Cleaner shrimp acclimation best practice

[KMench]

Hi.

I’ve tried purchasing cleaner shrimp multiple times now from LA... every time I try to add them they seem to arrive happy and then struggle during the acclimation. My last order from there I got two skunk cleaners and a blood red. I put the three together in a bucket after floating them for ~20 minutes and then drip acclimated them for around 1.5 hours. When the drip timeframe was over.... two of the shrimp looked less than happy while the other seemed perfectly fine. The one that seemed fine is still alive and kicking, but the other two bit the bullet unfortunately. Does anyone have suggestions for a better acclimation practice? I’ve read so many things from reefcleaners no drip method, to people saying they drip inverts for hours!

 

[kinetic]

Hi.

I’ve tried purchasing cleaner shrimp multiple times now from LA... every time I try to add them they seem to arrive happy and then struggle during the acclimation. My last order from there I got two skunk cleaners and a blood red. I put the three together in a bucket after floating them for ~20 minutes and then drip acclimated them for around 1.5 hours. When the drip timeframe was over.... two of the shrimp looked less than happy while the other seemed perfectly fine. The one that seemed fine is still alive and kicking, but the other two bit the bullet unfortunately. Does anyone have suggestions for a better acclimation practice? I’ve read so many things from reefcleaners no drip method, to people saying they drip inverts for hours!

Did you drip them individually? I drip inverts in different containers for each bag they come in. 1.5 hours is plenty. The other thing is, after 1.5 hours sometimes the temperature dips in the container they're acclimated in, so I'll float the containers in the sump carefully for ~10 minutes before netting them into the tank after drip acclimation is over.

 

[KMench]

No, I dropped them all in the same bucket, but I basically stared at them the whole time so I know they didn’t fight and kill each other that way.

Did you drip them individually? I drip inverts in different containers for each bag they come in. 1.5 hours is plenty. The other thing is, after 1.5 hours sometimes the temperature dips in the container they're acclimated in, so I'll float the containers in the sump carefully for ~10 minutes before netting them into the tank after drip acclimation is over.

 

[KMench]

Also, I actually did try to float the two that didn’t look so hot before adding them. Didn’t seem to make a difference in the end.

 

[KMench]

I should inform you that this order was delayed during shipping, so instead of arriving next day, it was two days later... if that could have a potential impact on survival rates

 

[ChrisOFL]

I never drip acclimate anything except fish if they are coming from lower salinity and I will always put the fish into a new bucket of fresh saltwater matched at the salinity it came from. The whole point of acclimation is to avoid a salinity shock from what I understand. Inverts and coral should be coming from tanks already around 1.025 S.G. so no risk of salinity shock.

 

[kinetic]

No. pH is the biggie for inverts. I didn’t mean they would kill each other. I meant you didn’t acclimate them to each other’s water and dumped them together. Boom.

 

[SaltLifer]

I acclimate everything the same. Float for 30-60 mins, add a little tank water to the bag halfway, then dump them in. Been doing it that way for 5 years and never lost anything. Inverts, Sea Stars, Fish, Coral, whatever. That being said, I buy everything from a local fish store and it spends less than an a couple hours in the bag. supposedly, when you order stuff from out of state and it spends the night in the bag, when you temp acclimate it you can cause dangerous pH swings and I've read that the best thing for them is to get them in clean water A.S.A.P.

 

[KMench]

@kinetic do you think a pH difference would kill them initially or take time? They all seemed ok when I added them together. It was after around an hour that I noticed them starting to seem a little off. I read something about how increasing pH can increase the toxicity of ammonia when they’ve been bagged for so long. Could that have had something to do with it? Yet I don’t understand why one would be fine unless it’s the initial addition together like you said.

 

[KMench]

FWIW the first shrimp I brought home was from a lfs. It did the same thing where it was quite ok, then during acclimation it did the same thing looking pretty crappy and then dying.

 

[kinetic]

Hard to tell. I can't give you an exact answer. Too many factors to consider really. I just know for sure that inverts are very sensitive to ph. The more careful I am with acclimation, the more success I've had. Dumping all 3 into one bucket all at once is going to be a shock. If that killed them by itself? Hard to say.

 

[KMench]

What procedure do you follow for invert acclimation? I was reading that temp and pH are both big issues. I was thinking of floating the bags and then just adding like ~1 oz of water every 5 minutes until the water doubles and then removing half, and doing it again.

 

[madweazl]

I've never done anything but float the bag and toss the shrimp in; I've never had one croak...

 

[Instigate]

Do you monitor the temperature during acclimation? A small amount of water in a bucket on the floor can drop temperature rather quickly. I think it's best to float the bag in the sump the whole time you're acclimating. That being said I figured out about the temperature difference while trying to acclimate some cleaners and had the temperature drop about 7 degrees and they were fine so idk if temperature would actually be the cause but it could be an improvement for next time.

 

[Coralfuture]

I just float them and then start slowly mixing water in and out of the bag with a small cup. Bag water to separate bin, tank water in, repeat till you feel you've eliminated the original water. Takes me about 15-20 min to do this but have had many a shrimp and no deaths to this method. I learned it works because I watched employees of several LFSs do it and same results. They do it in 2-5min...

 

[Tahoe61]

I've never done anything but float the bag and toss the shrimp in; I've never had one croak...

I just float them and then start slowly mixing water in and out of the bag with a small cup. Bag water to separate bin, tank water in, repeat till you feel you've eliminated the original water. Takes me about 15-20 min to do this but have had many a shrimp and no deaths to this method. I learned it works because I watched employees of several LFSs do it and same results. They do it in 2-5min...

Same here. No long drawn out drips. Change out transfer water with display water over about 20 minutes and introduce. Shrimp are pretty dang hardy in my experience, if they are dying repeatedly after introduction than find a different vendor or review your water chemistry practices.

 

[jason.kennedy.98478]

I acclimate everything the same. Float for 30-60 mins, add a little tank water to the bag halfway, then dump them in. Been doing it that way for 5 years and never lost anything. Inverts, Sea Stars, Fish, Coral, whatever. That being said, I buy everything from a local fish store and it spends less than an a couple hours in the bag. supposedly, when you order stuff from out of state and it spends the night in the bag, when you temp acclimate it you can cause dangerous pH swings and I've read that the best thing for them is to get them in clean water A.S.A.P.

Ditto

 

[jimo12]

How long do shrimps live in reef tanks ? I lost my 3 shrimps 1 cleaner 1 boxer 1 Peppermint in 10 day's after 1 1/2 years is it normal? My only issue at that time when they died whas high phosphate

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

How long do shrimps live in reef tanks ? I lost my 3 shrimps 1 cleaner 1 boxer 1 Peppermint in 10 day's after 1 1/2 years is it normal? My only issue at that time when they died whas high phosphate

My fire shrimp and skunk cleaner shrimp on it way to 4 years mark and still going strong!

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

About acclimation:
If I bought online live stock then I just matched the temp then open the bag they will go in DT right away.
If I bought then local then I'll temp matched then drip for 2 hours.
Nothing die for many years.