A zillion tiny ghost shrimp?

[Suzie-Q]

I've noticed something in my tank that wasn't there before, and
I think they're "baby" ghost shrimp. Of course I sort of expected
this to happen since I'd recently added eight ghost shrimp to my
10-gallon tank, but I'm not at all prepared for it.

They look like very tiny, short strands of white hair. Some are
floating around and some are moving around like tiny slugs on
the glass. There is a large concentration in one of the aquarium
corners.

My first problem is that they're being sucked into the filter. Second,
I have no special food for them so they'll probably all die. And there's
a male betta in the tank that will surely find them tasty. I feel
guilty. Should I?

What can I do to take better care of them in the future when this happens
again?
--
8^)~~~ Sue (remove the x to e-mail)
~~~~~~
"I reserve the absolute right to be smarter
today than I was yesterday." -Adlai Stevenson

http://www.suzanne-eckhardt.com/
http://www.intergnat.com/malebashing/
http://www.intergnat.com/pussygames/

[Koi-lo]

"Suzie-Q" > wrote in message
...
> I've noticed something in my tank that wasn't there before, and
> I think they're "baby" ghost shrimp. Of course I sort of expected
> this to happen since I'd recently added eight ghost shrimp to my
> 10-gallon tank, but I'm not at all prepared for it.
>
> They look like very tiny, short strands of white hair. Some are
> floating around and some are moving around like tiny slugs on
> the glass. There is a large concentration in one of the aquarium
> corners.
>
> My first problem is that they're being sucked into the filter. Second,
> I have no special food for them so they'll probably all die. And there's
> a male betta in the tank that will surely find them tasty. I feel
> guilty. Should I?
>
> What can I do to take better care of them in the future when this happens
> again?
=======================
They'll probably eat Brewers Yeast and fine powdery egg layer fish food.
Pull an aquarium sponge over the filter's intake and turn the flow down.
--
Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/h/shastadaisy
~~~ }<((((o> ~~~ }<{{{{o> ~~~ }<(((((o>

[Karen Garza]

"Suzie-Q" > wrote in message
...
> I've noticed something in my tank that wasn't there before, and
> I think they're "baby" ghost shrimp. Of course I sort of expected
> this to happen since I'd recently added eight ghost shrimp to my
> 10-gallon tank, but I'm not at all prepared for it.
>
> They look like very tiny, short strands of white hair. Some are
> floating around and some are moving around like tiny slugs on
> the glass. There is a large concentration in one of the aquarium
> corners.
>
> My first problem is that they're being sucked into the filter. Second,
> I have no special food for them so they'll probably all die. And there's
> a male betta in the tank that will surely find them tasty. I feel
> guilty. Should I?
>
> What can I do to take better care of them in the future when this happens
> again?
> --
> 8^)~~~ Sue (remove the x to e-mail)

Hi Sue
I'm no expert on baby ghost shrimp, but If you really want to save them, why
not catch up as many of them as you can and put them in a breeding net? Then
you can feed them some finely crushed up flakes or maybe some fry food.
I've had ghose shrimp in the past but I never fed them anything special.
They just got the same variety of foods that the rest of the fish get. If
you don't want to save them you can give them away, or just let the betta do
the work of getting rid of them. No need to feel guilty. It's just part of
the life cycle.

Karen

[Tynk]

Suzie-Q wrote:
> I've noticed something in my tank that wasn't there before, and
> I think they're "baby" ghost shrimp. Of course I sort of expected
> this to happen since I'd recently added eight ghost shrimp to my
> 10-gallon tank, but I'm not at all prepared for it.
>
> They look like very tiny, short strands of white hair. Some are
> floating around and some are moving around like tiny slugs on
> the glass. There is a large concentration in one of the aquarium
> corners.
>
> My first problem is that they're being sucked into the filter. Second,
> I have no special food for them so they'll probably all die. And there's
> a male betta in the tank that will surely find them tasty. I feel
> guilty. Should I?
>
> What can I do to take better care of them in the future when this happens
> again?
> --
> 8^)~~~ Sue (remove the x to e-mail)
> ~~~~~~
> "I reserve the absolute right to be smarter
> today than I was yesterday." -Adlai Stevenson
>
> http://www.suzanne-eckhardt.com/
> http://www.intergnat.com/malebashing/
> http://www.intergnat.com/pussygames/
Suzie-Q wrote:
> I've noticed something in my tank that wasn't there before, and
> I think they're "baby" ghost shrimp. Of course I sort of expected
> this to happen since I'd recently added eight ghost shrimp to my
> 10-gallon tank, but I'm not at all prepared for it.
>
> They look like very tiny, short strands of white hair. Some are
> floating around and some are moving around like tiny slugs on
> the glass. There is a large concentration in one of the aquarium
> corners.
>
These are not baby Ghost Shrimp.
It's most likely Planeria.
Don't worry about it, it's just live fish food.
How old is this set up?
However, you if they're that many you may want to up your water change
schedule or possibly you are over feeding.
What is your water change schedule on the tank.
How often,what % changed and are you vacuuming the gravel?

[Logic316]

Suzie-Q wrote:
> I've noticed something in my tank that wasn't there before, and
> I think they're "baby" ghost shrimp. Of course I sort of expected
> this to happen since I'd recently added eight ghost shrimp to my
> 10-gallon tank, but I'm not at all prepared for it.
>
> They look like very tiny, short strands of white hair. Some are
> floating around and some are moving around like tiny slugs on
> the glass. There is a large concentration in one of the aquarium
> corners.


I've got those too. They're planaria (non-segmented worms), and they
live off of algae and whatever waste nutrients they can find, so they
shouldn't need any special treatment. I inadvertently introduced mine
into my tank when I brought in water plants from a local lake.

- Logic316


"Only two industries refer to their customers as users: computer
companies and drug dealers."
-- Edward Tufte

[Mean_Chlorine]

Thusly Logic316 > Spake Unto All:

>> They look like very tiny, short strands of white hair. Some are
>> floating around and some are moving around like tiny slugs on
>> the glass. There is a large concentration in one of the aquarium
>> corners.
>
>I've got those too. They're planaria (non-segmented worms), and they
>live off of algae and whatever waste nutrients they can find

This is a quicktime movie of what planktonic shrimp larvae look like
to the naked eye. Each larva is about 2.5 mm long. Be warned that the
movie is 7 megabytes in size, so if you're on dial-up you might want
to give this video a miss.

http://mikes-machine.mine.nu/video/Larvae_Dscn8242.mov

[Suzie-Q]

In article . com>,
"Tynk" > wrote:

-> Suzie-Q wrote:
-> > I've noticed something in my tank that wasn't there before, and
-> > I think they're "baby" ghost shrimp. Of course I sort of expected
-> > this to happen since I'd recently added eight ghost shrimp to my
-> > 10-gallon tank, but I'm not at all prepared for it.
-> >
-> > They look like very tiny, short strands of white hair. Some are
-> > floating around and some are moving around like tiny slugs on
-> > the glass. There is a large concentration in one of the aquarium
-> > corners.
-> >
-> These are not baby Ghost Shrimp.
-> It's most likely Planeria.
-> Don't worry about it, it's just live fish food.
-> How old is this set up?

Only a few months.

-> However, you if they're that many you may want to up your water change
-> schedule or possibly you are over feeding.
-> What is your water change schedule on the tank.

I'm not as good about that as I should be. I try to replace about
1/3 of the water once a month.

-> How often,what % changed and are you vacuuming the gravel?

I'm not vacuuming the gravel. How do I do that without sucking up
my adult shrimp?

I haven't added anything new to the tank other than living creatures.
I added my SAE (from another tank), then added some ghost shrimp,
then added my pleco (from another tank). How did I get planeria?
--
8^)~~~ Sue (remove the x to e-mail)
~~~~~~
"I reserve the absolute right to be smarter
today than I was yesterday." -Adlai Stevenson

http://www.suzanne-eckhardt.com/
http://www.intergnat.com/malebashing/
http://www.intergnat.com/pussygames/

[Suzie-Q]

In article >,
Mean_Chlorine > wrote:

-> Thusly Logic316 > Spake Unto All:
->
-> >> They look like very tiny, short strands of white hair. Some are
-> >> floating around and some are moving around like tiny slugs on
-> >> the glass. There is a large concentration in one of the aquarium
-> >> corners.
-> >
-> >I've got those too. They're planaria (non-segmented worms), and they
-> >live off of algae and whatever waste nutrients they can find
->
-> This is a quicktime movie of what planktonic shrimp larvae look like
-> to the naked eye. Each larva is about 2.5 mm long. Be warned that the
-> movie is 7 megabytes in size, so if you're on dial-up you might want
-> to give this video a miss.
->
-> http://mikes-machine.mine.nu/video/Larvae_Dscn8242.mov

Mine don't look like that. Must be planaria.
--
8^)~~~ Sue (remove the x to e-mail)
~~~~~~
"I reserve the absolute right to be smarter
today than I was yesterday." -Adlai Stevenson

http://www.suzanne-eckhardt.com/
http://www.intergnat.com/malebashing/
http://www.intergnat.com/pussygames/

[Mean_Chlorine]

Thusly Suzie-Q > Spake Unto All:

>Mine don't look like that. Must be planaria.

No,no,no. There's many small animals which can turn up in aquaria. It
might be planaria, they're common enough, but it might also be e.g.
nematodes, small aquatic earthworms, chironomid larvae, or catenulids.
All may show up in aquaria, none of them are dangerous to your fish.

[Dr Engelbert Buxbaum]

Suzie-Q wrote:

> I've noticed something in my tank that wasn't there before, and
> I think they're "baby" ghost shrimp.

> My first problem is that they're being sucked into the filter.

Pull a bit from a ladies nylon stocking over the filter inlet as a
mechanical screen.

> Second, I have no special food for them so they'll probably all die.

They can do fine on algae and plankton, if those are present. LFS sell
food suspensions for artemia cultures (e.g. Liquizell).

> And there's a male betta in the tank that will surely find them tasty.

Physical separation is the only real cure here, but plenty of hiding
places (java moss or the like) can help some. Depends on how many
shrimps you want to bring through. How does the betta behave toward the
adult shrimps?

> I feel guilty. Should I?

Not really. Many aquarist keep predators with fast propagating species
(like guppies) to limit the reproduction rate. Nature, of course, does
the same thing.

[Suzie-Q]

In article >,
Dr Engelbert Buxbaum > wrote:

-> Suzie-Q wrote:
->
-> > And there's a male betta in the tank that will surely find them tasty.
->
-> Physical separation is the only real cure here, but plenty of hiding
-> places (java moss or the like) can help some. Depends on how many
-> shrimps you want to bring through. How does the betta behave toward the
-> adult shrimps?

He ignores them.
--
8^)~~~ Sue (remove the x to e-mail)
~~~~~~
"I reserve the absolute right to be smarter
today than I was yesterday." -Adlai Stevenson

http://www.suzanne-eckhardt.com/
http://www.intergnat.com/malebashing/
http://www.intergnat.com/pussygames/

[Logic316]

Suzie-Q wrote:
> In article >,
> Dr Engelbert Buxbaum > wrote:
>
> -> Suzie-Q wrote:
> ->
> -> > And there's a male betta in the tank that will surely find them tasty.
> ->
> -> Physical separation is the only real cure here, but plenty of hiding
> -> places (java moss or the like) can help some. Depends on how many
> -> shrimps you want to bring through. How does the betta behave toward the
> -> adult shrimps?
>
> He ignores them.


Mine too. They're probably too small and slow-moving to evoke his interest.

- Logic316



"A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better
lawyer."
-- Robert Frost

[Dr Engelbert Buxbaum]

Mean_Chlorine wrote:

> Thusly Suzie-Q > Spake Unto All:
>
> >Mine don't look like that. Must be planaria.
>
> No,no,no. There's many small animals which can turn up in aquaria.

Look at them under a magnifying glass. Planaria have a triangular head
with two primitive eyes, they look cross-eyed which gives the animal a
very friendly, grinning appearance. On a surface planaria glide
elegantly, without visible limps or contraction.

Planaria can prey on fish eggs and -babies, so breaders don't like them.
For adult fishes they are harmless, but may reproduce rapidly if food
supply permits.

Very few fishes eat planaria, as they produce substances that taste bad.