[Smalltank3]

Well, I'm reaching to the point that I am ready for the long awaited cherry shrimp! First I just want to make sure I am going to be doing things right, and make sure I have what I need to keep the shrimp healthy and have many generations of breeding.
Step 1: Care
Parameters:
pH: 7.5
Am: 0
NitrIte: 0
Nitrate: 5
Hardness(KH): Soft
Co2: 10ppm
It is a 10g planted tank with DIY Co2. The plants are in my sig, and the tank currently houses 1 Oto.
Food:
I am planning on using Hikari Crab Cuisine and Hikari Algae Wafers.
Filtration: 2 HOB filters( Whisper and Aqua-Tech) The intakes are covered with filter floss so no future baby shrimps will get sucked up. I also have a DIY sponge filter.
Heating and Lighting: I have a Whisper 5-15 gallon heater, the tank temp stays at 78 degrees all the time. I have a DIY hood that is 30w=3wpg. Tank lights on for 10 hours a day.
Is this good for an all RCS tank?(Besides the Oto)
When I get the shrimp:
I am planning on getting them here(already have someone), so when I get them, how should I acclimate them? I just read in a recent thread that I can just net them out of the bag and put them in with no needed acclimation. Is this safe?
Well I just want to make sure everything is going to be fine when I will get my shrimp. Suggestions for changes or just an "OK" will be greatly appreciated :smile:

Smalltank:hihi:

 

[Solstice]

You're all set! Try some boiled spinach too. They love that :tongue:

As far as acclimating them, I always drip acclimate my critters. Ask 10 people and you'll get at lest 5 different answers. I've always drip acclimated and after reading that Tom Barr does the same, I'm very comfortable with continuing to do so.

So, what else do you need? You might want to buy some Kordon Breather Bags now so you can ship out the hundreds of babies you'll have by the end of the year and spread the shrimpie joy.

roud:

P.S. By "spreading the shrimpie joy" I was not hinting towards you sending ME any. I have more than I can handle already, thank you. Haha.

 

[Smalltank3]

You're all set! Try some boiled spinach too. They love that :tongue:

Ahh yes, I forgot about the boiled veggies. Does spinach and cucumber sound good?
Yeah, I will get some of those breather bags to trade with other members to switch up the genes for healthier babies

Thanks

Smalltank

 

[sandiegoryu]

Just don't forget to thoroughly wash those veggies. If not organic, who knows what's on them!

Well I wish good luck to your tank. I remember what happened before...

 

[Color Me Blue]

They love zucchini too! Cherries aren't picky about food so much, just provide them with a nice variety and they will be VERY happy. Frozen bloodworms on occasion are gobbled up with pleasure too!

Ps.... I too drip acclimate! Better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Color Me Blue]

Oh yeah, those freeze-dried tubifex worms (cube form) are relished too! I just spear one with a toothpick and poke it down into the substrate. It keeps the cube from floating away. Just wait and see how the shrimp attack it! hehehe

 

[TAF CAF]

I personally don't care a bit for cucumber or zuchinni... the few times I used them, it was a pain to boil, and if I didn't get them out withing a few hours, the whole tank clouded up. Of course, I know many people who swear by it, so maybe I am doing it wrong.

For the spinach, I have given my shrimp fresh, blanched, and frozen. I like the frozen chopped spinach most. It is clean, you don't have to cook it, you can just gab a little bit and toss it in your tank and keep the rest of the bag in the freezer. Also, I have left an over-feed of spinach in a tank for a couple days to be eaten up, and I never had any clouding or any water quality issues from it.

Spinach is good for shrimp, since it provides the tiny bit of iodine that they need. However, I learned from Dave S. that you don't want to feed it to plecos more than about once a week, since it will give them kidney stones if they get too much. (Wild, huh?)

I also like drip aclimation, but as long as you are comfortable with the water health where they are coming from, I would probably add all their water into the tank after dripping your water to them in a bucket. (that way you won't miss any little shrimpies when netting them)

Shrimpies love a variety of food, and as stated, they really arn't picky. I feed them a bit of everything that I feed my fish, as well as frozen spinach and home-made biscuits. Of course, you do want to be careful about copper. Copper can kill invertibrates DEAD, so you want to make sure you don't use foods that contain copper.

 

[wood]

Adding New Shrimp Rule #1
Never dump your new shrimp into your tank without acclimating them first. "Shocking" them with an instant difference in ph, temperature, etc. is deadly. It would be like someone taking you from your 70F living room and instantly dropping you into a 10F snowstorm without warning. That is the similar shock they will experience.

This is what I do for acclimating shrimp. I have acclimated 3 different species this way and I feel it is the safest.

(1) Get a plastic container, preferably a container that can be used as a large mug. Sort of like what they sell sliced fruit in at the grocery store. Of course make sure that the container is totally clean and free of any harmful substances.

(2) Take your new shrimp and put them in the container with the water that they originated from. They should be swimming around franticly wondering what has happened. You do not need to add with a massive amount of their original water, just about 2-3 cups is fine. This will help make the acclimation process much faster and more effective.

(3) Get another container and add your aquarium water into it, the same amount of water that is in the first container. You will eventually want to have the 1st container double in water volume (half old water & half your water).

(4) Pour a couple of tbsp of your water into the shrimp container every 5 minutes. Repeat until the shrimp container has doubled in water volume. Let the shrimp sit in it for another 10-15mins.

(5) Here is the tricky part: Net the shrimp that are inside of the container and immediately add them to the new tank. I use a very small brine shrimp net to get them out of the container. I do not want to add any of the "acclimation" water to my aquarium because I want to avoid putting any of the old water into my tank. Most of the time there will be a lot of shrimp poop, etc. that will be in the original water which accumulated during transportation.

(6) Don't just dump your shrimp into your new tank. Lay the net into the water and let the shrimp swim out of it. Trust me they will get out of that net real fast. You will probably have to remove your custom hood in order to do all of these steps.

You should be all done transferring your shrimp safely. Some may say that this is a bit excessive and not necessary. I believe that it is worth the hour or so it will take just to ensure that your shrimps will live. You don't want to risk having some of your shrimp die in a couple of days just because you wouldn't spend an hour of your time doing these steps.

It is also very good to start doing this practice because eventually you will be purchasing much more expensive shrimp. You do not want to screw up on a $10 CRS shrimp because you didn't practice this method before.

Good luck!

-Ryan

 

[Smalltank3]

Wow, thanks everyone for everything! I'm looking forward to Shrimpy time