I was wondering if anyone could help me. Ive tried several times to add shrimp to my tank and they always die within a day or 2. What am i doing wrong? I acclimate them for about 2.5 hours and release them and they vanish never to be seen again. The last shrimp i had was a peppermint and lasted for a whole 5 days!!! Wondering if my nitrate may be an issue. its was around 30ppm for a while but starting to get it lowered. Any thoughts?
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Question About Shrimp
- Thread starter George
- Start date
Edwardw771
NJRC Member
Are you sure they are not in there and just molting? How long have you have the tank?
After answering the first few questions asked by other posters I have 2 questions to add to the list
What else is in your tank....livestock wise? Perhaps something is eating them.
Also what is your salinity set at?
Some people say Peppermints are known to be nocturnal and very difficult to spot during the day.
Mine dont seem to have that issue...they come running at feeding time and are greedy pigs.
What else is in your tank....livestock wise? Perhaps something is eating them.
Also what is your salinity set at?
Some people say Peppermints are known to be nocturnal and very difficult to spot during the day.
Mine dont seem to have that issue...they come running at feeding time and are greedy pigs.
My wife came to me last night extremely happy.. thinking that our cleaner shrimp somehow survived the serpent star's stomach.
Guess what? She finally saw the pepperment shrimp that I bought in the invert group buy. She looks at the tank almost every night / day and this was the first time she has ever seen it. I don't have a large tank and it doesn't have many places to hide so as you can see they do well at hiding.
I would still get your water checked for copper - just in case. I'm sure that your local LFS could test it for you.
....
Any chance you have a mantis shrimp / stomp? Probably not a very good chance, but an unfed mantis could be picking off your livestock. Do you ever hear any snapping or see any pieces of broken rock lying around?
Guess what? She finally saw the pepperment shrimp that I bought in the invert group buy. She looks at the tank almost every night / day and this was the first time she has ever seen it. I don't have a large tank and it doesn't have many places to hide so as you can see they do well at hiding.
I would still get your water checked for copper - just in case. I'm sure that your local LFS could test it for you.
....
Any chance you have a mantis shrimp / stomp? Probably not a very good chance, but an unfed mantis could be picking off your livestock. Do you ever hear any snapping or see any pieces of broken rock lying around?
How are you introducing the shrimp to the tank? I would recommend a drip acclimation or something similiar as they are very sensitive to changes in temp, salinity, and PH. I am not 100% sure on this as I have never owned a wrasse, but I do know some species will eat shrimp.
I had a lunar wrasse that had a 2 snail a day habit (liked escargot right out of the shell) so it wouldnt surprise me to find out a few of them had a taste for shrimp.
malulu
NJRC Member
George said:
oh, oh... there could be your problem.
the purpose is to equilized the bag's water to be as closed to your tanks water, before you put them in your tank.
but adding your tank water in the bag, very slowly, until you "guess" it is very much the same...
i just did a random search with google...
http://www.ehow.com/how_4524738_acclimate-fish-aquarium-drip-method.html
if still need more help, just ask.
good luck.
Malulu's thread explains this pretty perfectly. Your LFS should sell an acclimation kit which is essentially a piece of airline tubing attached to a shaped piece of plastic, keeping the drip line from slipping out of tank and negating the need for the veggie clip. I got mine from Trop for about $2.75.
I use a two gallon tupperware container, and allow the volume in the container to triple, then take out and THROW AWAY one half the water, then do it again. Give yourself at least an hour for the first volume change- if you drip too quickly, you defeat the purpose and the animal cannot adjust to the salinity changes. Think of it this way, you could be buying a shrimp thats at 1.019 and acclimating it to 1.025- a .006 difference. When in doubt, go slow. I'm no expert, but i've found that there is no such thing as acclimating too slowly.
my other reccomendation would be to ask fellow reefers where they are purchasing their inverts from- some LFS seem to have very high mortality rates for inverts.
I use a two gallon tupperware container, and allow the volume in the container to triple, then take out and THROW AWAY one half the water, then do it again. Give yourself at least an hour for the first volume change- if you drip too quickly, you defeat the purpose and the animal cannot adjust to the salinity changes. Think of it this way, you could be buying a shrimp thats at 1.019 and acclimating it to 1.025- a .006 difference. When in doubt, go slow. I'm no expert, but i've found that there is no such thing as acclimating too slowly.
my other reccomendation would be to ask fellow reefers where they are purchasing their inverts from- some LFS seem to have very high mortality rates for inverts.
