Home » Community » Assist I ordered freshwater shrimp on-line just lately, they got here in completely superb however as soon as I acclimated them with water…
Assist I ordered freshwater shrimp on-line just lately, they got here in completely superb however as soon as I acclimated them with water…
I have a shrimp tank wher I keep a colony of roughly 100 RCS, they’ve been breeding and probably ont heir 4th-5th generation already. Overall pretty happy.
I mixed several lnes from different vendors as I didn’t too much inbreeding over time, so I get a lot of very light red, brown or plain transparent shrimp over time. Every now and then I catch the brown/transparent looking ones for culling.
I have a patio pond, really just a large bucket about 100-150 liters of water with lotus, papyrus, floating plants and some paradise fish that live outside year-round (paradise fish are very cold resistant, they’ve been thriving for a couple of years and I have tons of babies I don’t know what to do with).
So I just grab the shrimp and throw them into the patio pond to become fish food.
Now, the patio pond reaches probably 5° C at night, it has absolutely no technology of any kind, and honestly is not that well maintained, it’s got some plants, the water is clear but it’s got algae going on in there too. It’s by no means a perfect environment of any kind. So you’d figure even if they’re not eaten, the shrimp wouldn’t last long there, right?
Wrong.
Anytime I pull plants out for any reason a couple of shrimp come tangled in the roots and oh boy, they’re doing well. They’re huge, larger than the ones on my dedicated tank. They also come a deep crimson red (which I never cull, they seem to be getting their color after they get in the bucket) and generally look just amazing.
Honestly I have no idea why they do better at that environment than on a perfectly cared for dedicated tank, but I’m sure that they don’t mind being just droppped on the water without any type of acclimation, at least mine don’t.
Just to say that maybe we don’t understand shrimp that well after all.
So, I dealt with this issue for years. I finally have what I consider a stable 5g with some neos in it. I’ve noticed the times I have a die-off (1 a day for more than 1 day in a row), I’ve added more minerals to the water, and it’s helped. Since the shrimps absorb the minerals from the water, adding many at once can cause a quick depletion of those levels, and without them, the shrimps have trouble (especially with molting). I have a bottle of Shrimp Essentials that I add with my distilled water during water changes, but if I go more than a couple weeks between water changes I’ll dose 2-5ml of the Shrimp Essentials and everyone seems happy and healthy!
Haven’t seen it said yet, but if you are keeping shrimp you’ll need to know water conditions such as ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate to keep track of your nitrogen cycle. But you’ll also need to know GH levels (water hardness) and pH. There are at home test kits for these that you should invest in. Different shrimp have different GH and pH needs and will not survive when there are big changes in those parameters or if they are in the wrong parameters for an extended time. So if you are using deionized water, in theory your GH will be 0 and your pH will probably be below 7. If you get a remineralizer to add to the water which it sounds like you will do, you’ll need to know what the ideal pH and GH are for the species of shrimp you have, and adjust the remineralizer until you reach those levels. Not all freshwater shrimp have the same needs. Usually they are either neocaridina or caridina shrimp, and both need different parameters, so keep that in mind. Good luck and sorry about the shrimp
You will need to remineralize if you use DI water but please check your tap water and see if the parameters (pH, kh, and gh) are suitable so you can just use that instead.
Is that eco complete substrate? I received some toxic Eco Complete the first time I tried it. I first tried shrimp and they died off one by one just like that. Then I tried Rasboras and even a Betta and they all wouldn’t live more than a month in that particular tank. All I did was replace the Eco complete substrate with an aquarium soil and now I have a thriving shrimp community.
Not sure what the deal was with the Eco Complete, but I’ll never use it again. Sticking to pure gravel or soil pellets (ADA Amazonia/ Fluval Stratum). I have pure gravel in my larger tank and my overflow shimps are doing excellent in there.
ogee_66 
Hello everyone I appreciate your feedback I just purchased my shrimpmineral off Amazon
What kind of water are you using? Tap water? Copper pipes?
I have a shrimp tank wher I keep a colony of roughly 100 RCS, they’ve been breeding and probably ont heir 4th-5th generation already. Overall pretty happy.
I mixed several lnes from different vendors as I didn’t too much inbreeding over time, so I get a lot of very light red, brown or plain transparent shrimp over time. Every now and then I catch the brown/transparent looking ones for culling.
I have a patio pond, really just a large bucket about 100-150 liters of water with lotus, papyrus, floating plants and some paradise fish that live outside year-round (paradise fish are very cold resistant, they’ve been thriving for a couple of years and I have tons of babies I don’t know what to do with).
So I just grab the shrimp and throw them into the patio pond to become fish food.
Now, the patio pond reaches probably 5° C at night, it has absolutely no technology of any kind, and honestly is not that well maintained, it’s got some plants, the water is clear but it’s got algae going on in there too. It’s by no means a perfect environment of any kind. So you’d figure even if they’re not eaten, the shrimp wouldn’t last long there, right?
Wrong.
Anytime I pull plants out for any reason a couple of shrimp come tangled in the roots and oh boy, they’re doing well. They’re huge, larger than the ones on my dedicated tank. They also come a deep crimson red (which I never cull, they seem to be getting their color after they get in the bucket) and generally look just amazing.
Honestly I have no idea why they do better at that environment than on a perfectly cared for dedicated tank, but I’m sure that they don’t mind being just droppped on the water without any type of acclimation, at least mine don’t.
Just to say that maybe we don’t understand shrimp that well after all.
Use salty shrimp gh/kh if you’re using DI water, you’re lacking minerals in the tank for them to molt
And grow properly.
So, I dealt with this issue for years. I finally have what I consider a stable 5g with some neos in it. I’ve noticed the times I have a die-off (1 a day for more than 1 day in a row), I’ve added more minerals to the water, and it’s helped. Since the shrimps absorb the minerals from the water, adding many at once can cause a quick depletion of those levels, and without them, the shrimps have trouble (especially with molting). I have a bottle of Shrimp Essentials that I add with my distilled water during water changes, but if I go more than a couple weeks between water changes I’ll dose 2-5ml of the Shrimp Essentials and everyone seems happy and healthy!
What are the water parameters? Need to know to help identify issues.
Did you cycle the tank?
Haven’t seen it said yet, but if you are keeping shrimp you’ll need to know water conditions such as ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate to keep track of your nitrogen cycle. But you’ll also need to know GH levels (water hardness) and pH. There are at home test kits for these that you should invest in. Different shrimp have different GH and pH needs and will not survive when there are big changes in those parameters or if they are in the wrong parameters for an extended time. So if you are using deionized water, in theory your GH will be 0 and your pH will probably be below 7. If you get a remineralizer to add to the water which it sounds like you will do, you’ll need to know what the ideal pH and GH are for the species of shrimp you have, and adjust the remineralizer until you reach those levels. Not all freshwater shrimp have the same needs. Usually they are either neocaridina or caridina shrimp, and both need different parameters, so keep that in mind. Good luck and sorry about the shrimp
If they are dying off and Params are good then you did not acclimate properly. Shrimp are more sensitive and typically require longer acclamation
either ammonia poisoning during delivery, or your water issue
what’s the temperature of the water they come in v the water you acclimate them to?
Often times black blasting sand like what is shown in the image has copper in it and will always kill shrimp over a few days.
Shrimp are hit and miss. Took me 3 different batches across 3 different breeders before I had shrimp that didn’t die.
Now they keep breeding and thriving.
Some shrimp are just super weak, or the water parameters they come from are super different and they just can’t adjust.
You will need to remineralize if you use DI water but please check your tap water and see if the parameters (pH, kh, and gh) are suitable so you can just use that instead.
Is that eco complete substrate? I received some toxic Eco Complete the first time I tried it. I first tried shrimp and they died off one by one just like that. Then I tried Rasboras and even a Betta and they all wouldn’t live more than a month in that particular tank. All I did was replace the Eco complete substrate with an aquarium soil and now I have a thriving shrimp community.
Not sure what the deal was with the Eco Complete, but I’ll never use it again. Sticking to pure gravel or soil pellets (ADA Amazonia/ Fluval Stratum). I have pure gravel in my larger tank and my overflow shimps are doing excellent in there.
If they are dying off and Params are good then you did not acclimate properly. Shrimp are more sensitive and typically require longer acclamation
Throw some java moss in there.