If you are a lover of seafood like me, I’m sure you’ve wondered how the ghostly-looking tiny shrimps lurking in your tank taste. Yes, I am talking about ghost shrimps!
Has this thought ever crossed your mind? Don’t worry – this is a judgment-free space.
If you’ve ever pondered can you eat ghost shrimp, you’re in luck today!
Keep reading to find answers to all of your queries.
Can You Eat Ghost Shrimps?
Yes, you can definitely eat ghost shrimps. They’re perfectly safe and edible to eat. However, ghost shrimp isn’t a staple seafood, and you’ll seldom find people who’ve tasted these transparent creatures.
Are Ghost Shrimps Healthy?
Like any other shrimp, ghost shrimps are rich in fat, protein, and calcium. They also contain traces of vitamin B &E, magnesium, and antioxidants. However, the amount of nutrients found in ghost shrimps are negligible given an average person’s body weight.
Thus, at best, ghost shrimps make baits and feeder food for bigger fishes.
If you’re still curious, here’s a sneak peek into their taste profile!
Keep Reading!
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What Does Ghost Shrimp Taste Like?
Cooked ghost shrimps turn red. And reportedly, they taste somewhere between crawdads and marine shrimp. The juicy, gooey center is an explosion of flavor, which might be a turnoff for some people.
Guys from Outdoor Chef Life sauteed some ghost shrimps in butter and tried them for the first time.
They describe it as “shrimp without much meat.”
Some people in the video liked ghost shrimp’s taste and described it as briny and like shrimp chips.
On the other hand, others thought it was sandy, salty and said they wouldn’t recommend it to anyone!
Watch for yourself.
Ghost Shrimp Recipe For Humans
If you’re enticed to try it, here’s a ghost shrimp recipe that I found on the internet and improvised on!
Ingredients:
- Ghost shrimps
- Egg
- Flour
- Oil
- Salt
- Cajun spice
- Pepper
- Lemon
As for the amount of ingredients, just ballpark it!
- First, par-boil the ghost shrimps so they won’t squirm in the pan.
- Next, add them in a bowl, followed by eggs, flour, pepper, salt, lemon, cajun spice, and mix!
- Fry in the hot oil.
You may want to fry ghost shrimps for a little longer than usual due to their cartilaginous shells! If you don’t mind the crunch, you shorten the cooking time!
3 Things To Consider When Eating Ghost Shrimps
People in coastal countries eat all kinds of creatures, but ghost shrimp isn’t one of them! I didn’t find any demographic group that consumed ghost shrimp as a staple diet during my research.
So, that’s why here are 3 things to consider before making up your mind to eat!
Could Carry Parasites
You never know where your ghost shrimps are from and under what kinds of conditions they were bred. So, we cannot 100% say that all ghost shrimps are safe to eat. You never know what kind of diseases they’re carrying and how they’d affect humans.
They Eat Fish Poop
As bottom dwellers, ghost shrimps regularly feed on fish waste. It might not be an issue for some, but if you’re finicky like me, I’m sure you’d be concerned about the meal that your to-be meal has consumed.
Not As Gratifying
Several accounts of ghost shrimp-eating experiences that I read said that they wouldn’t recommend eating it. Many found the gooey consistency and the weird aftertaste to be deal-breakers. So, maybe ghost shrimps don’t make it to the dinner table for a reason!
Other Alternatives To Eating Ghost Shrimps!
Sorry if the title was misleading, but this is not about other aquarium shrimps you could eat!
I’d instead leave aquarium shrimps for our fish and move on to meatier, tastier options! But you do you – go ahead if you want to try!
Ghost shrimps make one handy species! Read on to find their more useful needs!
Ghost Shrimps As Tank Cleaner
By now, you already know ghost shrimps have quite a reputation for being tank cleaners. They’re good old, trusted creatures to eat up algae, debris, leftover food, and even fish poop!
So, your tank can definitely benefit from a couple of ghost shrimps. Just make sure there’s plenty of plants and hiding spaces for them to take refuge.
Ghost Shrimp As Feeder Fish
Ghost shrimps pack good nutrition value for fishes. It’s rich in protein, calcium, and antioxidants – thus, making it an excellent choice for feeder fish. However, make sure that you buy ghost shrimps from reputable buyers to not bring any sort of worm or parasite infestation into the tank.
You can either give live ghost shrimps or prepare them in a food processor with other ingredients to make super-rich fish food.
How To Grow Ghost Shrimp For Fish?
Well, you may not have an appetite for ghost shrimps, for your fish sure do! They’ll absolutely love it.
So, here’s a short guide on how to grow ghost shrimp as food for your fish!
Maternity Tank Setup
Get a 10-gallon tank and add a layer of gravel for the substrate. Add a sponge filter with a small air pump that won’t suck in ghost shrimp fry. As for water temperature, it should be maintained around 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit.
Add a lot of plants like duckweed, hornwort, and anacharis that will serve as both food and hideout.
Light Setup
Ghost shrimp fry tends to swim towards the light source – often running into the tank’s wall. So, you can stop this by keeping lights turned on over the tank 24 hours a day.
Next, cover all four tank walls with black construction paper or cloth to block ambient light.
Choosing Female For Maternity Tank
It’s pretty easy to differentiate a female ghost shrimp from a male. They usually have larger bodies and ridge along the top of the tail. As for selecting the pregnant female, it’s even easier. She’ll have greenish shades in her belly.
Those green bits are actually eggs. Quite fascinating, right?
A ghost shrimp will have many pairs of legs called swimmerets under the rear part of the body.
A gravid ghost shrimp usually carries 20-30 eggs attached to her swimmerets.
The Fry Stage
The eggs will hatch after around 3 weeks of hatching, but the hatchlings will not leave the mother’s swimmerets for one more week. Ghost shrimp fry look quite similar to mosquito larvae.
Plus, ghost shrimp fry are super hard to see until they are 6 to 8 weeks of age.
Raising The Fry
Once the fry leave their moms’ swimmerets, remove moms from the maternity tank.
Raising the fry is quite tricky if you’re new to it. Don’t vacuum the fry tank. Also, you need to feed them once every 2 to 3 hours. You can give daphnia, brine shrimp, or liquid fry food.
Your fry will molt every few months. As they grow, you can include flake food, algae wafers, and tiny fish in their diet.
Feeding Ghost Shrimps To Your Fish
At around 1-3 inches, your ghost shrimps will be ready.
You can now give them to your fish! You can either cut it in half or give the whole shrimp.
These shrimps are rich in essential fats and protein that fish require. On top of that, your fish will absolutely love snacking on some live food for a change.
Final Words: Can You Eat Ghost Shrimp?
Yes, you can eat ghost shrimp, but it turns out it’s not as tasty as you think. Some describe that it tastes like shrimp chips or somewhat like the flavor between marine shrimp and crawfish.
But at the same time, it can have a sandy taste and a gooey bit to it, which many don’t like.
If you’re interested in eating ghost shrimps, there’s a recipe above! Do let us know how it goes!
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