No luck with shrimp
 

Whats the secret to keeping shrimp alive in a tank? The first time I bought a cleaner shrimp, it died less than a day after it was put into the tank. The shrimp was drip accimilated for 1.5 hours. This time, I decided to stick to a longer drip period of 3 hours. The shrimp was dead in the bucket before I even put it into the tank. The two peppermint shrimp seem to be ok, but time will tell. My drip consisted of two-three drips every second or so. FYI, the bucket is completely clean. Its used only for my salt tank, I've accimilated other things in this bucket before.. fish, snails, crabs, etc. All of which are still alive and doing quite well.

-Rich

when I first got my cleaner I hade two die before I finally got one to live. My problem was my salinity was very different from the lfs. I adjusted mine accordingly and no problems since.HTH

Yes, I would also like to know the secret....I do think that Peppermint shrimps are much hardier than Cleaners though.

I acclimated my 2 shrimp by floating them to even out temperature.
Then added 3/4 cup of tank water to the bag. 20 minutes later I added another 3/4 cup of tank water. 20 minutes later I ploped them in the tank.

Both are vibrant and seem quite happy with the new surroundings. I even had both of them try to jump on my hand as I was moving frags around tonight. :cool:

Knock on wood...

My first cleaner was somewhat active. It moved around a bit, chased food when I dropped some into the tank, then it just died. With this second one, I saw it coming. 30 minutes into the drip, it flipped upside down and started twitching and moved around a little bit. 30 minutes later it was dead.

-Rich

I've been lucky and not ever lost a cleaner yet. (Knock on wood)

I think it might be luck of the draw because I acclimate the same as I would with a fish.
(I know it's not right, but I do.)

Re: No luck with shrimp
 

Cleaner shrimp have a high mortality rate during shipping if they do not have something in the bag to hold onto, such as a piece of rubble. During acclimation, I would think the same would be true. They just have to have something to hold onto or they become very stressed.

Even when I bought cleaner shrimp from the basement guy, waaaaay long ago, he would put a 1/2 square of plastic mesh stuff for the shrimp to hold onto just for the trip home. When I recently bought shrimp from AI, they put a bit of rubble in the bag.

That's very interesting. I never heard that before.

i guess ive been lucky, i had 4 shrimp in my last setup. i just floated the bag for 20min, scopped them out with my hand and chucked them in. when i moved they went into a bucket with the fish and sat there for a few hours, no problems.

Oh, I forgot to add, I put in a small clump of chaeto into the bucket to give the critters a place to hide. The bags didn't have anything inside of them for the shrimp to hold on to though :frown: .

-Rich

The only time I've had bad luck with inverts has been if they are pretty new (days) off a trans shipment. Variety of stresses and quite possibly an inability to purge wastes built up during shipping could certainly be responsible. The best way to buy inverts is also the best way to buy fish.. Like it? Come back and buy it in a week. Sometimes practicality doesn't always allow this, but many stores will be willing to hold one for you if it's a brand new shipment.

If anyone else has any problems with the shrimp from the Edmonton group order, please let me know.

Shrimp
 

I have found cleaner shrimp do not tolerate drastic salinity changes. I have housed a few in the past and found direct addition to the aquarium had little to no effect on them as long as the salinity of the store water is close to your aquarium salinity. Also temperature of the water comes into play here. I would also float the bag for at least half an hour before addition.

Stan

I have never had a problem with cleaner's. I do alway's try to match not only salinity and temp but also Alk, Ca and Ph.
Could be a bad or stressed shipment :frown: