The Puffer Forum

does anyone out there have ghost shrimp or cherry shrimp with their DPs? its probably a dumb question... but just in case they can live together... id like to know... thanks

I have several ghosties with my DPs. They get along well. I'm lucky to have DPs that ignore them!

There's only one way to find out

I put ghost shrimp in with my DPs a couple times and I never saw anything. Never saw shrimp, never saw them eating shrimp, and never saw fat bellies indicating they at shrimp.

hhhhmmmm good stuff... i thought everyone would make fun of me for asking lol... it seems like since the bigger puffs enjoy bigger shrimp... that the littler puffs would enjoy little shrimp but good to know, ill try it out tomorrow with some "ghosties" anyone know the name of the shrimp that are about the size of a ghost shrimp but they have like 2 red spots on their backs... maybe theyre even a tad smaller... but not much...

i have a large amano ghost shrimp in there - hes doing great - they seem to be scared of mine - and theres 17 dps and 5 bbgs in there last time i checked - the shrimp is great - shedding is skin and all

LOL, next week I'm going to be getting around 20 cherry shrimp for my community tank, I'm hoping they'll breed so I can use some of them to feed the dps.

Strangely enough, I had no problems with my DP's and shrimp when I had a DP-only tank. Of course, more recently had a bad outcome putting shrimp in with my Cutcutia.

Oh they do enjoy their little shrimp The key is to have a heavily planted tank that allows the shrimp to escape and hide (and they love a piece of driftwood to hide under where they puffers can't get them). This allows them to breed faster than the puffers can catch and kill them, and makes for a WONDERFUL dwarf puffer tank, as they are getting a good natural diet and lots of exercise and mental stimulation, and the shrimp are just flat out cute and fun to watch!

Myaj wrote:Oh they do enjoy their little shrimp The key is to have a heavily planted tank that allows the shrimp to escape and hide (and they love a piece of driftwood to hide under where they puffers can't get them). This allows them to breed faster than the puffers can catch and kill them, and makes for a WONDERFUL dwarf puffer tank, as they are getting a good natural diet and lots of exercise and mental stimulation, and the shrimp are just flat out cute and fun to watch!

sweet... this makes me kind of excited to start adding shrimp... my tank is heavily planted, and theres a rock they can hide in/under (i have a hairnet tied around it to grow my moss out, so they can hide in the hair net... hard to explain)

oh and does any one know if the shipping charges for shrimp are as ridiculous as fish if you buy online? cause i only have ghost shrimp available, but id love to have different kinds other than just ghosts.

OH, any shrimp breeding tips? id like to breed them, but is there anything special you have to do for them? my water is good, and temp is about 78f. and i have gravel.

heres how heavily planted my DP tank is (36" tall plant in a 16gal bowfront)

Personally I wouldn't consider that heavily planted.. but its a start, hehe. All my photos of my "heavily planted tanks" are on an old, dead computer.. wait, maybe I can find one, I might have it on Aquaden still... aw dang it. I know I have some out there somewhere on the net...

Years back, the only way to find red cherry shrimp was to mail order them. Now I can find them at lots of local stores. I kind of laugh and wonder if that's because I used to take my excess and sell them at the local club auctions! If you can't find them locally, mail order is the way to go

In answer to your question about shipping shrimp -- I just had 20 Cherry shrimp shipped to me and they all arrived alive and completely fine, so I can't see any problems with shipping shrimp, and I'd do that before I'd ship a puffer.

One thing with shrimp, they like mosses, so if you want to breed them, get alot of moss, so they have some place to hang out and also to have their babies.

** No offense kilofey, but I would not consider that heavily planted either .... you need more plants!

the moss should be established prior to breeding, that can take a month ... shrimp can reproduce within 2 weeks is you have a carrying female in the brood.

moss first .. shrimp second

Myaj wrote:Personally I wouldn't consider that heavily planted.. but its a start, hehe. All my photos of my "heavily planted tanks" are on an old, dead computer.. wait, maybe I can find one, I might have it on Aquaden still... aw dang it. I know I have some out there somewhere on the net...

Years back, the only way to find red cherry shrimp was to mail order them. Now I can find them at lots of local stores. I kind of laugh and wonder if that's because I used to take my excess and sell them at the local club auctions! If you can't find them locally, mail order is the way to go

it acutally looks a lot fuller in person... i have trouble finding my DPs someimes... lol but thats as heavily planted as im willing to have cause i like taking a daily count of my DPs just to make sure everyones still alive and kickin... maybe ill consider a few more... just gotta find the right ones that will go well with the bamboo one i have in there now without it looking like separate plants randomly placed.... maybe ill google it to see what kind of ideas other people have

im pretty sure they like it though... cause at the LFS i got them from, the most decor they had was gravel and floating fish poo lol... this is a step up i think and they play together a lot too so they look happy, which makes me smile.... however, i was considering putting in a few more plants or making a few DP viewing portholes.... not sure if you guys read the thread about them.... you get a piece of pvc and an elbow joint... burry one part in the gravel and put it up against the glass and the other end of the pvc pipe sticks out of the gravel... then the DPs swim in the tube and you can look at them while they explore it simple, but cute idea i think... maybe ill go make one today, ill post pix if i do it

oh, back to the shrimp topic, any way to tell male from female? for ghosties... probably no huh... just the luck of the draw im guessing

the females will have an egg sac in the abdoman and carry that around for a while IF you are lucky enough to get one in the brood already pregnant. If not just take a magnifing (spy) glass and check for a couple mins daily

J-P wrote:the females will have an egg sac in the abdoman and carry that around for a while IF you are lucky enough to get one in the brood already pregnant. If not just take a magnifing (spy) glass and check for a couple mins daily

I know this is sort of a hijack .... but with Cherry shrimp, they can't breed until they colour up right? The ones I just got don't have any colour yet, so I've assumed they are juveniles, would you say that's correct J-P ?