Shrimp Tank Chemistry

[Lds760]

Just started my Shrimp tank (Cherry).  I cycled it first with a couple Comets, removed before adding shrimp. I drip-acclimated the shrimp.
 

Questions:  

(1) I started with 10. 2 have died.  Is it normal to lose a few? The others aren’t too active - just sitting on the driftwood, though they seem to be eating biofilm.

(2) Water Chemistry, Ideal  (per Flip Aquatics).

pH:  6-7 Ideal / 7.8 Actual

Ammonia: 0 Ideal / 0 Actual

Nitrite: 0 Ideal / 0 Actual

Nitrate: <20 Ideal / 5 Actual

KH: 2-8 Ideal / 7.5 Actual 

GH:  7-15 Ideal / 18 Actual

TDS: 180-400 Ideal /  485 Actual

Temp: 68-72  / 72.4 Actual  (no heater in tank)

So, GH and TDS are a little high. Should I be concerned? How do I bring it down? Should I be concerned about the pH?  Am I over-analyzing & just let it work itself out?

I have fed Rapashy - no interest.

Thanks.

 

 

[Patrick_G]

 One piece of advice that I hear over and over is to wait until the  tank has time to build up a layer of biofilm. That provides some natural food for them to graze on. A newly cycled tank probably need a little more time. Cory recommends waiting until you can see algae in the surfaces. 
I can’t comment on the high GH and PH since I have soft acidic water. I actually have to add something (crushed coral or Seachem Equilibrium) to raise my GH and stabilize my PH. 

[lefty o]

shrimp definately like a muture tank.

[laritheloud]

Likely your parameters are fine. If you mail-ordered and drip acclimated your shrimp, I suspect it's mostly the lack of maturity in the tank. Your parameters should be totally fine for cherry shrimp, they're a super hardy species and do well in harder water (and I have an alkaline ph at 8 to 8.2 and they do well, to give you a comparison).

If you want to try enriching their diets in this tank, I'd try some biofilm-building foods like GlasGarten Bacter AE and other shrimp foods they sell while your tank is seasoning. Shrimp King has some pelleted food for shrimp that mine go nuts for, too. Hikari Crab Cuisine or Shrimp Cuisine also works. 

[Fishy101]

I agree with everyone that your parameters seem fine. I have had my fair share of taking care over shrimp overtime and they can be wonderful. When I first started out my tank there were not enough plants and they turned a palish color and did not do too well. I have gone through some different ones, I am actually currently housing a few Blue Jelly Shrimp in what is considered a moderate to heavily planted tank, I say moderate because most of the plants lie on the bottom leaving the upper range more exposed (not that that matters for them😁). I even have fish in there with them they are very active and I find that having a wide variety and lots of plants let’s them feel more secure.

 

In addition, I will feed my fish the Easy Fry food sold here and when some of it sinks and then find it they will quickly eat, I also feed some other foods and they will eat what sinks. But if you don’t have fish I would suggest finding a shrimp specific food or something that will for sure sink: I am currently using some of the Fluval bug bites bottom food and going to be trying their shrimp food soon. 

Forgot to add that in addition to the plants and food I fine they do best with a mature tank like others said.

[Struggle]

Your parameters are good to go and yes you can lose a few shrimp sometimes. As far as food goes they’ll eat just about anything from shrimp pellets, flake, food frozen food, etc. if you have a lot of biofilm, algae, etc. in the tank for them to forage on they may not eat though. Shrimp tend to like stability so just do your best to keep the parameters stable.