I just bought 13 ghost shrimp. I want to know if a platy, red belly pacus, swordtails, goldfish, or minnows will eat them and what do I feed the shrimp? This is urgent as I think they are starving.
2006-08-04 17:05:17 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Fish
They will not starve as long as you are feeding flakes to your other fish. They are scavengers and will eat whatever your fish allow to fall to the bottom of the tank.
The pacu is a vegetarian, but if he is large enough, he will have an occasional snack of shrimp. Platys and swordtails will not eat them unless they are already dead.
You really shouldn't have a goldfish or the minnows in the same tank with those other fish. Goldfish and minnows are cold water fish (65 degrees) and the rest are tropicals (74-78 degrees).
One group will suffer with whatever water temp you settle on. There is no middle ground there. Wrong temperature causes lots of stress and stress lowers the fish's disease fighting capabilities.
Ghost shrimp are very cool and would probably make little shrimp if given a tank of their own. I have about 50 cherry shrimp (red shrimp) in a 10 gallon tank and they are spawning like crazy. The females carry the eggs around under their tail until they hatch. If there are no predators, the babies will all live.
Even platys and swordtails would eat the baby shrimp.
2006-08-04 17:19:59 · answer #1 · answered by 8 In the corner 6 · 8⤊ 0⤋
My ghost shrimp eat algae wafers that sink to the bottom of the tank. But if you feed flakes to the rest of the tank, the shrimp will eat those too. Don't worry, they will not starve, feed 1 wafer to 10 shrimp once a day, and they will be happy. As Far as the fish go, the pacu is the only one that will grow big enough to eat the shrimp. I would worry about the minnows, depending on the species. Most minnows when large enough are carnivorous. They might just like a bite of shrimp every now and then. OH and i just read another answer, how silly. Yes gold fish are dirty fishes, but they are herbavores, if you have live plants they will eat the plants, but they will NOT eat the shrimp, LOL.
2006-08-05 00:48:20 · answer #2 · answered by kalabear1 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have a red belly pacus, me too.
You know they grow to be 2 feet, don't you. http://www.fishlore.com/profiles_red_pacu.htm
I sure hope you only have one or two pacu(s), I love mine he is 16 inches and he's still in a 55 gal. He's going to need an 80 gal very soon and someday a 300gallon or bigger.
Ghost shrimp, huh?
http://www.fishlore.com/profile-ghostshrimp.htm
--The pacu(s) will eat them sooner or later.
If your not willing to get a 200gal someday, you should try very hard to get the fish shop to take the pacus back (even if you have to make a small scene.)
The places that ppl donate to are full of pacus.
I wasn't told how big they get when I bought mine, but I have gotten so attached, that there is no way, I could part with her now.
2006-08-05 03:02:47 · answer #3 · answered by lilith 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I used to own a pet store. Our ghost shrimp LOVED frozen brine shrimp. This is a food which is kept in the freezer, you break off a little piece of it and let it thaw in a dixie cup with some water. Feed a couple of the little shrimps at a time. Each ghost shrimp will eat around 5-10 brine shrimp a day.
2006-08-05 00:20:47 · answer #4 · answered by Kimberly 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
get the pacu and the gold fish out of there. pacu are related to piranah and get 22 inches long with teeth so yes they will eat the shrimp, and everything else in your tank. the gold fish are bottem feeders so they will definatly eat the shrimp too, and they are so dirty that keeping golds in a tank with other fish will cause the ammonia levels to spike and kill everything, as for the platties and swords, they should do just find, you might find a ghost shrimp missing from time to time but nothing major, and for food, i had 1 that would eat flakes but most need sinking food like algea wafers or shrimp pellets, they love 'em
2006-08-05 00:33:31 · answer #5 · answered by Taldeara 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Shrimp tend to be scavangers. They will eat what falls to the bottom of the tank. My son had some in a tank with guppies, and they thrived quite happily. As for the risk of them being eaten, I'm not sure if they are small enough to be eaten by the other fish. Ghost shrimp get to be a pretty decent size. ("non-eatable by small fish" size that is)
2006-08-05 00:20:19 · answer #6 · answered by Heather 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
feed hm something that ghost eat
2006-08-05 01:30:07 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
since they are scavengers they will eat the remaining foods deposited in the bottom.
2006-08-05 06:43:15 · answer #8 · answered by the fishkeeper 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
lol what ever the pet store guy told you to feed them
2006-08-05 00:09:29 · answer #9 · answered by Kylee 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋