Am I stressing my shrimp out?

[Coluber42]

How much does movement or vibrations bother the shrimp? When I got in to work today, they were almost all red and mostly sitting and browsing pretty calmly; now all but two of them are transparent again, and they look a little more agitated.

I think I may have disturbed them by shifting the tank a few inches on the desk, and since it's a little too full, that also meant that the not-quite-rigid lid ended up against the surface of the water and messed with the biofilm. If that bit of disruption just bothered them a bit and they'll get over it by tomorrow, I'm not really concerned.

But the other thing I'm worried about disturbing them is just general vibrations and stuff during a normal day. I run industrial sewing machines and a couple of other machines in the same room, the room next door sometimes has power tools running, the building sort of rattles a bit when freight trains go by, plus the vibrations from footfalls and stuff.

So are they unhappy because I moved the tank and messed with the biofilm (definitely the biggest disruption of the day), are they generally unhappy with the amount of commotion in here, or are they just still touchy from being in a still-pretty-new environment?

Basically, do I need to take steps to insulate the tank from vibrations, or do I need to just quit worrying so much?

[Varanus]

I'd wait and see if they color up again, That way you'd be able to tell if it was the normal vibrations you mentioned or the more extreme stuff like shifting the tank that bothered them.

In my experience routine minor vibrations are handled pretty well. I have my tank on the headboard of my bed and the water shakes slightly pretty much whenever I get on the bed but it doesn't seem to bother the shrimp.

[tooth]

I have 2 grandsons who love to tap on the tank to 'make the shrimp move'--they do, with a few 'popcorning' around. Some will go white, but they are back to red within the hour.
If I bump the tank once or twice inadvertently it does not seem to bother them.

[Mustafa]

Since you said they were all red and doing fine before you messed with the tank I'd venture a guess that everything else going on in the building and around them wasn't bothering them. They'll be fine in no time. It's normal for them to lose color and "freak out" in response to disturbances to the tank.