# Acclimating Shrimp



## Krishs Bettas (20 Nov 2010)

I have tryed to keep shrimp so many times, s=and failed so my guess now is that i am not acclimating them right, so my question is that is there a good method of acclimating shrimp?


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## nayr88 (21 Nov 2010)

Sorry Krish, I was sure I looked on here before for tips on how to  acclimatize shrimp, and I'm sure your started it?

What method had you been using?

I placed my shrimp into a large bowl in the water they came in with a bunch of moss. Like what was mentioned in the other thread I then used a length of soft co2 tubing with a loose knot tied in it  and got the water running down the tube into the bowl from my tank, I waited until the bowl was majority my tank water, then netted them out and placed them into the tank. Took me about half hour to acclimatize my cherries. Buying local would help a lot I would say. This was my 1st attempt and I didn't have any losses out of all 8  . 

Also are you sure your fighters  are not having shrimp cuisine? Are you dosing anything into the water column that might contain copper? I believe Atison Betta spa  contains a small amount.


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## basil (21 Nov 2010)

Krish - what kind of shrimp have you failed previously with and what are your water parameters please?


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## Krishs Bettas (21 Nov 2010)

nayr88 said:
			
		

> Sorry Krish, I was sure I looked on here before for tips on how to  acclimatize shrimp, and I'm sure your started it?
> 
> What method had you been using?
> 
> ...



Thanks for the tips, I think i did start a thread but I cant seem to find it sorry. The fighters are all in seperate tanks, the shrimps are for my planted tank. Dony think my water has any copper but i am not to sure.  :? 

Basil - I have tryed cherry and amano shrimp and I failed with them.
Water parameters are PH 7, my water is Hard - very hard, temp 25C, Amonia 0, Nirite 0 and nitrates about 0 - 10.


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## basil (21 Nov 2010)

Ph, temp, amonia and nitite sound spot on so I'm guessing that if your water is very hard, it's causing moulting issues. Basically the shrimp are becoming trapped in their own exoskeleton if they can't shed. I'd place money on this being the problem rather than acclimatising issues.

Adding boiled almond leaves [loads cheap on ebay from UK sellers] will soften the water for you and shrimp also love to eat them, but be aware that they could also drop the pH a little. Shrim will be ok with this, but not sure what else you are keeping in the planted tank. Depending on how determined you are to keep shrimp, you could go to the extreme of trying water changes using bottled mineral water or distilled water. However as a short term fix, try the almond leaves - but boil them first!

I have the exact opposite problem as my tap water has a low GH of 2, so I increase to around 6 by adding crushed cuttlefish and egg shells to avoid moulting problems.

Both Cherry and Amano are pretty tough though, but if they can't moult they will die off one by one. Sounds like you just need a small tweak to the GH, which is easy enoughto do and should sort out any problems.

Good luck!


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## nayr88 (21 Nov 2010)

Interesting basil thanks for that, I'm new to shrimp very helpful. 

I was going to order some Almond leaf but heard you can use leaves from certain trees here in the UK with the same effect, is this correct? If so wich ones? Also does the boiling stop the tannis like it would in wood, or does it simply rid the leaf of outside germs?

Thanks basil


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## basil (21 Nov 2010)

Yes, you can use leaves like oak and maple - although I've not tried them myself so not speaking from experience here! Be very careful not to pick them from areas of high pollution or near to areas that may have been sprayed off with pesticides etc though!

Yes boiling will remove almost all of the tannins and stop staining of the water. It will also soften the leaf so that the shrimps can get stuck in and eat them quicker. They are sun baked / dried and are quite hard when you buy them. Some people just soak in a bucket of water for 10 days or more before adding. This softens the leaf but allows the bacteria cultures to grow on the leaf which is great stuff for shrimplets.


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## Krishs Bettas (21 Nov 2010)

Hi Basil,

Thanks for the tips about that. Would adding Aquasoil help abit?


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## basil (21 Nov 2010)

Aquasoil will drop your pH, but not drop your GH. Wouldn't do any harm though as it would help to buffer / stabilise the pH for you.

Be aware though, Aquasoil [1 or 2] will cause an Ammonia spike after you've introduced it whilst it's leaching. Your shrimp won't appreciate being around when this happens. 

Almond leaves are a quick fix. You could try oak or maple, but not tried this myself so please don;t shout at me if they don't work! I've buy almond leaves and a few other bits from this ebayer, and she is very quick with delivery:-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/10-A-ALMOND-LEAVE ... 43a3107eba

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Mike.


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## nayr88 (21 Nov 2010)

Thanks basil all very helpful, I'm using aquasoil 1 amazonia, hand the tank running for 2 months and all settled down so I introduced a betta his now moved on and the shrimps have taken his place.

Basil what's is mineral stone? Is this something they can graze on? Or does it have effects of the water parameters also?

Cheers for the link aswell


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## frothhelmet (22 Nov 2010)

nayr88 said:
			
		

> Took me about half hour to acclimatize my cherries.



Depending on how different your new water is from the shrimp water, this acclimatization recommendation will kill your shrimp. For example, I have changed 1/2 of my water over one hour and killed 50% of my shrimp population as a result. If you want to be sure you do not kill your shrimp, the minimum acclimatization I would recommend is increasing the original shrimp water amount to 300% its prior size over 3 hours with a drip feed or adding a bit of water every 10mins, and then adding the shrimp into the tank. Be sure to monitor the shrimp water temp as you do this or add a small heater.


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## nayr88 (22 Nov 2010)

Yeah I should of said I was pushed for time, have not lost any but I hear what your saying,


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## a1Matt (22 Nov 2010)

+1 for Gerards approach of taking your time.

I look for the colour of the shrimp and whether they start pinging about to judge how long to acclimatise them for.

I've had shrimp that only took one hour to acclimatise (hardy shrimp in similar water), then at the other end of the scale I have had neocaridina sp. 'hong kong blue' that are very delicate and arrived long haul looking worse for wear... they took 4 days to acclimatise.


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## Ben M (2 Dec 2010)

hi, I'm getting my cherry shrimp soon, so i'd like to ask. how can you tell when they are ok to put in the main tank, and how much water to put into the container at a time when acclimatising them?

When they start pinging about what does that mean? is that when you can put them into the tank?

cheers


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## frothhelmet (3 Dec 2010)

You cant look at shrimp and tell they are 'ready'. But if they are pinging around you know they are not ready, in fact, they are on the verge of death and you need to stop the acclimatization until they have stopped flicking themselves and swimming madly around. This is what 'pinging' means.

In terms of how much water. Dont add more than 10 percent of the original volume at a time. Increasing this volume to 300 percent of original over three hours should be fine.


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## Ben M (3 Dec 2010)

thanks, I'll remember that.


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