The Puffer Forum

Last time i got six ghost shrimp to feed my puffer which i did in two days. Since the place that sells them is about 45 minutes away from where i live i am considering getting double or maybe more and feeding them to him over a week. Problem is, i don't know how i should keep them. Last time i kept them in a very large mug with dechlorinated water and some rocks covered in algae from my puffer tank, but that was only for a day and i don't know how long i will be able to keep them in such conditions.

I guess i could buy a small 4 liter tank and a sponge filter to keep them in but i don't have any cycled fresh water and i don't think ghost shrimp are any good for cycling..

Ghost shrimp don't provide very much nutrition for your puffer, they're mostly just water. If you can get your puffers eating another food, that would be best as ghost shrimp are expensive.

I had a Seahorse that would only eat live ghost shrimp when we got her. We lost a lot of them when keeping them in a 10gal tank; we had much better success with a 20gal tank. From what I've read ghost shrimp can be carnivorous so keeping large quantities of them can be difficult.

Nah! Ghost shrimps are easy!! All you need is a large container, I use one of those two gallon critter keepers. Put some gravel in the bottom, a few small terracotta saucers inverted and propped with rocks make good hiding places. For a filter I use a small DIY sponge filter made from a fish food container, some gravel, a sponge and an airstone. You can feed them agae wafers and shrimp pellets. My LFS sells them $4 a dozen, and a few of them are usually berried up big time. So I leave those females with eggs to do their thing. Yes they will eat their young, but some will survive. I have fry grass in there for them to hide in.

mikeosoft wrote:Ghost shrimp don't provide very much nutrition for your puffer, they're mostly just water. If you can get your puffers eating another food, that would be best as ghost shrimp are expensive.

I don't think that is necessarily true, maybe people assume that since they are transparent they don't have nutritional value. I have read that they are made from the same material as normal shrimp and that once they die they turn a pink color indicating that they aren't just water. If you still believe they are only made of water, then gut load them like you would brine shrimp. Ghost Shrimp will eat pretty much anything you feed them. So, load them up and then feed away. It's a great way to medicate puffers...feed the GS medicated food....then feed your puffers the GS. My puffer loves GS.