INDIAN GHOST SHRIMP
INDIAN GHOST SHRIMPS
One positive aspect of this ongoing coronavirus endemic in my life was that it helped me brush up my interest with one of the most interesting aqua-specimen I have in my tank till today "Indian ghost shrimp". At the end of the month of March I came across a fish seller whom I was buying local 'Rohu' or 'Rui mach' from. I suddenly stumbled upon a basket full of his these shrimps (in India, ghost shrimps are a favourite delicacy); few of them still throwing themselves out of the bunch. I placed a ten-rupee note on the hands of the fisherman and grabbed six of these beauties. I ran to my room and threw them in my Indian biotope tank. Few of them couldn't survive but few did and I can assure you readers and hobbyists that I never repented keeping these guys till today. My assumption that they are very hard to take care off was an absolute wrong and till today I am enjoying every single day of my "shrimp keeping ".
ORIGIN :
Ghost shrimps are found exclusively in countries like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and other south-east Asian countries. Like my other fish blogs, this article deals with specifically the Indian originated ghost shrimps. Belonging to the family Palaemonidae they are sub-grouped to various species depending upon their origin. The Indian ghost shrimps are known as Macrobrachium ehemals. They are also known by the name of freshwater shrimps, glass shrimps and so on.
SIZE :
As with most other shrimp species the females are bulkier than the males. I had a female and two males and the females are easily double the size of the males. On reaching puberty the females get olive green stripes on their bodies. Their body ranges from 1.5 to 3 or 3.5 inches. Indian ghost shrimps are notoriously famous for having short spanning life. Since aggression is an inherent nature in them, I have observed cannibalism among them where I noticed my female munching upon one of the males.
FEEDING HABIT :
They feed on leftovers and algae is an absolute favourite for them. Ghost shrimps have very small bioload and this helps to make the maintenance a bit easier. Live plants should be carefully planted because they might be uprooted in the process of searching for food in the substrate. In the wild, they dig upon the sand or silt substrate in the quest for food. Many times when I have visited the mighty 'Barak river' flowing around my city I have noticed a bunch of these beauties searching for food scraps on the banks of the river.
HEALTH :
Although they have a very small bioload that doesn't excuse us from a WC schedule. In a community, tank shrimps are subjected to a WC schedule depending on the other species that are kept. A minimum of 10 litres tank is enough for 3 to 4 pairs. I would refer you to go for either a HOB filter or a sponge filter. Using power filters or air stones can cause serious injuries to them since their exoskeleton isn't very strong enough.
TANKMATES :
My ghost shrimps are kept with female gourami and few zebra danios and they don't bother each other; however, con species aggression is very common among them. My suggestion would be to keep quite a lot of them to diffuse the aggression. As being already written 'cannibalism' does exist among this shrimp.
I feel they can be easily kept with mollies, platys, neons but I have read to refrain these beauties from stocking them with bettas, goldfishes and ramerizis among others.
TANK DECORATION :
Include a lot of sand or silt along with driftwood and use seachem products to boost algae formation in the tank. Potted aquarium plants are best buried properly in the substrate since they dig into the substrate if they are underfed or doesn't have anything interesting to play within the tank.
BREEDING :
It is advisable to keep a few females with one or two males. If the conditions are right with no fear of predation with excellent water quality they are able to breed. Actually breeding is fairly common in them. The females carry around 50 eggs and fan them in the process to provide them with oxygen until they hatch. Ideally a temperature of 25 to 35 degrees is great for the hatching . Nitrates should be maintained and kept at normal levels by using live plants. I have seen excellent results when dried leaves are used to leach out tannins into the water.
DISEASES :
White spot syndrome, yellow head disease and other diseases are fairly common in them. Restricted use of antibiotics can cure them but be careful with over usage of copper-based medications.
CONCLUSION :
With a proper guide, ghost shrimps can be successfully kept in the home aquarium. Provide them with a good place to hide and a sandy substrate to be engaged with and few live plants if possible, this species won't upset your aquatic-taste.
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