The First 24hour questions

[ShrimpLady]

hi all!

Super excited to have received my Supershrimp today! I ordered 10 for my 1/2 gallon tank. my tank has a plastic aquarium tree, some shiny floor rocks, and a ceramic planted pot that looks a lot like the lava rocks they like and has hole for hiding. Its really cute how they chill on the rock and tree.

right now we are in the first 24 hours and I have soo many questions!

1. My PH balance is 6.5 ( KH=40, NITRATE=0, NITRITE=0) which makes me nervous, I used distilled water and instant ocean, I don't have a lot of room for a coral or limestone rock, any suggestions on how to raise the PH without adding more décor to the tank?

2. How do you know which ones are girls and which ones are boys? right now I have some that are red and some that are clear

3. I purchased algae pellets which seem kind of large for the shrimps, they are not really eating them an some have sunk to the bottom. my tank has yet to grow its own algae. Any suggestions?

4.I read something about Mustafa's very popular process to get the shrimp acclimated, where can I find this?

looking forward to any advice!!

Thank you!

ShrimpLady

[Varanus]

1. My PH balance is 6.5 ( KH=40, NITRATE=0, NITRITE=0) which makes me nervous, I used distilled water and instant ocean, I don't have a lot of room for a coral or limestone rock, any suggestions on how to raise the PH without adding more décor to the tank?

You could add some crushed coral (i.e. aragonite sand) or crushed egg shells.

2. How do you know which ones are girls and which ones are boys? right now I have some that are red and some that are clear

Pretty hard to tell as far as I know, but mature females can have a dark spot behind their heads showing where the eggs are developing. Color has nothing to do with it though, as the colors vary according to the individual and other variables.

3. I purchased algae pellets which seem kind of large for the shrimps, they are not really eating them an some have sunk to the bottom. my tank has yet to grow its own algae. Any suggestions?

Assuming you have had this tank set up long enough for it to cycle you really shouldn't need to feed at all for several weeks (there should be biofilm for them to eat even if there is no visible algae) and when you do feed them feed quite little (i.e. no more than what they can eat in an hour or two). Especially since they are not showing interest I would remove the pellets immediately to keep them from contaminating the water.

As for what to feed, they can be happy with just a few bits of regular fish flake or pellet food. I give mine Hikari shrimp cuisine pellets to spoil them and because of how small the pellets are. You can feed them algae pellets but you'll need to have a big population to share a pellet or break off very small pieces.

It concerns me that you are implying the tank has not been set up long. I'd keep a good eye on water conditions (ammonia especially) and the shrimp's health if this means you didn't fully cycle the tank before adding them.

4.I read something about Mustafa's very popular process to get the shrimp acclimated, where can I find this?

"The Mustafa Method" (which I assume you are referring to) is not really about acclimating the shrimp but just how to care for them in general (i.e. no filter, no heater, feed only every few weeks or months). Being brackish water animals they acclimate to new water conditions very easily compared to a lot of purely salt or fresh water creatures.

[Mustafa]

As Varanus said. Also, your pH reading is most likely wrong. It's probably closer to 8. Having said that, don't worry about testing at this point. If you followed the instructions here:

http://www.petshrimp.com/opaesetup.php

then you don't have worry about testing anything. (And that link is also the "method" that everyone is talking about).

[ShrimpLady]

thanks guys that was super helpful!!!

they were super happy the first week and swimming around, they have lasted the weekend.

but now they are all missing! I can only see a couple at a time, are they hiding? some are going under the little rocks, or staying in the cave all day. is everything okay??

[Varanus]

Depending on the weather, amount of food, time and various other factors its not unusual for the majority of the shrimp to be hiding at any one time. In my experience large numbers of them swimming around rapidly is not actually a sign of "happiness" but rather is what they do when they are in a panic/haven't acclimated yet (or else when food is added).

So given you haven't seen any bodies I don't think it is anything to worry about. Especially as the shrimp eat away at the accumulated biofilm in their hiding places they will have to get out more to find more food so you should see them more often over time (though only to a degree). Don't expect to see a majority out at any one time except when its time for the monthly or so feeding.

And of course once they start breeding and thus multiplying you will see more.

[ShrimpLady]

guys! I am very sad to say there has been one shrimp death in my tank. I am not sure what to do or how to take it out because now there are these small brownish black sacks floating on the top of the water and if I try to scoop out the shrimp, I will mess with those sacks!!

help!!!

[Varanus]

Can't say I have much of an idea of what these "sacks" could be, could you take any pictures?

If possible I would just scoop out the sacks and then scoop out the shrimp. Get as fine a mesh net as you can if you are worried about the sacks slipping through.

[Mustafa]

Yes, pictures would be great. I suspect that your initial feeding of the large algae pellet has something to do with the death. Did you actually remove the food when it wasn't eaten? (Don't feed again for a month or two at least by the way).

[ShrimpLady]

This is the picture of the sacks, I thought they could have been larvae that was dropped

Im not sure why but another shrimp has died, I did remove the pellets before adding the shrimp to the tank.

Im not sure what do to in this situation but I feel more will die

[ShrimpLady]

I just checked the PH and my 1/2 gallon tank is between 6 and 6.5

Ive seen something about adding baking soda, or crushed eggshells

[Mustafa]

it's hard to tell what those are...but it's probably some kind of floating organic material from the substrate.

Are you using a "dip test" for your pH and kh testing? If so, go get a liquid test from your local pet store (the API low range and high range pH tests will do, API also has a kh test). I seriously doubt your pH is that low after preparing your brackish water with reef salt. You did add reef salt right? Not "sea salt" from the grocery store, right?

[ShrimpLady]

I used instant ocean marine salt, is there any quick fixes for the ph?

[ShrimpLady]

Heres the pic

[Varanus]

Instant Ocean is great, and as Mustafa said your ph is probably not that low.