Your order has arrived and you are wondering how to proceed. No problem, we’re here to help!
Shrimp
Your shrimp will arrive in a special plastic bag filled with water from their tank. Upon arrival your shrimp will be mostly colorless, which is normal. It will take days for the shrimp to re-gain some of their coloration, and weeks/months for them to fully color out in a new tank.
The first thing you want to do is put the bag on top of your tank for about 20 minutes so the water temperature in the bag adjusts to your tank/room temperature. Get a small bowl or container and place the bag in it. While holding the bottom of the bag steady in the bowl, cut the bag right under the knot to open it. Carefully dump the water in the bag into the bowl. The shrimp should now be in the bowl. Make sure to pay attention to shrimp that may have possibly gotten stuck in the bag and did not get poured out with the water. Add some water back into the bag and try to flush them out into the bowl.
Once in the bowl, you can count your shrimp. After that, dump the shrimp and their water directly into your tank. No drip acclimation to the new tank water is necessary.
Snails
Your snails will also arrive in a small, water-filled plastic bag. Some snails may cling to the sides of the bag, while others may just be rolling around at the bottom of the bag, fully retreated into their shells. In fact, they may all arrive retreated into their shells at the bottom of the bag. These snails are not dead, just resting. Temperature adjust and cut open the bag in a bowl as described above under the Shrimp section and dump your snails into your tank. No drip acclimation to the new tank water is necessary. It may take a few hours for your snails to start coming out of their shells and moving around. Eventually, they will disappear into your substrate. These are burrowing snails after all, and you will see them both in and on the substrate (and hanging out on the sides of your tank and on decoration). You will only see part of your snail population at any given time.
Plants
Plants are shipped moist/wet with just a few drops of water at the bottom of the bag. Plants are easy to deal with after arrival. After letting the temperature in a plant bag reach room/tank temperature (as described under the Shrimp section), just cut open the bag and place your plant/plants into your tank. Make sure to not immediately place your plant directly under your tank light, but more on the periphery of the tank to allow the plant to adjust to your light conditions. Sometimes, Supershrimp Mossballs can float on the surface of the water after being placed into the tank. That is due to air that is trapped in the mossball. Gently squeeze the mossball to free the air bubbles. Your mossball should now sink to the bottom of the tank. If necessary, repeat the process. The Supershrimp Macroalgae will come compacted into a clump due to shipping. Make sure to gently pull it apart as much as you can so it is nice and fluffy looking with lots of empty space between the strings of algae. The algae will fill in those spaces over time with new growth.