Are Ghost Shrimp similar to Black Widow Spiders?

[fjolliff]

Our Ghost Shrimp (Luffy) has a belly full of eggs. That's great, I thought. Then we went searching for the daddy (Zoro) only to find his headless corpse, and his head not too far away...

So the question is... Do female ghost shrimp eat the males after they mate? Or does she have to eat the male in order to become pregnant?

Also, will it be ok to let the neon tetras eat the spawn? Or should we separate Luffy for now?
How do we even care for Ghost Shrimp babies??

Thanks...

[madagascariensis]

No, ghost shrimp don't do that. Maybe the male died somewhere after mating, or maybe it only is a molt. The tetras will enjoy the spawn, if that is what you mean, but chances of raising baby shrimp are small. Unlike the small colorful neocaridina species, which give borth to miniature versions of adults,ghost shrimp, like Amano shrimp, give birth to microscopic larvae which float around in the water column, whe they, in aquaria at least, will starve or get sucked into the filter.

[fjolliff]

Thanks a lot madagascariensis. I called PetCo just a few minutes ago and got a foreign woman who I couldn't understand. All the info that I got was to watch the pregnant shrimp until she gives birth and then to clean the filter afterwards... Not very good customer service.
So, thanks for the detailed reply, you've helped more than our local store! Though I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not considering that the phone representative didn't know anything... I mean it as a compliment though.

[talldutchie]

t was actually pretty good advice. Larvae end up on the filter.

[KevinVA]

PetCo employees aren't experts in breeding shrimp or anything, for that matter. They sell pets and their accessories/food. It's better to check reputable sources on the net. While it would be nice if our local pet stores had resident experts in the field, that's usually never the case. Sometimes you get lucky, though. ;P

[fjolliff]

Our petco has an aquatics specialist, but he deals with them generally. He knows a little about every one.

The male shrimp did show up a few hours later. He was hiding in something. It's funny now because he tries to chase the female around sometimes and gets the cold shoulder. I imagine her telling him to go sleep on the couch or something. He still makes the neons back off if they harass her (just swim too close) and it's really cute.