Are Ghost/Grass Shrimp beneficial for reef tanks?

[meemoo]

I picked up about a dozen Ghost/Grass Shimp in the tidal pools the other day and wondering if they are benefical. Also what about periwinkles as clean up? Main concern is introducing disease to my tank so they are in a QT tank with some Asian shore crabs.

 

[Moe_K]

Those shrimp sound like excellent food items for the tank.

 

[Scuba_Dave]

Periwinkles will not last long, they also will crawl up & out of the tank

 

[JustDavidP]

periwinkles will NOT stay in the tank. Trust me. They will ALSO prey upon anything slow enough not to get out of its way. I've seen this in my grass shrimp tanks as well.

Glass/grass shrimp are great feeders for reef tank fish. They also spawn like our cleaners and will provide planktonic foods for your larger corals and smallish fish.

Check the glass/grass shrimp for isopods on their carapace. THey can and will attach to any crustacean in your tank. Periwinkles, by nature of where they forage are known to carry parasites and also contain or are covered in pollutants from street run off, sewer pipes etc.

Dave

 

[meemoo]

Check the glass/grass shrimp for isopods on their carapace. THey can and will attach to any crustacean in your tank. Periwinkles, by nature of where they forage are known to carry parasites and also contain or are covered in pollutants from street run off, sewer pipes etc.

Dave

Do you know what these isopods look like?

 

[fanaglethebagle]

white tumors on thier sides.

 

[JustDavidP]

See it on the area of the carapace where you'd expect to see fish gills?

Dave

 

[JustDavidP]

More often than not, in the New England area, the isopods are creamy white and some, actually most, have a darker reddish, brown pattern through them.

You can often see these types of isopods on peppermint shrimp and cleaner shrimp in the LFS.

Dave

 

[waltm]

How would one go about removing isopods from peppermint shrimp and cleaner shrimp from the LFS assuming they are bad? Or just inspect before purchase and avoid specimens with isopods attached?

 

[JustDavidP]

Just avoid them. The parasites are easy to see. I've heard of some who have been able to remove them with dips and tweezers etc. However, from what I know of the isopods, they anchor pretty deep and removal would probably result in a loss of the shrimp anyways.

D

 

[fanaglethebagle]

Usually they wait for the shrimp to molt and tweezer it.

 

[zemuron114]

i freshwater dip all the shrimp i catch in pools/marshes. They will survive for long periods of time in freshwater, but it usually knocks any unwanted pests off (since the pest are in SW) I catch thousands and keep them in my 55 tank for live food as treats for my fairy wrasses and hawkfish Man do they love em! I keep some in my fuges to spawn and eat the detritus (which they do a great job at eating) and then i put hundreds into my main display (180 gal) so they get lost in the rockwork and eat the crap in their as well (plus it lets the fish hunt!)

perywinkles will die in our tanks because of heat as well, and they dont do much anyway.

 

[dz6t]

You guys are so lucky that you can get those shrimps. They make great food for lion fish etc.

 

[meemoo]

I will look for isopods and if I put them in freshwater for how long? Also it looks like one has eggs. Do the babies survive in the refugium?