How To Take Care Of Ghost Shrimp Babies?

Ghost shrimps, also known as Glass shrimps, are very sensitive and delicate species. Their babies are even more sensitive and delicate than them. This is why taking good care of the baby ghost shrimps is very important if you want to keep them alive and increase the number of ghost shrimps in your tank. 

If you don’t take care of the baby ghost shrimps, soon you will see them dying. The survival rate of the baby ghost shrimps can decrease for many reasons. This is why, you have to know what factors you should maintain for taking good care of the baby ghost shrimps. 

The care of ghost shrimp babies is easy and the same as the adult ghost shrimps. For taking care of the baby shrimps all you have to do is maintain some factors. So, in this article, I will describe every factor in detail so that you get a clear and detailed idea for proper care & maintenance. 

So, let’snot talk any further and jump into the details! 

A Stress- Free Environment

Ghost shrimps generally need a stress-free environment to survive in the tank properly. And for baby ghost shrimps a stress-free environment is very necessary. 

Now, there are many things that can lead the baby shrimps to stress. But, the most common reason is an unsuitable environment and bad tank mates. They feel very uncomfortable and insecure if the environment is not suitable and the tank mates are aggressive and big.

A suitable environment can be easily maintained if you keep the water clean and the water parameters properly balanced. You need to maintain every other thing that makes the tank environment suitable for them. An unsuitable tank can lead them to so much stress and they will try to jump off the tank and seem less active.  

Good tank mates are important for keeping the environment suitable and for keeping them stress-free as well. A shrimp only tank is always recommended for ghost shrimps. It keeps them safe and they are seen as the most active. However, if you keep them with other species make sure you are choosing the right ones. 

If you don’t choose the right ones you cannot keep them alive for a long time. They can get chased and attacked which can give them stress. In extreme cases, they can get eaten up as well. As you already know baby shrimps are very small in size, eating them up in one try is very easy. 

I am listing good and bad tank mates for ghost shrimps in a table below: 

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

Always choose the fishes that are small and have a peaceful nature. There are some types that are small but very aggressive. These types can be harmful to the baby ghost shrimps. So keep these details in your mind before choosing any tank mates for a ghost shrimp tank.

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Balanced Water Parameters

Balancing the water parameters is very important for the proper growth and the survival of ghost shrimps and mostly the baby shrimps. If the water parameters are not right, the baby shrimps feel stressed, the environment does feel comfortable to them.

It also hampers their growth rate and survival of both the adult and baby ghost shrimps. If the parameters are not controlled properly and change rapidly, the babies can die anytime.

So,balancingthe water parameters is very important. Now let’s take a look at what should be the water parameter ranges for the baby ghost shrimps:

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

The temperature is the first and most important thing to look at and maintain. Adult ghost shrimps can withstand a wide range of temperatures, but it is not in the case of baby shrimps. They prefer the temperature range between 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit which is the optimal range. Maintaining the temperature is very important for the proper growth of the baby shrimps. 

If you want to get the correct temperature reading of your shrimp tank, I’ll highly suggest this digital aquarium thermometer. It is cheap yet very reliable! It will show you the temperature in digital reading so that you know exactly what is going on in the tank!

After temperature, the pH is what you should be concerned about the water. As you can see in the table that the ideal pH range for baby ghost shrimps is 6.5 to 7.5. If you don’t know what pH is, pH is a measurement that indicates how much acidic the tank water is. It is measured on a scale from 0 to 14. 7 is the neutral value, less than 7 indicates acidic, and greater than 7 indicates a base. 

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!

After pH, you need to tackle GH and KH. GH stands for General Hardness and KH stands for Carbonate Hardness. GH mainly measures the amount of dissolved calcium and magnesium in the water. Whereas, KH indicates the stability of the pH in the water. Maintaining the optimal range of these two is highly recommended if you have ghost shrimp babies in the tank. 

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!

Lastly, you have to maintain the TDS which stands for total dissolved solids. It measures the dissolved molecules in the water except for H20 molecules. The ideal TDS range for baby ghost shrimps is 150 to 200 ppm.

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Proper Food 

Normally ghost shrimps can feed on algae and normal food bits. But baby shrimps should be fed food that has nutrients and vitamins because these are essential for their proper growth. 

As I have ghost shrimps, my personal favorite shrimp food which is best for ghost shrimp babies mainly is the Bacter AE. This comes in powdered form and spreads fast in the water. So baby ghost shrimps can easily get a fast feast. This shrimp food ensures in increasing the survival rate of ghost shrimp babies. 

There are a lot of foods that will promise you that it contains vitamins & nutrients and offer a good growth rate for the baby shrimps. But not every food will provide these so you have to be very careful while choosing a good food. So, make sure you are getting an authentic food for the shrimps.

Never rush and do a good amount of research before buying one for your shrimps. Also, take suggestions from shrimp keepers and go through online reviews.

Feeding The Right Amount Of Food

Feeding the right amount of food is very necessary for both the adult and baby ghost shrimps as it helps in their physical growth. Normally ghost shrimps, mainly the babies live on algae and biofilm. But, as I already mentioned, besides algae and biofilm a good shrimp food for the baby shrimps is very important as it helps in their proper growth.  

However, no matter what you choose to feed, never overfeed your ghost shrimps. Do not have this misconception that if you overfeed the babies they will grow faster or it will be healthy for them. Overfeeding can cause many unwanted problems and diseases to your shrimp.

Make a combination of the food you want to feed, then feed the shrimps twice a week if you have enough algae and biofilm in your tank. Feed a powdered shrimp food for the baby shrimps and feed a good amount. 

A properly balanced diet helps in keeping the shrimps, mainly the shrimp babies healthy. It ensures their proper growth as well. So maintaining a diet is very important with feeding the right amount of food. 

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Presence Of Algae And Biofilm

Baby ghost shrimps mainly live on algae and biofilm that naturally grows in the tank. Ghost shrimps love algae and most of the time gaze around it. This is their primary source of food thus your tank should have a decent amount of algae and biofilm in the tank. 

As you cannot make algae or biofilm, make sure you are keeping the tank in a way so that algae and biofilm can naturally grow. Don’t clean the tank too much and don’t change the tank water more often. While cleaning the tank leave one or two glasses with algae. 

Add stones, objects, plants in the tank in a decent amount as biofilm grows over the surfaces of these things. While cleaning the tank don’t clean the surfaces fully. 

Highly Planted Tank With Moss 

Ghost shrimps like to hide themselves during their breeding and molting process, and they like to be alone. This is why a heavily planted tank is important because it makes enough hiding spots for the ghost shrimps. 

Besides that, when baby ghost shrimps are born they also need to hide themselves for the first few days. And for hiding, nothing can be better than bush of live plants and moss. Hiding makes both the adult and the baby ghost shrimps feel safe and stress-free. If you have other tank mates in your tank then plants and moss are a must.

Additionally, plants and moss play a big role in growing algae and biofilm. As ghost shrimp babies live on algae and biofilm, growing these plants and moss are important. Furthermore, plants keep the whole tank environment ecologically balanced.

Plants help in controlling the water parameters and helps in keeping the environment suitable for the ghost shrimps. It also plays a great role in producing oxygen and absorbing the carbon dioxide and ammonia that the species generate. 

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Maintain The Bioload 

Maintaining the bioload is very important for keeping the tank environment suitable for the ghost shrimps and other species. If you don’t know what bioload is, it is the amount of livestock you should have in per gallon water. No matter what do not keep high bioload in your shrimp tank.

Higher bioload makes the tank water dirty too fast. It also makes the whole tank environment unsuitable. In higher bioload, the water parameters change so rapidly and it gets very difficult to control it. Furthermore, it reduces the oxygen in the water thus the existing species cannot take in oxygen the amount they need. 

Ghost shrimps and mainly the babies cannot survive for long if the tank environment is not suitable. They stress out, get sick easily and get many diseases including fungal infection. The babies don’t get a healthy environment so they don’t get the proper growth. Also, too many species around them can make both the adults and baby shrimps unsafe and uncomfortable. 

You can keep 3-4 ghost shrimps in one-gallon water. If you have other species in the tank keep that number in mind before putting new species in the tank water and strictly maintain the bioload. 

Some Other Basic Maintenance 

Always try to keep the tank water clean. Change 30% of the water once a week and add the same amount of freshwater in it. This helps to keep the tank water purified. If the water is clean and purified you can easily control the tank environment. 

The parameters rapidly change if the tank water is dirty. Also, dirty water is full of toxins which is very harmful mainly for the shrimp babies. So never let the tank water get dirty fast and don’t keep it dirty for too long. 

Never use any kind of chemicals for cleaning the tank. Chemicals can be very harmful to the shrimp babies. Normal cleaning and changing the tank water with freshwater is good enough. 

A filter is highly recommended for a shrimp tank as it helps to keep the water purified. Besides that, filters are a great source of food for ghost shrimps and the babies.

If you have baby ghost shrimps a filter is highly recommended but you have to take some cautions. If you are using a sponge filter then there is nothing you can do but if you are using a HOB filter make sure you cover the inlet pipe. Baby shrimps can get stuck into that pipe so covering is necessary. 

I think matten filters are the best choice for a shrimp only tank. 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 baby shrimps!

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Conclusion 

Ghost shrimps are vulnerable and their babies are even more. So, taking good care of the baby ghost shrimps is very important if you want them to survive properly and ensure a healthy adulthood.  

I mentioned almost everything you should do for taking the right care of your ghost shrimp babies. Following these, you can easily ensure the ghost shrimp babies a suitable and healthy environment to live in. If everything is maintained in the right way, soon you will see the ghost shrimp babies growing and they will have a healthy adulthood for sure.

Happy shrimp keeping!