Acclimating Amano Shrimp

[TMartins]

I will be purchasing Amano shrimp for my 10 gallon aquarium and had a question on acclimation.  All the videos I’ve watched had the schrimp outside the tank but the issue I have is the aquarium is located in the basement that is not insulated or heated and to keep the shrimp in a separate container would create a situation where there would be a 15-20 degree temperature difference.  Could I acclimate using the bag or container and drip the tank water into it while it floats in the tank water??

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 2/23/2024 at 10:37 AM, TMartins said:

Could I acclimate using the bag or container and drip the tank water into it while it floats in the tank water??

Absolutely. This is how I acclimate everything. 

[NOLANANO]

On 2/23/2024 at 11:37 AM, TMartins said:

Could I acclimate using the bag or container and drip the tank water into it while it floats in the tank water??

Just curious, how do you get the line to drip if the bag is floating? Doesn't the drip depend on gravity?  

[TMartins]

I usually “plop and drop” all my fish without any issues so when I purchased my first Amano shrimp from my LFS i plop and dropped him in but it died within 24 hours.  I learned afterwards that shrimp are more sensitive.  Luckily they only had one in stock so only that one died.

On the videos I’ve watched most of the time the shrimp are in a hanging container off the tank rim and they’re able to get the drip line going…

[AllFishNoBrakes]

You can still “drip acclimate” without a line. I use a 20ml syringe. Fill the syringe up once or twice and gently squirt it into the bag. Might not be “as good” as a true “drip acclimation”, but it’s the same principle. 

[TOtrees]

On 2/23/2024 at 1:37 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

You can still “drip acclimate” without a line. I use a 20ml syringe. Fill the syringe up once or twice and gently squirt it into the bag. Might not be “as good” as a true “drip acclimation”, but it’s the same principle. 

Agree. float a container with the shrimp in store water at the top of the tank. Over the next hour or so, gradually replace all the water in the container with tank water. You can use a syringe, a baster, a cup or whatever. If you do 10% of the container volume at a time (take out 1 cup, put same volume of tank water back in using same cup), then doing that 10x will remove pretty much all of the store water (not 100% but close). Then remove the container from the tank, pour the water and shrimps through a net (use a big one, amanos are good climbers/jumpers), and then place the shrimps in the tank without any of the store water. Repeat: do not pour the store water from the container into the tank, get rid of it. 

When you're all done, top up your tank to replace used/lost water. All this requires is time and attention (as opposed to the hands-off acclimation process your referred to above). 

[TMartins]

I was just reading on the ACO Facebook thread that once you open a fish back that was shipped that the Ammonia will spike and it’s better to plop and drop then drip acclimate the shrimp.  Would adding a couple of drops of the Seachem Prime neutralize the Ammonia and avoid the spike??