How do you keep new shrimp alive?

scrimp · Post by **scrimp** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 4:48 pm

How do you accommodate your shrimp when first bringing them home? I started just keeping the shrimp in the water they came home with for a day to see if they truly are okay and not sick. Then I move them to their own containers each...for about three days. Each container goes with one little piece of plant. I use aquafina to change the water with never changing more then half the water. After about a week ill add one shrimp at a time to the tank.

Ive heard some people drip water into the bag but ive never understood how to do this. Anyone can tell me how they go about doing this and what they find to be the best way to keep their new arrivals alive?

gnatster · Post by **gnatster** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 5:43 pm

Ive heard some people drip water into the bag but ive never understood how to do this

Instead of dripping into the bag try this. Place the shrimp and the water they came with in a container that can hold 3x the amount of water in the bag. From the tank they will live in, start a siphon with airline tubeing and tie a loose knot in it. Make the knot only as tight as it takes to have the water drip from the tube to the bucket holding your shrimp. Drip until volume is at least double the orginal. Thats the drip method.

Bradimus · Post by **Bradimus** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 6:25 pm

Cut open bag.
Pour contents into net.
Release netted shrimp into aquarium.
Enjoy new pet.

winwin · Post by **winwin** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 7:56 pm

Bradimus,

I'm afraid your method is a bit dangerous for shrimps since they are very sensitive to variation in water content (such as variation in Ammonia & PH level)...

Thus mixing old water to new water is essential (at least it makes sense to me).

gnatster · Post by **gnatster** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 8:13 pm

I have been doing the "Bradimus" method for over 30 years and have never lost a specimen. My tanks have no Ammonia and pH differences are not as big as issue as people think as most of the stuff we all keep is fairly hardy. We keep livestock in much better condtions then the lfs does and they survive there.

Bradimus · Post by **Bradimus** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 7:10 am

My aquarium have no detectable ammonia or nitrites. Nitrates are less 10ppm. It is almost certain that these conditions are better than those in the bag. I have never seen an animal stressed by rapidly decreasing nitrogen levels.

The sensitivity of healthy animals to changes in pH, KH, etc. is, in my experience, a myth. I have a feeling that it is a tradition handed down from one generation of aquarists to the next without have ever been scientifically tested. The animals we keep have skins that have evolved to protect them from variations in water chemisty. As long as the water conditions are within the ranges the animal is adapted to survive in, it will adjust well.

The only parameter I balance before releasing a new animal is temperature, and this is done primarily for the physical confort of the animal. Since I keep my aquaria at room temperature, this is easy to accomplish.

I have been keeping aquatic pets for nigh 20 years. I can not think of any time I have lost a healthy animal to shock.

While I am stirring things up, I will commit the following blasphemy: I don't use a quarantine tank either. (Don't try this at home if you buy your animals from PetSmart/Petco/Walmart or any other mass retailer.)

YMMV

scrimp · Post by **scrimp** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 3:22 pm

All I want is to reduce loss. I have tried both methods yet I still seem to lose one or two no matter what ive tried. Though this new method of just leaving them in the bag of water they came in seems to work a lot better. The strangest thing happened too. While tried this leaving them in the bag I just discovered newly hatched baby fry. I wonder how they came onboard. As I don't remember seeing any fish eggs or anything.