At most, ghost shrimps grow up to 2 inches. Their babies? You can hardly spot them in a community tank. So, can they fit adult food into their mouths? If you’re wondering what to feed baby ghost shrimp, you’ve come to the right place.
What To Feed Baby Ghost Shrimp?
You can give your ghost shrimp fry the same food as adults. However, you’ve to crumble down it into smaller bits first. They can eat anything from algae and biofilm to pellets and flakes. If you want to give readymade baby shrimp food, brands like Mosura and Shirakura carry them.
There’s a notion that meeting the dietary requirements of anything other than a fish is difficult. But most aquatic creatures share more or less the same diet needs and patterns.
Here are a few food options that you need to give your baby ghost shrimps:
- Algae
- Baby Shrimp Food
- Shrimp Pellet Foods
- Fish Flakes
- Brine Shrimp
- Homemade Fish Food
- Mosquito Larvae
So, as you can see, they can eat pretty much anything an adult shrimp or fish does. Just make sure you break down the food into small bits. Otherwise, they’ll starve easily, which will compromise their development and survival rate.
However, it’s not all a cakewalk. Now that you know what to feed baby ghost shrimp, let’s look at the top five things you should know to make no room for errors.
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5 Things To Consider When Feeding Baby Ghost Shrimps
Paying heed to certain factors when feeding baby shrimps can go a long way. You need to set up the right filtration system so that leftover food is filtered out. Likewise, you need to understand their pecking order and feed accordingly and add plants and biofilm to supplement diets.
A Proper Filtration System
As we have already established above, baby shrimps need crumbled-down food. And this food gets diluted in the water super easily—contaminating the water’s environment. Thus, you need to ensure an efficient filtration system that can get out of the impurities quickly before tainting the water.
Proper water parameters are integral for a baby ghost shrimps development. When young, shrimps molt once every 1-2 weeks and absorb a good amount of water to form new shells. So, as an owner, it’s your responsibility to maintain healthy water parameters at all times.
Ghost Shrimps Have Pecking Order
The biggest or senior shrimp will always be the first one to eat when food is available. That’s because a pecking order exists among these creatures. And if your baby shrimps live in the same tank as adults, probably, they won’t get to have enough food.
To begin with, it’s best not to keep baby ghost shrimps together with adults because these creatures prefer infanticide. Even the mother will eat her baby shrimps rights away if given a chance.
If you cannot raise the shrimps in a separate tank which is the ideal thing to do, you have two options left.
You can either keep them in a heavily planted tank so they have better chances of survival or use a breeding box where they’ll remain safe.
Calcium And Protein-rich Food For Ghost Shrimps
As ghost shrimps have short lifespans, they mature swiftly in successive stages. To grow, they’ll molt and get rid of the old exoskeleton and develop a new one. They need to consume calcium-dense food, which will boost the shell’s growing process. Likewise, protein is essential for overall development.
To fulfill the calcium requirement, you can mix their food with a bit of calcium powder. From what I’ve seen, many fish keepers use shells from chicken eggs and crush them into powder.
Biofilm For Baby Shrimps
In the wild, algae form a considerable part of a ghost shrimp’s diet. It’s rich in nutrients—especially protein—which can make up to 70% of the algae’s nutritional content. Thus, biofilm is a great food choice. It’s cheap, it’s readily available, and your baby shrimps will love it.
The right nutrition can profusely heighten a ghost shrimp fry’s survival rate. If you want to raise a thriving colony, you need to deliver the proper diet as well.
Add Plants For Baby Ghost Shrimps
Since there’s a pecking order among ghost shrimps, the babies can not always get their fair share of food. Adding plants to the tank is a great way to replenish the food supply so that your baby shrimps can have a go whenever they want.
I’d recommend you to go with plants that grow on the substrate because ghost shrimps tend at the base. Several fish keepers have reported that their baby ghost shrimps love to nibble on and play with Java Moss.
This aesthetically pleasing plant can also amp up any aquarium’s look. So, that’s a win-win for everyone.
I have shared everything you need to know about what to feed baby ghost shrimp. But now delve into another important topic. Let’s find out who’ll eat baby ghost shrimps.
Who Eats Baby Ghost Shrimps?
Ghost shrimps are feeder shrimps and make good snacks for most aquarium fish. Thus, naturally, baby ghost shrimps do too. Most omnivore and carnivore fish will readily gobble up ghost shrimp fry. To name a few, angelfish, bettas, guppies, mollies, Oscars, and angelfish will eat baby ghost shrimps.
Adding more to their woes, even adult ghost shrimps will eat the fry of their species. This practice is known as infanticide and is quite common in the aquatic world.
Thus, if you’re looking to build a ghost shrimp colony, it’s imperative to keep the baby ghost shrimps far and safe from predators.
For this, you have three options:
- Keep baby ghost shrimps in a separate tank
- Use a breeding box within the tank
- Add several hiding places and plants in the tank
Conclusion: What To Feed Baby Ghost Shrimp
In this article, I’ve shared everything I know about feeding baby ghost shrimps. And I hope that you found it helpful.
To sum it up, you can feed baby ghost shrimps anything you would provide an adult. It can be algae, pellets, flakes, larvae, fruits, veggies—anything. Crumble down the food into smaller bits, so they fit into a baby ghost shrimp’s extremely tiny mouth.
It’s best if you give your baby shrimps food rich in nutrients like calcium and protein that help them grow fast and better.
And don’t forget to consider the five factors to consider when feeding baby ghost shrimps that I shared above to avoid making rookie mistakes!
Relevant Readings:
Will Ghost Shrimp Eat Fry? Are They Cannibal?