Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Ghost Shrimp

Just wanted to pass along a success story (need those to keep trucking sometimes)

Last summer I stocked a 1/4 acre bait pond with Mississippi Ghost Shrimp. All I could get my hands on were 200 shrimp. I stocked them and crossed my fingers. After stocking I saw no sign of them whatsoever. I was sure they were dead so I stocked a few hundred bluegill to raise as breeders for larger lake. We had a really hard winter and the pond froze with about 2” of ice across the whole thing.

Had the shocking boat at the big lake today and decided to check it and see what was going on. Fired it up and the water was boiling with shrimp! Hundreds of thousands of shrimp would be my conservative estimate. We transferred a couple thousand to lake and are hoping they will do the same thing.

My PK shrimp came in today I purchased off eBay. Excellent packaging, no deaths, and a very nice assortment of large to small sizes. I also believe I ordered 10 and I got more like 15. Currently tank raising them in my garage over winter. I realize ultimately I’m gonna need thousands. Guess we will see how well they tank breed. Water is currently set at 75 degrees as I read this was optimum breeding temp. I have filamentous algae and coon tail in there. They really seem to like picking through filamentous algae the most. I’ve also noticed they like to search for food in groups. Will be fun to watch them grow.

Are you a science teacher, or just have an aquarium to calm the ADD type students?

I think showing all of the food chain in a micro-environment would be a great lesson for kids these days since this generation is out "on the land" even less than the immediately preceding generations.

John, I emptied my small forage pond that shrimp were stocked into last year and to my surprise, maybe got 100-125 specimens out of it. Even full of river bullrush, arrowhead and sago pond weed.. Didn't see anything like what I had expected so I think there is far more to their survival and recruitment than I understand..

I've read the shrimp have a true favorite when it comes to what vegetation they like to eat. Somewhere on the forum I read that a preferred leaf is from the mulberry tree. Probably too late to find any leaves for them to sample. They eat green vegetables like zucchini or kuiri squash. Aquarium shrimp often are given indian almond leaves.

Some indicate leaves that release tannin is helpful too, not sure why. Many experiments await!

I bought a couple hundred PK shrimp off the internet after reading al the threads on here about them. They arrived yesterday and were still very lively, I split them between my two bigger ponds. At the new pond I hope they can hide in the rocks and in the clumps of weeds that are under water now from the water coming up. If they are able to breed a couple times they might have a chance?

At my bigger wildlife pond the other half should do great as weedy as it is. I would think the habitat in it would be perfect for them if they are able to survive in my area this far north. Hopefully I may be able to use it in a couple of years to restock the other pond with grass shrimp if it needs it.

Frank, I don't know if this is the reason, but Chara hosts a symbiotic periphitic nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria. This is true of all Chara species as far as I know. This adds enough nitrogen to rice paddies to produce rice indefinitely without fertilization. I think it may at least contribute to Chara's superiority over nitella.

I have river bulrush around 50% of my PK shrimp pond and they are way back in that stuff.
I have several patches a sago pondweed starting to grow in that pond so I think it's going to be ideal for continued production.
I'm finding that although I preach being patient, I'm somewhat impatient..

If you can find a way to trap them, that will be very useful information for lots of PK shrimp followers. Using a sweep net among the weedy habitat is the only way that I know how to harvest them.

Science. I use the bristlenose for punnett squares and genetics in the classroom. Keep a variety of traits (albino, brown, long fin, short fin, etc) in the breeding tank. Once the eggs hatch the kids figure who the parents are. Would be cool to add PK breeding into the mix.

Since you are in the public school system and maybe limited as to where you can purchase items see Carolina Biological.

https://www.carolina.com/freshwater-animals/ghost-shrimp-living-pack-of-12/142476.pr

Their ghost shrimp will be the PK shrimp aka Mississippi grass shrimp Palaemonetes kadiakensis,,, aka ghost shrimp, glass shrimp. Very similar anatomically to P. paludosus. It takes close examination of the rostrum to separate the two species. Carolina may know the species???? Maybe not? As noted they are also available in eBay.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/johns796/m...p;rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.m3561.l2562

Awesome usage, catscratch!


P.S. If you would like to add another aquarium, Petco has been selling their Aqueon line (basic) aquariums for 50% off most of the time this fall. I did pick up a large one for my wife's classroom.

Mods - please delete my postscript if it crosses the commercial promotion line. (I have no interest in either company.)

I can't tell you the find differences between the various species of PK shrimp. But some definitely are warm water only species and others are hardy under the ice. I would guess Snipes Kansas shrimp are the hardy type.

The ones sold by the Carolina supply house may NOT be.

Ghost/glass shrimp sold in pet food chain stores are not the desired shrimp for survival in freezing water.

Distribution for grass shrimp - Palaemonetes kadiakensis. It lives wide ranging on both sides of the Mississippi Rv from the Gulf coast up through Ohio to northern Lake Erie and the southern 1/4 of Michigan. In Pennsylvania, where it is introduced, it was collected from areas with a mixture of eel grass (Vallisneria americana), pondweeds (Potamogeton spp.), and coontail (Ceratophyllum demersum) (Kimmel and Argetn 2008). It really thrives in plant infested ponds often with too many plants for easy angling for fish. A wetland of about any size attached to a pond would a very good place to grow grass shrimp and forage minnows.

Look at the type of habitat where this singing angler catches his grass shrimp.

I put in 100 of the LA PK shrimp in September. Nothing in the pond but FHM & a couple of map turtles. I'll take a look-see come spring & see if any survived the winter & how they're doing. RES & SBS won't go in until April or May. Hoping the shrimp can get well established by the time the bream are big enough to feed on them.

Regardless, I'll let y'all know how things turn out.

Yes chara is often a habitat for PK shrimp. Whether they hang out there because it is good protection, or maybe they eat little critters that make the chara their home I don't know. I do think the crunchy calcium nature of the chara helps but I also have read that PK shrimp love diatoms. I know you can order a diatom culture from pond management companies (or perhaps Carolina supply?). Also I have seen posts from azteca or Bill Cody where they can give you a recipe to make your own diatom stew.

send pictures?

Thing is, chara might not grow well without lots of alkalinity to begin with. I had some in my pond one year, but disappeared as brushy pondweed took over.

Thanks Bill! There is never-ending amount of detritus in my pond basin. However I do wonder if the PK shrimp like a certain type of leaf structure over another (we have settled out iron on a thick layer of mostly oak leaves, a black nasty mess) Did you uncover any info on the calcium content of water (hardness) and their preference to thrive?

If I could get cockroaches to grow gills I'd be happy to stock them by the millions as long as my organic debris thins out and as long as they don't mind the YP or PS snacking on them. Could you put them in an inverted bowl (like a diving bell or bubble) with O2 supply but have the bottom of the bell open to the bottom of the pond and let the cockroaches go to town?

Detritus may be the best food for grass shrimp however they need the proper cover habitat with detritus to survive fish predation. I know nothing about the specific calcium content of the water for their survival. If you can get crayfish to thrive, the grass shrimp with the same chitin like 'shell' will also thrive. Again, it is the type of habitat requirement that makes for a successful grass shrimp population. Habitat, Habitat, Habitat. The best habitat IMO is finely divided leafed submerged vegetation. They can survive without ample proper vegetation, however the protection from predation pressure needs to be conducive to all their life stages. Remember - their life cycle is one year.

When the pond has lots of dense habitat this means there is an abundance of natural foods for grass shrimp. Looking on YouTube, aquarium type people feed the grass shrimp algae both filamentous(FA) and attached algae(periphyton). fish food both flake and pellet. Some say they even eat fish manure. They probably eat most anything that is organic based thus the feeding term for them is detritivore. About every pond will have plenty of food for them. It is the good type of habitat that is important for their survival until they can reproduce and not get eaten.

Hello.

I don't know if it's the same for Shrimp, probably.

Here is my protocol for my Gammarus, they say that Gammarus are very sensitive to water change more than fish.

First I don't take water from the house because of the copper pipes.

I do my water change (pond water or rainwater) drop by drop.
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