How To Keep Ghost Shrimps Alive?

Ghost shrimps, also known as glass water shrimps, are freshwater shrimps. Many people as a hobby or for other reasons keep ghost shrimps. As shrimps are very sensitive species, they need good maintenance if you want to keep them alive.

There are many factors that you need to maintain properly, else ghost shrimps will not be able to survive for a long time. They need the most care and a suitable environment while they breed and molt. During these times if the environment seems uncomfortable, it hampers those processes and it can make them sick and weak.

If you don’t keep the environment how they need it and they feel uncomfortable and insecure for a long time, they will end up dying. If its too late you cannot do anything to keep them alive.

So, in this article, I will talk about every factor in detail and how you need to maintain those to keep ghost shrimps alive.

So, without any further due let’s dive into that!

Factors That Keep Ghost Shrimps Alive

• Suitable environment
• Balanced water parameters
• Good tankmates
• Proper food diet

I could have included the water parameter factor in the suitable environment section.

But, I will describe it separately in detail because it is very important and includes a lot of information.

Suitable Environment

A suitable environment is important for every living species as it is important for their proper growth and breeding. Ghost shrimps can grow up to 1.5 inch and female shrimps reproduce more often if kept in a suitable environment. They are also seen the most active if the environment seems comfortable to them.

A suitable environment in a tank consists of everything the ghost shrimps and other species need to live healthily. Always remember surviving does not mean living happily and healthily. So, their activities will tell you whether they are just surviving or living happily.

If they feel uncomfortable in the tank, they get stressed. If this continues, they try to jump off the tank. If you don’t take steps to make things suitable, you will see every ghost shrimp dying in your tank one by one.

So, if the water does not get dirty too fast, the water parameters are in balance, the bioload is maintained and, your ghost shrimps and the other existing species are active which means they are comfortable and the tank environment is suitable.

Make sure the water does not contain nitrites, nitrates, ammonia, chloride, etc. A high level of any of these can cause great harm to your shrimps and make the whole tank environment unsuitable.

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Balanced Water Parameters

Water parameters are also very important to balance if you want to keep your ghost shrimps alive. This has a great role in keeping the whole tank environment suitable for every existing species.

Suitable water parameters for ghost shrimps are:

Parameter	Optimal Range	Limits
Temperature	70-80 degrees Fahrenheit	62-82 degrees Fahrenheit
pH	6.5- 7.5	7-8
GH	5-8 ppm	3-15 ppm
KH	5-8 ppm	3-12 ppm
TDS	150-200 ppm	100-400 ppm

• Temperature: The suitable temperature for ghost shrimps is 68-82 degrees Fahrenheit. But they are seen most active when kept in 70-80 Degrees.
• pH: pH is the measure of acidic/basic water. pH less than 7 indicates acidity and Greater than 7 indicates a base. The suitable pH range for ghost shrimps is 7-8. If you need a test kit for measuring the pH, I’ll recommend API Master Test Kit. With this master test kit, you can measure ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and many other water parameters. It is certainly a worthwhile investment for any shrimp keeper!
• GH: GH stands for general hardness and it indicates the level of calcium and magnesium in the water. The GH range should be 5-8 ppm to make the water suitable for ghost shrimps. 
• KH: KH is the abbreviation of Carbonate Hardness. This indicates how quickly the pH can drop or change. 5 ppm to 8 ppm range of KH is suitable for ghost shrimps. With this GH & KH Test Kit, you can measure both the GH & KH of your shrimp tank water. There is no need to buy two separate test kits. Certainly a handy test kit that will help you a long way!
• TDS: TDS stands for total dissolved solids. The range of TDS suitable for ghost shrimps is 150-200 ppm. 

Any imbalance of these parameters can lead the ghost shrimps to death. This is why maintaining the parameters are very important. You should at least maintain the limit ranges strictly if you don’t want to face unwanted problems. 

You can understand from the ghost shrimps behavior if there is an imbalance in the parameters. They will seem less active and hide most of the time. They get stressed and try to jump off the tank and can get aggressive as well. 

Other than that, they face problems in molting, breeding, and gets diseases more often. These cause problems in their survival. So, for keeping them alive in a proper you the water parameters should be balanced properly. 

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Good Tank Mates 

Good tank mate means you have to choose peaceful and small tank mates for your ghost shrimps. Ghost shrimps can only live peacefully with these types of species.

Ghost shrimps are very small in size, around 1-1.5 inches. There have been many cases where ghost shrimps were killed and eaten by aggressive and big fishes. Fishes that have big mouths can gulp ghost shrimps easily if they feel hungry. 

Even if you give your ghost shrimps the best environment possible, if you have big fishes in your tank they will end up eating your ghost shrimps. So, you cannot keep them alive if you have aggressive tank mates. 

Thus, choosing good and peaceful tank mates for your ghost shrimps is important if you want to keep your ghost shrimps alive. 

Other than that, another thing you need to know is you should keep a group of ghost shrimps together in a tank. If you keep less, they feel unsafe and get stressed. And stress can lead them to death. 

Some good and bad tank mates for ghost shrimps are, 

Good Tank Mates	Bad Tank Mates
Other shrimp species	Any fish that are aggressive such as Barbs, Mollies, Serpea Tetra, Betta, etc.
Dwarf suckers	Cichlids
Small rasboras	Discus
Small Tetras	Angelfish
Snails	Fishes with a large mouth to gulp the shrimp in a single instance

Proper Food Diet 

If you don’t feed your shrimps maintaining a good diet, it will be hard to keep them alive. Again, if you overfeed your shrimps, they will overeat and die. 

Ghost shrimps are natural scavengers so you will see them gazing and eating algae or other food bits most of the time. So, maintaining a food diet is important for ghost shrimps. 

Ghost shrimps like to eat Algae, detritus, uneaten bits of foods, shrimp pellets, and fish flakes. But remember never overfeed them thinking it will be good for their growth.

So, a proper food diet is very important if you want to keep your shrimps alive for a long time. Other than that, it also keeps the ghost shrimps healthy and ensures their proper growth. 

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For Maintaining A Suitable Environment:

Change The Water: 

Change 30% of the water once a week and add the same amount of freshwater in the tank. This helps cycle the water and grow beneficial bacteria which helps to kill ammonia and turn it to nitrate. 

If you don’t know let me tell you ammonia is very harmful to ghost shrimps. So, the presence of ammonia can affect in keeping the ghost shrimps alive. And ammonia can be killed by beneficial bacteria that grow while cycling the water. 

Keep The Tank Clean:

Don’t let the tank water get dirty too fast or don’t keep it dirty for too long. Clean the tank once a week if needed. If the tank gets dirty too fast one common reason can be the higher bioload. So, you should keep that in mind and maintain the bioload. 

If you are not familiar with the term bioload, bioload means the amount of livestock you should have in per gallon water. And higher bioload means the number of livestock you have is higher than it should be. If the bioload gets high the environment gets unsuitable and unhealthy.

Have Live Plants In The Tank: 

Live plants are a must if you have ghost shrimps in your tank. They not only look attractive, but make the aquarium healthier for the existing species. 

Another important role plant play in the tank is they produce oxygen and absorb the carbon dioxide and ammonia that the species generate. Keeping a good amount of live plants helps create a natural ecosystem which helps in keeping the environment suitable. 

Proper Knowledge: 

If you don’t have enough knowledge about ghost shrimps and other related knowledge that help them survive properly you cannot keep them alive for a long time. 

As ghost shrimps are very sensitive any wrong step can lead them to death. So, you should have knowledge about almost everything related to ghost shrimps before buying some for your tank. 

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Check What The Foods Contain:

Make sure the food you feed does not contain any chemicals and does not breakdown easily. Foods that breakdown easily turn into toxins that affect the environment. 

Make a combination of foods you want to feed and feed the ghost shrimps twice a week. Feed food that contains vitamins and nutrients. This ensures their proper growth and in keeping them alive. 

I love Bacter AE for my shrimps. The good thing about this food is, it comes in a powdered form. So, even the baby shrimps get the chance to enjoy the food. My shrimps get crazy over it too!

Search For The Right Tank Mates:

Before adding any tank mates, make sure you have researched well. Find the ones that are peaceful and small. Don’t choose the ones that have a big mouth and can gulp the ghost shrimps.

Keeping a group of ghost shrimps in one tank is always recommended because they feel safe if there are plenty of them together. 

For Keeping The Parameters Balanced:

• Test The Parameters: To control the water parameters and for making sure those are not changing rapidly, test the parameters with a testing kit twice a week. Strictly maintain the water parameter limits and if the limit range changes fix it as soon as you can. 

• Don’t Use Chemicals: Never use any kind of chemicals to clean the tank or for keeping the water clean. Chemicals can rapidly change the water parameters and can be harmful to the existing species.

• Don’t Let The Water Get Dirty Fast And Use A Filter: Dirty water changes the water parameters rapidly and you cannot control it easily. So, don’t let the tank water get dirty fast. 

• Low Bioload: If the bioload is high the fish tank gets dirty fast. So, controlling the bioload is important if you don’t want the water to get dirty fast. Also, species that make a lot of waste are recommended to keep fewer in the tank.   

• Good Filtration: No matter what species you have, use a good filter for your tank as it purifies the tank water and reduces dirt and other wastes from the water. This keeps away the water from getting dirty fast and keeps the environment suitable. I think matter filters are the best choice for a shrimp-only tank. They are cheap yet fantastic for shrimps. However, matten filters are rare and you can’t find them on many fish stores. Fortunately, FlipAquatics sell top-notch quality matten filters according to various tank sizes. They are the ones to go if you want professional-grade Matten Filter for your shrimps!

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Some Other Important Tips For Keeping The Ghost Shrimps Alive 

• Don’t let the tank environment get damp. Keep the tank in a good place where sunlight reaches. And if there is no place like that keep some lights around the tank and keep them on for at least 7 to 8 hours. 
• If you see any shrimp infected with any parasite or with any other disease separate it as soon as possible. 
• Always maintain the parameters limit ranges. Never let the water parameters cross the limit range.  
• No matter what, do not do anything that gives stress to the ghost shrimps. If they get too much stress they can die. 
• Keep species in the tank that help in cleaning the tank. Even if you have a filter, keeping these species is recommended. 
• Never mix anything in the tank water without knowing how it works and without knowing the using process properly. 

How Long Can One Keep The Ghost Shrimps Alive? 

Ghost shrimps generally have a very short lifespan, they live for only about 1 year. But, you have to give the ghost shrimps a proper environment to live if you want them to keep them alive this long. 

Again, no matter how much you maintain to keep them alive, after a time if they have to die, they will die. You cannot force them to remain alive after a certain period. 

If you buy baby ghost shrimps and ensure a good environment, they will surely live for about a year. But if you buy adult ghost shrimps, you cannot expect them to live this long.

Conclusion 

Ghost shrimps are very easy in case of maintenance than any other species. Maintaining some basic and simple things, you can easily give the ghost shrimps a very good environment to live. 

If everything seems normal and they feel comfortable in the tank, you will see their proper growth and they will survive for a long time. Never compromise on anything and ensure your tank species the best environment possible. 

So, I hope by now, you are clear about everything I explained in the article. If you are able to maintain the factors I mentioned above, you will easily be able to keep your ghost shrimps alive! 

Happy Shrimp keeping!