Ghost shrimp

[alexwolf]

I bought some ghost shrimp from alamo tonite, to feed SOMEONES LION FISH WHILE THEY ARE AWAY (Xien)!!!!!!! Anyone had luck breeding them? I have a bunch in the fuge, was hoping i can reproduce them. Any thoughts?

[oceancube]

alex your a funny dude :-D !! poor xien!!! rub it in eh!!

[alexwolf]

hahahahaha

[Yves Nobleza]

I think they only reproduce in fresh

[alexwolf]

ah man that sucks, are they orignally fresh water converted to salt?

[Yves Nobleza]

yep...grass shrimp will breed in salt,used to get them at bait shops in cali but don't know where to get them out here.

[alexwolf]

i am looking for something cool to grow in my fuge, any ideas?

[GaryP]

Yves, you can just scoop them up with a seine or a dip net in the marsh anywhere along the cost. I used to get them at a LFS when I lived near the coast. Grass shrimp are great for feeding your tanks when you are going to be away on vacation. Just dump about 100 of them in your tank and let your fish do some hunting for a change.

Gary

[alexwolf]

yeah wow sounds cool

[Yves Nobleza]

hmm I smell a group collection :D

[alexwolf]

yes yes yes, anyone have mysid shrimp for donation?

[GaryP]

Anywhere in the marshy areas along the coast. Just take one of your big tank nets and run it around the base of the grass. They're pretty much everywhere. I used to find them in my seine all the time when we were seining for mud minnows for flounder bait. If you find one, you'll find 1000. They would be really cool to try to culture. I might give that a try after I get my plankton farm up and running. They are pretty much the marsh equivalent of a mysid.

Gary

[GaryP]

We usually got them early in the AM before going fishing. We would see them in the ditches along the side of the road in the marsh. They're pretty much everywhere. I know Larry has some experience with this as well. We talked about it recently in another thread.

[GaryP]

Here's the other thread:

http://maast.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=2823

[Instar]

I've cultured them, but then I ask myself 'why would anyone want to culture these things'? They don't carry very many babies, sell for pennies on the dollar and why did I culture them anyway? They're comparatively easy. Why do you want to culture them?

[GaryP]

Larry,

1. Cheap, high quality, fresh food
2. They aren't available locally through the LFS.

On the other hand, maybe just focusing on culturing mysids would be a better alternative. What do you think?

Gary

[Instar]

Well, mysis are lots of protein and much easier to raise. Ounce for ounce and dollar for dollar, I'd go for the mysis. The only thing is if you have something that needs a full sized grass shrimp, the mysis will never get big enough for that. Grass shrimp larva are great food for plankton lovers.