Acclimating Cleaner Shrimp

[Mariette]

ive owned 3.
I bought 2 the 1st round. 1 disappeared a week later after a Molt. 1 is still w me.
I then bought 1 to replace the one that didn’t make it. As soon as I put it in qt, it sank to the bottom and hid near a rock. 10 min later, 2 hermit crabs were eating him alive. I actually thought they were interacting and watched amazed for a solid 2 min before I realized what horror was unfolding before me. Shrimp made no visible attempt to escape but was still alive. I immediately put the shrimp in an isolation box w a cave so he could die in pease. Needless to say, that one didn’t make it.

All 3 were drip acclimated for 1/2 an hr plus had tank water slowly added to their water after the 1/2 hr before being released. 1 st 2 - no issues. 3rd one - disaster.

I’ve read about longer acclamations and the pros and cons. What do you guys think?

 

[reelredfisah]

Honestly I never had issues with shrimp. I did not do near as much for them as I did fish and they were fine.

 

[RJ F.]

I did a 20 min bag float followed by a 45 min drip ( sort of). My drip consists of me putting in 5 ML of tank water every 10 mins or so. After that I have had no issues. They have been doing great for 4 months.

Make sure they're pretty active in the store. As well as buy from a reputable LFS. To me it sounds like your doing it fine.

 

[Fishfishfishfish]

I've always had success with a 1 hour drip acclimation. Not sure you did anything wrong, sometimes inverts just don't handle the change well.

 

[Mariette]

I did a 20 min bag float followed by a 45 min drip ( sort of). My drip consists of me putting in 5 ML of tank water every 10 mins or so. After that I have had no issues. They have been doing great for 4 months.

Make sure they're pretty active in the store. As well as buy from a reputable LFS. To me it sounds like your doing it fine.

Hahah I do that too thx

 

[Mariette]

I've always had success with a 1 hour drip acclimation. Not sure you did anything wrong, sometimes inverts just don't handle the change well.

That makes me feel better. Thx.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

They can not handle quick increases in salinity. I have killed them during acclimation from 1.020 to 1.025 for example.

 

[RJ F.]

Having any saltwater critter at 1.020 Sg seems very low. I would think that's a heavy increase to bring them up to 1.025. That would stress any fish.

 

[homer1475]

Inverts at 1.020 were doomed to begin with. I have never been to any LFS or shipper that keeps inverts at that low of salinity.

Any inverts get a 10 to 15 temp acclimation, then a dump into the tank, or QT. I have read many horror stories about drip acclimating and did this myself when starting in the hobby. After loosing many fish during drip acclimating, I stopped doing it, and have not lost a fish or invert since.

Only time drip acclimating is necessary in my eyes is when salinity is different(shorter drip times are better as the longer ones often lower temps and ammonia builds up). Otherwise temp acclimate and drop in. Now that I QT, I match my QT to the incoming salinity, and again, temp acclimate, and drop in.