new tank!-needs help

[supashrimpo]

hello! I am quite new to the supershrimp community, and I was hoping to get some help here

I got an ecosphere for a late Christmas gift, and just found out how bad it was for these little guys. So I currently have them in a small mason jar, about an 1/8 of a gallon. I have four supershrimp in there, I sure hope they survive! It currently has some sand, seashells, some small bits of lava rock, pesky hair algae, and a sea branch. I currently have supplies for a new tank, it's not much, but it is double the size of the one they have now.Will that be alright? I was wondering about whether to use tap water or purified water to rinse the tank, decor, etc. Will the shrimp be fine in such a small tank until the new one cycles? I wanted to use some of the decors from their old tank they are currently in, should I take it out now or place it once I can to transfer the shrimp? I know I can use eggshells for a calcium source, so how much is a good amount for a 1/4 gallon tank? ah sorry for the abundance of questions! I really want to give these shrimp a good place to live! any tips for keeping them ? thank you!

[Aennedry]

Hello. Glad you are wanting to do good for your shrimp. They will be fine in your little jar until the new jar is ready. I rinse my stuff in regular tap, but I will put a few drops of Prime in the tank after adding them, if you don't, use RO or distilled. I am assuming you have proper salt to make brackish water for your shrimp, table salt or regular aquarium salt will not work. You can go ahead and place the old ecosphere decorations in the new jar, they will have bacteria on them and will help the tank cycle. Eggshells are iffy. If you have some regular sea shells you can use those. You are also at the best resource for keeping your little shrimp, so I would also recommend going through the old posts and reading anything you think looks like it might help you. Lots of people have asked how to set up jars/tanks, and there have been many helpful replies.
Good luck,=^._.^=

[supashrimpo]

Ah! Thank you Aennedry, I appreciate your response!! I have rinsed the gravel and rinsed the tank as well. I have Instant Ocean Reef Crystals, though I have heard it's not that great? Did I get the right one? As of tomorrow, I will be getting some distilled water for them. Thanks for your suggestions, I have been searching around this website and come across a lot of good information. Anyways, I do intend to keep updating. Have a good day/night!

update: Somehow I forgot to post that one of the shrimp has been swimming frantically around the bottom rim of their jar, is that normal behavior?

[supashrimpo]

Alright, so I have set up the new tank. I believe it is a 1/2 gallon, though I am not sure I may be wrong. I plan to put the sea branch in soon, but I am afraid of stressing the shrimp out more! After taking out some of the bits of lava rock and some seashell they were zooming around their small tank. I've never seen them so fast! I know that putting the sea branch there will speed up the cycling a bit, but one of the shrimp is very fond of it and likes to cling to it. Another thing is will the piece of decoration I have in there be safe? I rinsed it thoroughly with distilled water and soaked it. It was labeled aquarium safe, though I still worry. Any suggestions?

[i<3Opae]

It should be fine! Given it’s rinsed and all.

[Aennedry]

The decoration should be okay. And the jar looks fine. The salt you have will be fine for now. They can go from near pure sea to freshwater so reef salt shouldn't be bad for them. You can set the jar under a light and give it time for algae to grow, but I have put shrimp in an uncycled tank before, when a shipment arrived sooner than I thought. Tossed a rock from my cycled tank into the new tank (1gal) and added my opae'ula (50 little charmers) and didn't loose a one. Even the little larvae made it through. But as they are your first and you want to do right by them I can see stressing out.

[supashrimpo]

thank you, Aennedry and i<3Opae! You have put my worries aside, now I need to play the waiting game.

[i<3Opae]

You’re welcome. We’ve all been there. It’s pretty simple really, I think we add a lot of uncertainties ourselves by overthinking. I certainly did in the beginning.

[supashrimpo]

Some unfortunate news, the smallest shrimp has not moved in a while. He's lost his color and today, I just added some distilled water to top their jar off, but instead of scurrying around like the others he just laid there. I am sure that he has died, but I am not sure why!

[i<3Opae]

Is this your new tank or still the old ecosphere transferee to a mason jar? Did some thing new get introduced? Did you feed them? Ammonia from their waste and contaminants will cause distressed behavior.

[supashrimpo]

This was in the ecosphere transfer into a mason jar. Sadly, no algae has grown in the 1/2 gallon tank, so they’re still in their small home. I haven’t fed them at all, nor have i introduced anything to the tank. To my surprise after a examination of their tank I found one molt yesterday, and now today another!

[Mustafa]

So, did you figure out if the shrimp was actually dead? After molting they are not all that active anyway. How are the other shrimp doing?

[supashrimpo]

Hello, Mustafa! After leaving the tank for a while, the other shrimp eventually ate him so yeah, he was dead. Anyway, the other three shrimp are doing really well!

[Mustafa]

Glad to read they're doing well!