Supershrimp Arrival!

[Super Jess]

They're here!!! This thread is a continuation of my first thread "Supershrimp preparation questions" which you can read here: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=5874. Now that they've arrived it's time for a new thread!

The 10 Supershrimp I ordered were on track to arrive on Friday, but they must have arrived after the post office closed I live in rural Vermont and can't get mail delivery, so I had my fingers crossed they would turn up on Saturday morning. Sure enough, my post office called (I told them I was expecting live shrimp by mail. You should have seen the baffled looks I got, lol) bright and early to say the shrimp were waiting! Hooray!

The box looked mighty familiar


But this time instead of "10 snails" it was "10 Supershrimp!" They looked so snug nestled in their little foam box. Temps here have been almost spring-like, so no heat pack this time.


We took the bag out and they were zooming around inside. Mustafa included a small piece of yarn, I guess so they would have something to cling to during their journey across the country. You can see it there behind the writing.


My partner-in-crime holding the bag for scale!


I left the bag out for a while to get to room temp and to think about how to get the shrimp into their new home without adding the yarn

[Super Jess]

I figured Pyrex is pretty inert as bowl materials go, so got a little (well-rinsed) custard dish, snipped the corner of the bag and sploshed them in. Pulled the yarn out and could finally see them all at once!



So starting with 10 healthy shrimp, of different sizes, mostly pinkish but a couple had gone clear, probably from the trip. We let them zoom around the bowl for a while before I got brave and dumped them into their new home. One straggler got stuck inside, and I had to dip the bowl in to wash him out. Honestly, part of me was sure they were going to die instantly, lol. But they didn't! They ran around everywhere and tasted the algae on all the surfaces. Very active, zooming round and round the vase. They were like kids just let off the bus after a 6-hour ride



They seem happy! Hooray for Supershrimp!!!

[Super Jess]

So last night I was so excited about the shrimp I couldn't stop watching them and taking pictures. Let me just say that I am so impressed with all you guys who have managed to take pictures of your shrimp! It is so hard! They are always on the move, and if I didn't know I had put 10 into the tank I would have no idea how many are actually in there. They spent most of the day zooming around and avoiding the camera. But my determination to document kept me at it until my camera battery died and I had to go to bed

This guy is still pale from shipping stress, but it's so neat how he's backlit and you can see through his whole body! My SO is fascinated by the "grabby claws" lol.



This one found a small tangle of snail mucus to munch. Ew, and yay!



This shrimp stopped to groom antennae and was in one spot long enough for me to actually grab a shot, heh.



More grabby claws! All the shrimp appear to have full guts, but they still have been grazing on all the surfaces. A couple of times I watched some hop onto a snail and snack off the shell.



They are starting to color up! Most of them are a nice shade of orangey-red now, like this one. More grooming here, this time tending to the tail.



Last one for today! This one is having a rest under the clump of macroalgae. I like how they hold their tails up when they walk.



Made it through the first 24 hours and everyone is alive and seems content. There's less zooming today and more leisurely grazing on surfaces. They don't seem to mind the light at all, and readily spend time in the bright spots and the darker areas. I'm thinking of getting a lazy susan to put under their vase so I can turn them and see what they're doing on the other side of that rock, lol.

They did manage to find some holes in the rocks that I wasn't aware were so deep, and I was afraid the first ones I watched go in would get stuck! But maybe that's the the antennae are for. I watched a couple disappear inside and then reappear in a minute or so, so all good.

I wonder if the snails feel like they've been invaded?

[Varanus]

Awesome! Glad they calmed down at the usual rate. Shows they're adjusting properly.

[Super Jess]

Thanks, Varanus! 72 hours later and they are all still alive and doing normal shrimpy things Interestingly, the snails seem more active since the shrimp addition. They are out and about now in the morning hours instead of waiting until the late afternoon.

It's actually kind of hard to see all the shrimp at once for counting. The curve of this vase means my best bet is trying a top-down view. On the up side it means that when I look through one side any shrimp on the opposite side look HUGE.

So far the Mustafa Method™ for beginning with Supershrimp is working! All shrimp and snails accounted for. Haven't fed them yet. I am eagerly waiting to see if I will be able to spot a molted shell soon.

Also, I think I see some hair algae beginning to grow on a rock, so that must mean there are enough nutrients in the water already?

[Mustafa]

So far the Mustafa Method™ for beginning with Supershrimp is working! All shrimp and snails accounted for. Haven't fed them yet. I am eagerly waiting to see if I will be able to spot a molted shell soon.

Also, I think I see some hair algae beginning to grow on a rock, so that must mean there are enough nutrients in the water already?

Haha...I like the "TM" sign. I'm glad you're happy with everything! And thanks for documenting everything! I know some people *doubt* my method (despite all the successes here confirming it, and of course the insignificant fact that I went from 21 shrimp to over 200,000 using this method...LOL) but I would never recommend a method that I haven't tested a few billion (ok, maybe i'm a bit off with the exact numbers) times before. Heck, I'm using it myself...that's how I came up with it. Bad for the animals and bad for business to recommend something that doesn't work.

Keep the updates coming! (You take some awesome pictures by the way!..And, yes, there are enough nutrients in the water...the bacterial webs utilize the nutrients too).

[Super Jess]

I know some people *doubt* my method

I'm a medical professional, and I see the hardest thing we ask clients (patients) to do is "watchful waiting." People do seem to feel much more comfortable when we're able to give them something, *anything*, to DO: take this pill, use this device, move your body in a certain way 3 times a day, etc. The instruction to do nothing is the hardest one for people to follow! I blame the pharmaceutical industry for feeding our collective desire for control Intervention at the wrong time and of the wrong sort can definitely complicate things and increase the difficulty of an accurate diagnosis.

Gotta say I like the Mustafa Method™ a lot, really goes along with my "if it ain't broke don't fix it (but keep a weather eye out for trouble)" ethos. Sorry to mix metaphors! For everyone playing along at home: The Mustafa Method™ works like a charm! I set up my vessel, added snails and macroalgae a couple days later, put a light with a single LED on it for 12h/day and saw surface algae begin to grow about 2 weeks after that. Ordered the shrimp and dumped them in. No testing, no feeding, not even for the snails. So I guess about 3 weeks to go from new empty tank to happy shrimp. Yay!

Keep the updates coming! (You take some awesome pictures by the way!

Thanks! I have a fun Super-Jess-proof camera that does macro pretty well, better for this than the bulky DSLR even with fancy macro lens loaded. Besides the ones I posted, I have have about 150 really crappy shrimp pics, lol. My SO, who is an actual photographer, sums up his own photog experience with, "You shoot 500 images and get 2 or 3 good ones and they call you a great photographer."

Anyone who is a klutz and wants an adventure-proof camera (waterproof! drop-proof! freeze-proof! Super Jess-proof!) should check out the Pentax Optio WG line. I've been using a WG-2 for these pics, but there is at least one newer version now. Ok, enough advertising

[jonesinfershrimp]

So happy to read this and see everything is going great for you! going to be following along for sure

[Mustafa]

I'm a medical professional, and I see the hardest thing we ask clients (patients) to do is "watchful waiting." People do seem to feel much more comfortable when we're able to give them something, *anything*, to DO: take this pill, use this device, move your body in a certain way 3 times a day, etc. The instruction to do nothing is the hardest one for people to follow!

True. I think it has something to do with the feeling of "being in control." People only they're in control if they're doing something to "solve" a problem or maintain something that they think is going well. They think that if you just sit there all hell will break lose. The trick for them is to accept that among all the alternatives in a given situation doing nothing may actually be the best one. Hard to accept for most people because it seems to go against our biology. But I'm hoping that repeated exposure to this kind of thinking will finally drive the message home.

[NancyM]

I am so happy for you! Your pictures are wonderful and your Opae Ula home looks terrific. I know they will be very happy there.

Since I found this website I have become obsessed with these little red critters. So much so, I now have 2 homes for them. I will post some pics of the new tank shortly. They are not nearly as clear and great as your pics, but you can kinda get the gist of it.

[Super Jess]

After jonesfershrimp reported finding a molt after just a week in their new tank, I've been hoping to find one in my tank these last few days. Well, today is the day! I woke up this morning to a perfectly preserved ghosty shrimp shell clinging to the top of the biggest rock Yay!!!



Everyone seems to be doing well still. The water turned just slightly hazy for several days after I added the shrimp, but it looks to be clearing up now. Not sure what is up with the macroalgae--it has started to break up into little schnitzel-y pieces. Sometimes I see a shrimp carrying one around for a while, kind of like take-out, lol.

What happens to the molted shells? Do they get eaten, or just pile up?

[Varanus]

Not sure what is up with the macroalgae--it has started to break up into little schnitzel-y pieces. Sometimes I see a shrimp carrying one around for a while, kind of like take-out, lol.

That's pretty normal and has happened to parts of mine. Mustafa thinks when conditions aren't quite right for it the macroalgae does this until things improve and then it grows like crazy. Still I have heard other users who have had all the macroalgae fall apart for no apparent reason.

What happens to the molted shells? Do they get eaten, or just pile up?

The shrimp should eat them eventually. I rarely see any of my shrimp's molts without a shrimp carrying it around munching on it.

[Super Jess]

Mustafa thinks when conditions aren't quite right for it the macroalgae does this until things improve and then it grows like crazy.

Thanks, Varanus. Think it would it be worth trying to save some by putting it in a separate container? I'd hate to lost it all if it's unhappy.

[Varanus]

Thanks, Varanus. Think it would it be worth trying to save some by putting it in a separate container? I'd hate to lost it all if it's unhappy.

You could try that, but given how just what it doesn't like is pretty mysterious, it may be an exercise in futility. Leave some in though at least as it could bounce back at any time.

[Super Jess]

Guess I might try it with a little bit and see what happens. Found another molt today! I was adding a little water and a second shell came swirling up from the current. Hooray! Is there a way to tell which shrimp has freshly molted? They all still look about the same to me.