Did I do it incorrectly?

[johsan]

I collected 12 shrimp from a lady selling them on Gumtree.
I'm not too bothered at this stage as to the colour quality as it's my first time caring for shrimp and I didn't want to pay a lot for them if I can't get it right.

I brought them home ready to put into a fully (2ppm) cycled mature tank, which has no other inhabitants other than one nerite snail.

I thought I had acclimatised them properly by removing 10ml of their transport water, replacing with tank water while the container was floating in the tank.
I did this every 15 minutes for 75 minutes altogether before I put them in. However, I've seen on another website that the minimum time should be over 90 minutes?

Initially they ALL disappeared but after 5 minutes or so 6 or 7 came back out and it was great to see them exploring the tank and starting on the algae on the plants. They seemed very happy

However, I never see any more than 6-7 of them. They vary in size from very small at around 1cm to slightly bigger than 2cm and a couple are reddish, one is translucent yellowish and the other, tiny ones are clear.

I think I have at least 3 females (the bigger shrimp) as they appear to have saddles (The lady passing them over said she thought one of the females was pregnant).

I gave them their first "meal" of 1/2 wafer two days after I got them. Again two or three will eat it but the others ignored it or didn't show.

I wanted to take it out but a couple kept going back to it so I left it in over night.

This morning I have removed the remains by siphoning it out as it had broken up. I then replaced about 3 litres with Seachem Primed water at 0.1ml.
Mustapha, I've just seen a reply to another poster and you said you should never siphon. Even left over food?

I'm going to make a serving dish to prevent this in future so it shouldn't be a problem.

Have I lost the other 4 or 5 since I never see them or are they still hiding after nearly a week?

I THINK I saw a skeleton in the week, a translucent kind of thing resting on a moss ball and it had gone next day. It didn't appear to be a whole thing ie no legs that I could see.

I haven't seen any dead bodies at all so I'm hoping they are just hiding

Any information gratefully received

This is my first shrimp venture and I want to get it right for them

[KenCotigirl]

Add a picture of your tank. What does 2ppm mean. A clear skeleton usually means a shed not death. Missing 4-5 may not mean they are dead they could be hiding that is why a picture may help. How long did you cycle the tank? Feeding is not a priority. If you feed remove the uneaten food after a hour. Siphoning the food is not a problem. Siphoning the entire substrate may end up removing baby shrimp.

Ken

[johsan]

]Thanks for reply Ken
I'll have go at loading a photo
I have two moss balls, a moss covered coconut hide, a small moss hide (rim of a terracota pot), live and plastic plants and apple tree wood, Tetra substrate, some gravel and some sand. There are also a couple of oak leaves and a moss covered stone

The tank was cycled, prior to the shrimp going in, to two parts per million. I had originally had small fish in the tank and they moved to a larger one so this 22 litre one was empty. It had been used for fish for around a month before I got shrimp so was fully cycled.

I had been feeding it ammonia until I decided about the shrimp and it was "eating" that within 24 hours, just like when I had the fish.

The day before collection I siphoned off the water and refilled with Conditioned water using Seachem Prime.

Photo comes up enormous - sorry

[Mustafa]

The tank was cycled, prior to the shrimp going in, to two parts per million.

I guess we're trying to figure out what this sentence means. You don't usually cycle a tank to some ppm value. Are you talking about ammonia? What are you measuring "to two ppm?" As Ken said, I wouldn't worry about the shrimp not being out in the open all the time. They are probably hiding. Also, don't offer food every day for now, especially if the shrimp show no interest. Try every few days with a smaller piece of food and see if they show interest.

[johsan]

Ah, now I'm a bit confused.
I also belong to a fish forum and on there, when we are talking of cycling a tank, we talk in terms of adding ammonia at a set rate according to the size of the tank and the parts per million you need to achieve. This usually is determined by the amount of bioload of fish
It's usually to 3ppm for a full tank of fish.
The 22litre Aquaone nano tank was fully cycled starting it in January and taking about 6 weeks before the first fish went in. Then I moved them to a bigger tank which left the nano free.
I had to feed the empty tank with ammonia everyday to make sure the bacteria didn't die as there was going to be a delay before I got my shrimp

Perhaps I didn't explain myself correctly the first time, but it's now how I'm used to referring to the cycling of a tank

[Fishcake76]

Hi Johsan,

I understood what you meant by 2ppm. I wonder if it's a brits thing? Are you in the UK? You've explained it well enough now, but I just wanted to let you know that I got ya!!!

By the way, you need to resize your photo I think, it's sent my screen all doolally!!

FC76

[johsan]

Hi Fishcake, well met (Think fish Sanjo)
Glad you understood it anyway.
Don't know how to resize the photo, I had to crop it in the first place as he site said the file was too big. Ah well.

Catch up with you elsewhere maybe !!!!

[Mustafa]

I see. You guys developed our own lingo in that forum. We just call it "fishless cycling" and cycling the tank with ammonia at 2 ppm. "Cycled to 2 ppm" was confusing as it indicates that the tank still has 2 ppm of something in it (you didn't mention the ammonia) after it was "cycled."

I'll try to fix the picture issue. The forum should automatically resize the picture.

[johsan]

Ooops, sorry for confusion and thanks for trying to sort out the photos

[KenCotigirl]

Looking at the picture of your tank your shrimp have plenty of places to hide. Missing a few is easy. I believe you are doing fine.

[johsan]

Thanks muchly. I have had three shed skeletons so far to I am assuming my water suits them.