How to add supershrimp

[crittersni]

Help me, please.

I had 9 supershrimp, created a larger bowl (3.5 gallons of brackish water bought from a reef and reptile store that researched the salinity before creating it for me) and bought 25 (received 26) more. I floated the bag for 3 hours to regulate temperature and then added them to my bowl. All but 6 of the 35 died.

I used some of the water and moved them into their original, small jar along with one of the artificial plants as an algae source. I rinsed and added a mineral stone. Two more died, leaving four.

I cleaned the large bowl with non-iodized salt and rinsed it very well. I bought live substrate after discussing it with the online reef store (it looks exactly like what was in the jar I'd bought originally containing the shrimp). I threw out all the cheap plants I'd bought and replaced them with better quality artificial items from PetSmart (soaked in non-iodized salt to clean, then rinsed well in distilled water). I bleached decorative glass decorations (1/3 bleach) and later added them on top of the substrate. I added another, rinsed mineral rock. I left the bowl in indirect light for 6 days. A couple of times I exchanged a baster full of water between the small bowl and the larger one to introduce their own bacteria to the larger bowl.

The water with the shrimp was becoming cloudy, my guess is that it was the artificial plant from the previous batch. I moved the 4 remaining shrimp into the large bowl 8 days ago and all 4 are still there.

My questions are:
1. How long should I wait to add more shrimp?
2. Can I add a large number (30) of shrimp all at once?
3. Other than water temperature equalization, what else should I do to safely transition the new shrimp?

I did set up another vase with substrate and the brackish water, along with a quality imitation plant at the same time I had set up the 3.5 gallon bowl. Should I use it as a quarantine tank or put them in with the others right away?

Anything else I don't know about and should be asking?

I will appreciate every response I receive. Thank you!!

I was devastated that I'd accidentally killed so many shrimp by doing the wrong things for the right reasons. Please help me do this right so I won't go through that again.

[ThisGuy]

I think your salanity was different from that the shrimps were in

[ThisGuy]

Don't use live sand or rock.

[Nellyville41]

Seems like you did a lot of things wrong. Just follow the guide on this site on how to set it up. You have to use the correct salt, no live anything, no other plants although some would disagree. Gotta let the tank cycle for like a month or two before adding the shrimps. I bought the algae and snails from here and then added those to the water and waited like 6 weeks before ordering the shrimps. The more you mess with the tank the worse it gets for the environment. As for the way you introduce it, that seems about right but again the tanks need to be set up correctly first.

[noranes]

That sounds rough!! You probably shouldn't have moved them around so often, unfortunately it tends to be safer to leave then undisturbed until you know exactly what the problem is and how to fix it with minimal disturbance. As for next time, I'd stick to 10-ish to start! And maybe pick up some snails and algae beforehand because it sounds like it may have been a lack of oxygen problem. Good luck!

[crittersni]

Thank you all for your replies.

Thisguy, how do I match the salinity when the new shrimp arrive in such a small amount of water?

Moustafa, is it possible to specify salinity for the new shrimp once I have my bowl rechecked to make certain it's still what I started with?

[i<3Opae]

You might be focusing on the wrong thing here...Salinity and fake plants are not the problem. It’s the incomplete cycling, bleach used for cleaning, table salt (?)...

[ThisGuy]

Thank you all for your replies.

Thisguy, how do I match the salinity when the new shrimp arrive in such a small amount of water?

Moustafa, is it possible to specify salinity for the new shrimp once I have my bowl rechecked to make certain it's still what I started with?

Well, you really just add some of your tank water untill it matches. Use one of those salanity measurers (forgot what it was called).

[i<3Opae]

You don't need to match salinity.

[SuperProofer]

Correct what Opae said. Just follow the instructions on this site. This is what most of us have done. Make sure you have given enough time for your tank to properly cycle. Do not use tap or bottled water. Do not use table or aquarium salt. Use reef salt. No bleach or other chemicals. No live plants or any kind of rocks that may contain metals. Use aquarium-safe products. Rinse everything really well before you put it in the tank and don't mess with it too much once it's set up. Make sure you see algae growth. Transferring the shrimp at that time should be cake. If anything, just let them adjust to the room temperature of where your tank is before you dump them. But other than that, you should be gold.

[SuperProofer]

Also, when you say "mineral stone" what do you mean and what is its purpose? I'm guessing this may also be causing some problems and should be removed.

[crittersni]

Thank you SuperProofer.

I bought SunGrow Mineral rocks from Amazon.

It says: "Provide magnesium that enhances shrimp's color - Calcium helps molting - absorb toxic chemical in water for shrimps, crayfish and snails." I thought it would neutralize any ammonia.

I followed the instructions to rinse it first (I use distilled water to rinse everything).

[SuperProofer]

To be safe, I'd probably nix IT. Opaes aren't exactly like other shrimp species and don't have the same requirements. They're not as fragile as other shrimp. But yes, you should have some source of calcium in the water. Usually regular old sea shells work just fine. Just make sure there's nothing organic on them that can decay over time. I got mine in a bag from the pet store in the fish section.

[Varanus]

There are also limestone rocks sold as aquarium decorations called "holey rocks" that will provide all the calcium the tank will ever need. Ground up coral sand can do the same. You can even use eggshells.

And yeah, to detail why matching salinity doesn't matter for these shrimp, they are adapted to environments where the salinity changes frequently and drastically. And anyway, assuming you mixed the recommended half-strength compared to sea water, it should match pretty closely the water the supershrimp arrive in.

[ThisGuy]

There are also limestone rocks sold as aquarium decorations called "holey rocks" that will provide all the calcium the tank will ever need. Ground up coral sand can do the same. You can even use eggshells.

And yeah, to detail why matching salinity doesn't matter for these shrimp, they are adapted to environments where the salinity changes frequently and drastically. And anyway, assuming you mixed the recommended half-strength compared to sea water, it should match pretty closely the water the supershrimp arrive in. Shrimp is wut?

Black coral sand?