just need to pick a number (30, 31, 32, or 33 would be my recommended numbers) and then stick with it (meaning, keep your salinity at that number once you’ve picked it).

Once the shrimp are post-larvae/adults, these shrimp eat by digging in the mud/sand to find food, so I’d keep the adults in a tank with mud or fine sand on the bottom (I’d personally do at least 2.5 or 3 inches of the mud or sand to be sure they have enough). Because they eat by digging through the sand to find food, you want to make sure their food gets to the sand, so I’d suggest using a sinking pellet. I don’t know what size of food they need but I’d imagine they prefer smaller foods (which would likely get mixed in with the sand/mud more easily in nature), so the food I suggested (TDO Chroma Boost Type A) is a very small food that should sink and mix into the sand pretty well. Of course, you can always try different sizes and brands, but this is what I personally would start with.

Now, for the larval care (the care for baby shrimp), these guys have pelagic/planktonic larvae, essentially meaning the babies swim and/or are blown along by the currents in the water rather than walking along the sand/rocks. Swimming is safe enough for bigger/adult animals, but it’s not safe at all for small/larval animals. Because they are so small, they are at very high risk of being eaten or of being removed from a tank by the equipment/plumbing (skimmers, pumps, overflows, etc.). So, because things are so dangerous for little swimmers in our tanks, the only really safe way to raise them is in a rearing/grow-out tank. Basically we give them a special, safe tank (typically one with very little equipment and a relatively low flow) until they’re big enough to be safe in a normal aquarium. I would suggest putting them in a container (a tank) with water that’s 55F (you’ll need a chiller to get the water that cold) and 30 to 33 salinity (again, pick a number in that range and stick with it), and I’d put an airstone in the water to add oxygen and a little bit of movement to the water. Now, in order to turn from babies to post-larvae juveniles, the shrimp go through what’s called settlement or metamorphosis. However, for them to settle (i.e. for them to go through settlement and become a post-larval juvenile instead of dying as a baby), they need to be fed the right foods in the right amounts throughout their larval phase, and they need the proper substrate to settle on. For these guys, the proper substrate is mud (though fine sand may work too), so you’d want to have at least some mud or sand in the rearing tank in case they make it to settlement. I’d probably put anywhere from 1/4 of an inch to 1 inch of mud/sand in the rearing tank for that purpose. The feeding is a bit more difficult.

With ocean animals, the larvae (babies) are often too small to eat normal fish foods, so we have to offer them special foods. Typically, the baby foods we use in the hobby are either “pods” (a category that for simplicity’s sake I’ll include brine shrimp, rotifers, etc. in as well as copepods, amphipods, and company), phytoplankton (small, photosynthetic algae species), or both. For these guys, they like “meat” (pods) rather than “veggies” (phyto), so you’ll need to provide them with properly sized pods. Some species are picky eaters and only eat specific pods or phyto, but these shrimp are known as being aggressive eaters when young (they’ll even eat each other if they are too close together/if there are too many of them in an area/if they don’t have enough other food), so I’d guess they’ll accept just about any meat if it’s the right size. That said, I’m not entirely sure what size would be best for these shrimp, but I’d guess they would take small to medium sized pods. So, for small to medium sized pods, I’d recommend using one or multiple of the following kinds of “pods”:
Baby brine shrimp (Artemia nauplii is the scientific term - adult brine shrimp are too big, but the babies, called nauplii, would be a good size.)
Rotifers
Parvocalanus crassirostris

Apocyclops panamensis

You can find all of these pods online. You might be able to find them at a local fish store, but most likely if they have any pods then they’ll only have rotifers and/or brine shrimp (Artemia) - also known as Sea Monkeys (though the local stores may only carry brine shrimp eggs, which are often called cysts). Anyway, buying enough pods to feed larvae can be expensive, so many people breed (culture) their own pods to feed their larvae. If you want to do that, there are a lots of threads here on R2R with advice to do so, and there are lots of great videos you can find online too, but your larvae probably don’t have time right now for you start culturing pods for them - they probably need fed as soon as possible. So, you’ll need to find and offer them pods as soon as you can, and then you’ll want to watch to see if they eat the pods. Once you have found pods they’ll eat for sure, then you can worry about if you just want to buy the pods or culture them yourself.

I hope this is a bit easier to understand. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
 

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It occurred to me that the long paragraphs above may seem daunting, so here's a very brief summary of the above:

-Put the adults in one tank and the babies in another - both tanks should have ~55F, 30-33ppt salinity water, and should have some mud/fine sand at the bottom (~3 inches of mud for the adults and ~0.5 inches for the babies).

-The baby tank should basically only have an airstone and a chiller in it - no other equipment.

-Feed the adults a small, sinking pellet food (like TDO Chroma Boost Type A or something similar), feed the babies some kind of pods (Baby Brine Shrimp, Rotifers, Parvocalanus crassirostris, and/or Apocyclops panamensis are my recommendations).

-Once you've found what pods the babies eat, you can breed the pods to feed them, or you can just keep buying more as needed.
 
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Amethyst

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It occurred to me that the long paragraphs above may seem daunting, so here's a very brief summary of the above:

-Put the adults in one tank and the babies in another - both tanks should have ~55F, 30-33ppt salinity water, and should have some mud/fine sand at the bottom (~3 inches of mud for the adults and ~0.5 inches for the babies).

-The baby tank should basically only have an airstone and a chiller in it - no other equipment.

-Feed the adults a small, sinking pellet food (like TDO Chroma Boost Type A or something similar), feed the babies some kind of pods (Baby Brine Shrimp, Rotifers, Parvocalanus crassirostris, and/or Apocyclops panamensis are my recommendations).

-Once you've found what pods the babies eat, you can breed the pods to feed them, or you can just keep buying more as needed.
thank you so much, btw this morning I checked on them there was only one left I could see. I might get too attached to these guys to use them for fishing and just keep them as a pet. I have a pet cat and a spider.
 

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thank you so much, btw this morning I checked on them there was only one left I could see. I might get too attached to these guys to use them for fishing and just keep them as a pet. I have a pet cat and a spider.
Yeah, the last one probably won't make it either, but there's always an off chance that it will. They are neat shrimp, and there are some really cool different animals you could keep with them if you decide to keep them as pets. Anyway, I hope the advice helps - good luck!
 
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Amethyst

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Yeah, the last one probably won't make it either, but there's always an off chance that it will. They are neat shrimp, and there are some really cool different animals you could keep with them if you decide to keep them as pets. Anyway, I hope the advice helps - good luck!
I hope the shrimp survives, I will give you updates as I make progress
 

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Looks like a pistol shrimp or similar and a container with water they were in and an airstone should keep them thriving

please- this is in No Way an emergency which is a crisis situation where someone is quickly losing fish or coral or has a tank leak or overdose of chemicals as an example and are eagerly awaiting help
I forget who it was...but one person posted emergency because they had some algae on a rock. When i called him out...he didnt understand why i called him out as to him, it was a 'real emergency'.
 

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Anyway since you are fishing you should see about setting up a mini native biotope aquarium with critters from your local area.
 

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well if you are able to keep the shrimp alive next time you go fishing see if you can't get down into the water and see if you cant collect some snails or starfish or small fish among other sealife.
 
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Amethyst

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well if you are able to keep the shrimp alive next time you go fishing see if you can't get down into the water and see if you cant collect some snails or starfish or small fish among other sealife.
So like get a bunch of critters from the ocean to make a little sea creature run aquarium? I like it
 

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Exacto! not many people do temperate water aquariums so it would be neat to see someone do it. which area do you fish in BTW?
 

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you got some good options as to what you can gather , you keep the Catalina goby since it is a cool water species.

but as far as what you can probably gather easily are things like a rockpool blenny or a small purple urchin along with things like the brittle stars.
 
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