Will Mollies Eat Ghost Shrimp?

Last Updated on June 27, 2022 by cmoarz

Wondering if you can keep your mollies and ghost shrimp together in the same aquarium without any issues? Well, there’s good news and bad news. The answer is yes, You can keep them together, the bad news is sometimes a molly will eat your ghost shrimp.

So how can you keep them together without any casualties?

For the most part, mollies and ghost shrimp can be kept together without any problems.

However, there may be the occasional molly that will decide to snack on a ghost shrimp.

This is especially true for very small ghost shrimp or especially large mollies.

If you are worried about your ghost shrimp being eaten, you can try feeding your mollies more often or giving the shrimp more hiding places in the aquarium.

Some species of molly are much more likely to eat ghost shrimp than others.

For example, the sailfin molly is known to be particularly aggressive towards smaller shrimp.

If you are keeping this species of molly, it is best to avoid keeping any ghost shrimp with them.

Other mollies may just nip at the ghost shrimp on occasion. It’s not uncommon to see your ghost shrimp is missing a leg or two.

As long as the shrimp are still able to get around and find food, they will be fine and the leg will grow back without much fuss.

Give them a big tank

Making sure your tank is large enough is important when keeping any type of fish together.

This is especially true when keeping mollies and ghost shrimp together.

Mollies can grow to be quite large, up to 4 inches in some cases.

Ghost shrimp, on the other hand, only grow to be about an inch or so in size.

So it’s easier to keep your shrimp safe by providing enough space for both species in the tank.

This way the mollies keep to themselves in the middle and top column while the shrimp stay at the bottom to the mid column.

Add a lot of plants

Plants are super important in this setup.

Thick growth can give your shrimp a ton of extra hiding places that your mollies won’t be able to get to.

You can also use plants to block off certain areas of the tank so your shrimp have a safe place to go.

Mollies are known to uproot plants from time to time, so make sure you choose plants that can withstand a little bit of abuse.

Some good options include java fern, hornwort, and guppy grass.

Ghost shrimp as feeder shrimp for mollies

Ghost shrimp also make great live feeders for mollies.

If you are looking to fatten up your mollies or want to provide them with a little extra protein, ghost shrimp are a good option.

Just keep in mind that if you start feeding your mollies live shrimp now, you won’t be able to have both in the tank at the same time down the road.

The mollies will always see the ghost shrimp as a snack rather than a tank mate.

So if you are planning on keeping both species together in the long term, it’s best to avoid using ghost shrimp as feeders.