Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Ghost Shrimp

Bill, I Don’t have anything special just normal lights. Now I’m kicking myself for selling all my saltwater tank stuff. I had lights that would mimic daylight hours, moon light hours, overcast days, lightning storms and all. You could just set it and forget it. I’ll look into that Bill, thank you. Canyon creek I hadn’t heard of the the mulberry leaves accept that scuds like them. I have loads of them I can collect on my property. I’ll toss some old ones in there and see. Thanks for the responses. I’ll try update now and again especially if I get any reproduction.

Ooh, that could be good-ish news for me as there's just no keeping the oak leaves out of the pond.

Thought I'd heard PK shrimp loved charra? Something about the calcium for their exoskeletons. With that thought in mind, I "planted" a dozen or so sprigs of live charra (bought from Carolina Biological) in early October. Supposed to just toss 'em in the water, so I did, scattering a few in different areas around the pond, primarily the shallow end. I realize it wasn't ideal conditions for it, but cheap enough to be worth a shot & I'll "plant" a few more come spring.

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?

Hmm. May need to look into that. And yes, Carolina has them. Kind of funny buying from them, as I worked right next door to their facility in Burlington, NC for several years.

Attention Bill Cody!

Please check out this link. I'm curious, of these offerings which would be a good option if someone was to try to provide nutrients or a richer food chain for PK shrimp if they were in a small aquarium? It sounds like lots of options for 'diatoms' or diatoms plus algae or diatoms plus planaria?

Is there a way to culture your own diatoms using readily available products?

Diatom search on Carolina Biological supply

Most of the diatoms from Carolina were likely grown in special growth chambers in nutrient enriched solutions usually in culture chambers with controlled lighting and temperature as the flasks are lightly swirled or shaken. Without special conditions the diatoms or algae that are planktonic are fairly difficult to consistently grow continuously. There are probably some aquarium enthusiasts that show one how to some green algae water.

Provide me a link to where someone says grass shrimp grow best on diatoms. I am not sure this is true. Shrimp I think usually feed best as a detritivore and there should be better more convenient foods for grass shrimp than diatoms.

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.

The biological 'job' of shrimp in water is to feed on organic matter such as dead plant materials, bacteria, and dead animals as mostly invertebrates - organics . On land, cockroaches feed on dead leaves, garbage, and other refuse. Both animals are detritivores, and they fill the same niche in different environments.
Niche of an organism refers to its habitat, activity role and functional position within system. Detritivores are the organisms that feed on dead and decaying organic matter and serve to release the nutrients back in the environment. Since both shrimp and cockroach feed on dead and decaying organic matter, both are detritivorous. Being found in different habitats, they fulfill the same niche (same functional role, that is, the role of detritivore) in different environments.

Here is a very good description of detritivore
https://biologydictionary.net/detritivore/

Very good grass shrimp facts and information in these links:

https://www.tankfacts.com/invertebrates/freshwater/shrimp/grass-shrimp_166

https://www.jstor.org/stable/2680196

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.

diving roaches... funny stuff!

See below how you can grow grass shrimp for stocking into your pond. Stock them in spring and harvest stocker shrimp in fall before frost.

Catching grass shrimp in eelgrass


Grow grass shrimp in a wading pool use eel grass for plant habitat in the pool instead of those suggested in the video.


These techniques should work for raising grass shrimp for stocking in spring and harvesting in fall
Growing shrimp in garbage cans


Grown in maintenance free tank


Tank growing advice

I plan to purchase some soon. Is the ebay guy still the best source for grass shrimp?

Is there a good source for scuds.

I have a fish less pond at edge of woods. Fill up with Lilly pads each year. About 6 feet maximum depth.

Tried putting some in it a few years ago without success. Would like to try again.

I bought 50 from him a month ago, so he's still selling. All mine died in my tank within a few weeks though. I'm hoping i can find a cheaper source for them and buy a couple hundred and just dump them straight in the pond and cross my fingers.

Bob - Now that you have some experience with grass shrimp in an aquarium, what do you think caused them to all die? Inquiring minds want to know and learn what to avoid.

I have no clue what killed them. Wish i did though, wasted 75$ haha.

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.
A+

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.

Hey guys, I’m new to the shrimp world, I’m trying to purchase ghost/grass shrimp for one of my pond’s up in New York. Looking for a cold water hardy shrimp. Anyway someone can hook me up with a place to purchase them? It would be greatly appreciated.

This is KoiHole,
Bill Cody I just want to thank you for hooking me up with the BK shrimp,
I’m so glad I found this forum and you reached out to fill me in on how to get the BK shrimp. I ordered 200 from your source on eBay.
I have three ponds, all ponds are spring fed ,a 1 acre pond with about 60 Koi ranging from 5 pounds to largest being 32 pounds that Pond also has largemouth bass, perch, and Croppie.
Also, two smaller ponds one for Koi eggs to hatch and raise the fry, then select the ones for the other small pond to raise big enough to put in the 1 acre pond.
I recently drained both those small ponds did what I had to do with the Koi,
Then stocked the one with shiners and minnows to feed the 1 acre pond, and to use for bait for bass fishing.
But getting to my point was really trying to stock a food source in the other small pond for the shiners and minnows & Bsss,that’s where the grass shrimp come in.
Bill, or anyone that would like to chime in I would love some feedback if you think this is not a good idea. I read earlier about they might stir up the bottom, but I do not have to worry about that. Koi did a good enough job of that..
Thanks Again