My Ghost Shrimps are mean

[missketie]

OMG! I got 2 ghost shrimps last week to keep my Betta company and the next day I saw my Betta's fin was missing a good chunk. I thought maybe he was just a little excited that there were 2 other creatures in his tank that he started tailbiting. But then, I saw one of the shrimp clinging to my Betta's fins while the fish was trying to swim and it was nipping on his tail.

I feel so bad for my Betta, he was a nice half-moon and now his fins are all tattered up. He looks like he'd been through a blender or something. The other shrimp wasn't too bad, he was scared of my Betta and always hides when my Betta swims by. But the other one wasn't scared at all. I'm still bringing them both back though.

It was a horrible idea to get them. I've put them in the little cup that my Betta came in and I'm bringing them back to Petsmart tomorrow. My poor fishy. I hope it doesn't take too long for his fins to heal. I'll post pictures of my Betta tomorrow.

[Gracie8890]

Aww poor guy.i had an adf do that to my betta. It really kinda depends on the animal some people can have tank mates with their betta with no problems while others like us have little monsters as tank mates!

[aokashi]

ghost shrimps do not nip. you probably got a macrobrachium :( these will grow large and potentially kill your fish

[redchigh]

I've had ghost shrimps that tried to eat guppy fry... I could see them going after a CT's rays...

[Kevron56]

I was recently contiplating getting a ghost shrimp or two for the same reason, but at my LFS the minimum amount to purchase is 10! I opted not to get them and thank goodness I didn't! I'm sorry your Betta got beat up =(

[OhNoLenX]

Strange, I have 8 or 9 Ghost shrimp and they don't go near any of my fish... quiet the opposite really as they usually flee.

[paloverde]

Have kept 3 ghost shrimp with my Betta for over a year all live peaceably in a 10 gal planted tank. A few weeks ago I bought 3 more " ghost shrimp " quarantined them in a 1.5 gal & observed that one of them looked a bit different than all the others,figured that it was nothing to bother with. What a stupid move on my part, 3 days ago I put the new shrimp in the tank and the different looking shrimp acted very bold and was following the betta and grabbed on to his tail fin poor betta was darting about trying to dislodge that mutant shrimp. The mutant shrimp was not a true ghost shrimp, don't know how it got mixed up with the ghost shrimp. The mutant shrimp no longer resides at my home.

[OrangeAugust]

Originally Posted by paloverde

The mutant shrimp no longer resides at my home.

LOL

Yeah, there are Macrobachium shrimp that look like ghost shrimp but are larger and more aggressive.
I was in Petco and they had a tank with shrimp they called "Ghost Shrimp", but these things were like 3 inches long and one of them was holding onto a dead fish larger than itself and eating it. I'm sure those were probably Macrobachiums. I would not put those with my betta.
The only remaining ghost shrimp that I have now (the other 2 died of "natural causes- not because my betta ate them) is still small, but I think it's the normal size of an adult ghost shrimp (about an inch). Totally docile. I think he hides most of the time. I don't see him for up to a week at a time sometimes. From what I've seen he's never really had an encounter with my betta until a couple of days ago when the shrimp was swimming up near the top, and my betta caught a glimpse of him, so he just started swimming over to investigate, but he freaked out the shrimp and you know how fast they move as if they teleport to the other side of the tank. He did that and Fishie didn't try to go after him or anything.
so yeah, I don't think your shrimp are true ghost shrimp.

[ItsKourtneyYoC8]

You should get an apple snail! I bet you both will love him!