My poor shrimp...

[jkh772]

Greetings- I am new to trying to raise shrimp- This is my second attempt to start a colony, but I'm still seeing a bit of die off so want to get some advice:

Tank: several-month seasoned 10g, planted and a couple of small/adolescent guppies. gravel substrate, chalia wood and indian almond leaf in for a few weeks. Plenty of algae.  Very hard water, pH mid 7s, undetectable ammonia/nitrites/nitrates. 

1st attempt: 12 cherry red shrimp from LFS. Did not drip acclimate- lost most pretty quick  but amazingly 2 survived and are doing well going on 2 months- they look nice and healthy!

2nd attempt: 20 cherry shrimp from aqua huna. Arrived within 48hr of order (not too hot/cold out during transit). Let box open for a few hours at room temperature. Drip acclimated over 2 hours. I noticed by the end of the 2 hours many of them were moving very slowly, or doing alot of backward jumping. Moved them to the tank--> I've already lost 4 in the first 24 hrs.  The rest seem to be swimming and eating ok.  

- Is it common to lose so many when they come in the mail? They looked pretty good out of the box. 

-Any other tips for acclimation to improve survival? Drip over longer period? I got very nervous when i saw how poorly they were moving in the acclimating bucket.  I tried to follow all the tips I could find online.....

Thanks! Any help much appreciated!

 

 

 

[Chad]

Your acclimation method seems right on to me. I had several die when I first added my cherry shrimp. I chalk it up to water parameters being different and stress. Still, enough did survive and took hold. Three and a half years later I have more than I know what do with and they’re the hardiest things in my tank. My advice, stay positive and keep up the good work. You got this. 

Sorry, some specifics. I mail ordered a dozen, I think I lost half. Mail ordered 10 more. Seemed like only 3 survived since I had a well planted tank already and I hardly ever saw them for the first couple months. But I now know they were there and multiplying fast.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I’d say that from an online retailer I’d expect these kinds of loses. Locally I’d be shocked. In general the younger the shrimp the better they adapt. Sometimes they sell you old shrimp and they can’t cope with another set of parameters. 

Several months of seasoning the tank could mean 1-2months could be 4 months. I would say that 3 months is minimum to build up enough biofilms and algae’s. 

Food should be left less than 12 hours. Don’t let rotting food be the end of your colony. In general, underfed is better than over. Gel foods like Repashy work well. 
 

Do your know your tds, gH and kH? As you Move forward that could be helpful as you move through your shrimp keeping and try to refine things. 

I hope this time is the one for you. My own journey was after a long break from the hobby my wife purchased me a Fluval Flex 15 and I just couldn’t keep the cherry neos alive. Turned out I had babies in the filtration section but I did lose quite a few adults as the tank seasoned. At 6-12 months it finally became mature enough for a good colony of shrimp. Honestly my most successful setups have been more leave it and forget it setups - 20 g tub with moss, duckweed and guppy grass did better than my 20 g long that was “ideal.” Or the tank is so big it just can’t fail - my 60 g Orange Sakura tank is like that with 100s of neos. Good Luck and let us know how we can help. 

[jkh772]

Thanks @Beardedbillygoat1975and @Chad those are good tips and also very encouraging. I'm still new to shrimp. For fish I'm not used to losing any. The tank is going on month 5 and has been very stable w/ parameters.  

- GH is 300+ (very hard from the tap)

- kH is 40-80. I have some crushed coral I added a month ago since it was low. kH out of the tap is very high. 

The rest of the group on day 3 so far look very healthy- swimming around and eating off the glass and the plants so I am hopeful I have enough for the colony to start. 

Thanks!

 

[Chad]

You're very welcome @jkh772. I'm not there, so I can't say for sure, but it sounds like your colony is going along just great. Those are great signs all is well. I can't chime in on parameters, it's just not my strong suit other than ammonia and nitrites bad, nitrates ok-meh, chlorine the worst. But my advice is to keep things as simple as possible. This advice piggybacks onto the perfect advice @Beardedbillygoat1975 just gave. Leave it alone as much as possible. I have a long history of the opposite. Cleaned too much, fed too much, medicated too much, too many fish, too many plants... it took me so long to slow down and just let the tank grow into and adjust itself. Once I did, things got so easy and successful. Enjoy!

[Tony s]

On 3/9/2024 at 9:48 AM, jkh772 said:

- GH is 300+ (very hard from the tap)

- kH is 40-80. I have some crushed coral I added a month ago since it was low. kH out of the tap is very high

These are pretty decent numbers for neocaradina, they will appreciate the amount of calcium in it. Higher kh would be better. But this works. Will work well for most of your fish as well. Be cautious about wild caught, soft water fish. Everything else should be good. 
 

The thing that most people forget, the guides you see for ph kh gh ranges are for wild caught animals. Most tank raised or farm raised animals are used to much harder water. Especially farm raised animals. 
 

[Little Guys]

I am by no means an expert.  I have added cherry shrimp 3 times and had die off the first 2 times.  The third time I did the drip overnight and have no die off.  That is what worked for me.

[jkh772]

Quick update: good news is no further losses after the first 48 hrs that i can see, and I see them swimming and eating the biofilm on the plants/tank.  Next time I may try a slower drip. thx everyone for the input!

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/8/2024 at 7:48 PM, jkh772 said:

Tank: several-month seasoned 10g, planted and a couple of small/adolescent guppies.

It's just a note.  Having those guppies in there will absolutely change how the shrimp behave.  It's best if you can move them out of the tank for a little while, let the shrimp populate, and then try to introduce in some fish.
 

On 3/8/2024 at 7:48 PM, jkh772 said:

1st attempt: 12 cherry red shrimp from LFS. Did not drip acclimate- lost most pretty quick  but amazingly 2 survived and are doing well going on 2 months- they look nice and healthy!

2nd attempt: 20 cherry shrimp from aqua huna. Arrived within 48hr of order (not too hot/cold out during transit). Let box open for a few hours at room temperature. Drip acclimated over 2 hours. I noticed by the end of the 2 hours many of them were moving very slowly, or doing alot of backward jumping. Moved them to the tank--> I've already lost 4 in the first 24 hrs.  The rest seem to be swimming and eating ok.  

I would recommend starting with this and just for sanity sake check it against how you are specifically acclimating your shrimp.
 

One of the things people use is time.  2 hours, etc.  But the main thing to keep in mind is water volume.  Slowly adjusting the GH/KH to stable is the key.  I use the above method where you double or triple the water volume, then you drain off as much water as you can, repeat that process.  (double/triple the water volume again)
 

On 3/13/2024 at 9:16 PM, Little Guys said:

I am by no means an expert.  I have added cherry shrimp 3 times and had die off the first 2 times.  The third time I did the drip overnight and have no die off.  That is what worked for me.

I've seen one person, they drip for 2 days.  I've acclimated shrimp a ton, sensitive fish as well using the same method.  The biggest thing I run into is an issue of keeping the drip acclimation chamber up to temp.
 

On 3/9/2024 at 6:48 AM, jkh772 said:

- GH is 300+ (very hard from the tap)

- kH is 40-80. I have some crushed coral I added a month ago since it was low. kH out of the tap is very high. 

Keywords here "out of the tap is very high".  Given my own experience, this could shed some light.

Alright so, when you get shrimp in, ignoring any DOA issues, I would assume for most deaths to occur either in the first 24 hours or the first ~2 months.  Essentially, you are trying to reduce stress and reduce shock as much as possible.  Any sort of travel+acclimation could lead towards stress, which leads to a molt.  That in turn leads to a situation where the shrimp themselves are vulnerable and stressed, which leads to death.

I would be very interested to see the tank itself and your setup.  Is there a feeding dish?  What sort of foods are you using once the shrimp arrive?  Have they been eating aggressively for you on something like an algae wafer/shrimp pellet or do they basically just graze on surfaces?

Given that the tank has fish in there, they were traveling, getting the shrimp acclimated is the first hurdle, but getting them eating is going to be critical.

Because of the gravel substrate, I recommend using a feeding tube and feeding dish.
 

 

[jkh772]

Thanks @nabokovfan87 those are some helpful tips.   I do not have a feeding dish. I've seen some in videos but i'm not very familiar with them or the feeding tube.  Thes shrimp see active eating on the glass and the plants.  I have amazon frogbit and the roots are pretty long- I see the shrimp hiding/eating in the roots a lot. I've purchased some shrimp food (fluval shrimp granules) but they are very messy and i didn't see the shrimp eating it before (with my first batch of shrimp).  I've also tried some algae wafers but the shrimp also didn't seem interested. I was thinking they are still acclimating to the tank and I was going to try them again later. 

[nabokovfan87]

Sounds good @jkh772.  Be sure to check out the videos and let us know if you need anything!