Ghost Shrimp?

Holokai

Holokai

DIY Lite
So, as you can tell from my info, I live in Hawaii, which has some strict regs regarding Aquariums. One of the more interesting thigns we are allowed to have are Sea Horses. So I've been looking into this a bit, talking to local reefers, and LFSs that have nice quality SH tanks.

Almost all of them out here feed the horses ghost shrimp. They SH actually HUNT the shrimp. it's the most amazing thing I've ever seen, horses herding shrimp into a cave or corner. They'll drop large amounts of them into the tank, and the SHs will just hunt them and eat them for a week or so.

Anyhow, since I've been reading up in this forum for a few hours here, and since the search feature is dissabled (someday, I will become a premium member!) I was wondering why I'v enot heard mention of people feeding their horses ghost shrimp.

The obvious answer I can think of is lack of quality control in the ghost shrimp stock (i.e. diseased shrimp) but I was wondering if there's another reason.

Thanks!
- Chris
 
Most of us have horses trained onto frozen foods. It's much easier (and cheaper) to thaw out a cube of mysis shrimp and feed than it is to culture and/or purchase ghost shrimp.

Tom
 
Ghost shrimp are great foods but more expensive then forzen mysis. We are talking hundreds if not close to a thousand dollars more per year, per horse.

If you are going to use ghost shrimp I would use fresh water so they do not carry parasites that will infect the horses.

I kept my WC reidi alive on ghosts for 5.5 years before I lost him.

JME
 
I don't know how much ghost shrimp cost in Hawaii, but here in landlocked Oklahoma, they are .26 per shrimp, minimum.

My adult reidi ate 6 per day, every day. That's $1.56 per day, per horse. I had 6 reidi in the same tank. That's 36 shrimp per day, costing $9.36 per day, without tax.

I tried buying boxloads of shrimp, at a discounted price per thousand. Now I had a tank set up for seahorses, and 2-3 set up for shrimp. If they would arrive alive (no guarantee, most didn't) I could only feed approx 1/3 to the horses. The rest were too big, died before I could feed them, or were cannibalized.

I will have to say that while I was feeding ghosts, my horses were more active, seemed healthier, and spent the day hunting for strays, but the costs were prohibitive. Now I only feed ghosts as a treat.
 
8 ghost shrimps for a dollar. I feed them every other day and the days that i don't they hunt for pods in the tank. Seems to work for now I've had them for about 3 months now.
 
I forgot about cost. Silly of me. I don't know how much they run here, but perhaps using them as a treat is the better route to go. And I'll make sure they are freshwater shrimps.
Thanks for the replies, folks.
- Chris
 
I have been feeding ghosts to my horses for over a year, and they love it.

man the prices are crazy for some of you guys, I get 1,000 ghost for $55 every week.

Hey Chris, you should learn how/where to catch them and save some money while having fun

good luck

Jose
 
Hey seamonkey2. Where do you buy yours? 1000 ghost is so cheap. Please let us all know I wouldn't mind paying just 55 for 1000 shrimps.
 
Ha ha, i always get asked that!! Reprographics is a fancy name for Pre Press, it's one of the first steps in getting things printed! A bit of graphic design, image preparation, imposeing jobs, sign writing (in my case!), plate making etc!
 
hey isseym328 I got the shrimp from a local guy who goes to Corpus christy and gets them there from the ocean every week, he sell the local LFS their shrimp, so I buy the same amount....ok sometimes more....that the stores buy so I can get the same price

thats why i suggested for Holokai to learn to get them free from the local watering hole LOL

Jose
 
seamonkey2.... one of the differences in cost is you are using saltwater shrimp, whereas others are using freshwater ghost shrimp because they are safer (no chance of introducing parasites/pathogens).

Tom
 
$55 for 1000 fresh water ghosts is not bad. Could last you a month or so if you have a pair of horses. (Die off, canabalism)

Wait how much is mysis again?

Feeding WC slat water ghosts is very dangerous IMO. YOu could catch and treat with an anti parasitic, but I would not feed my horse slat water shrimp. It defeats the purpose of getting CB. You are making your horse a WC every time you feed.
 
I got WC's so I wouldn't mind feeding them WC shrimp. I wonder if there's any place in California where I can catch them by hand....
 
That statement makes little sense to me. Did you treat yor WC seahorses for parasites? FW dip, prazipro, fenbendazole?

Feeding WC Salt water shrimp is asking for the seahorses to carry parasites, bith internal and external.

It does not go well with longterm succsessful keeping IMO.
 
So you're saying WC seahorses don't live too long in the wild? I'm assuming if they eat wild anything in the wild there's a chance for parasites and diseases.

And no did not treat them. but I guess i got lucky since I know many WC succumb to infections in the tank.
 
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