Cleaner shrimp acclimation best practice

[Forsaken77]

I have the red & yellow cleaner and just threw him in the tank. Honestly, I thought he'd be eaten by now, but he found a spot where the fish can't reach him and he walks around at night.

 

[Rakie]

I floated them for 30 minutes, then opened them up and poured a cup of my tank water into the bag. Gave it about 20 minutes, emptied a cup of water from the shrimp bag and put in another cup of my tank water. 20 minutes later I put them in the tank. No issues with the flame or cleaner shrimp.

 

[chamjack]

I float for temp, drip acclimate till salinities match my tank, then in they go. I always drip shrimp and stars, but follow reefcleaners instructions for snails and hermits.

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

I just lost a coral banded I’ve had since 2010 last month. I have several fire shrimp pushing their fourth and fifth year marks. I’ve never had a cleaner shrimp last more than two years though so far. Not sure if their lifespan is just shorter or what.

 

[Rakie]

I have the red & yellow cleaner and just threw him in the tank. Honestly, I thought he'd be eaten by now, but he found a spot where the fish can't reach him and he walks around at night.

When I first got my cleaner he was easily bite size, and I thought if my melanurus didn't get him, my fully grown fire shrimp would.. Nope, not only did he get along with the fire shrimp, but next morning when the Melanurus woke up she swam up to him, inspected him, then kinda leaned sideways and put her fins out so the shrimp would clean her. After that he would often hitch rides on her as she went about the tank.

 

[Andreww65]

I buy them from my lfs which is 5 minutes from my house and just drop them in. No problems ever. I’ve had 1 skunk cleaner for almost 3 years.

 

[Forsaken77]

When I first got my cleaner he was easily bite size, and I thought if my melanurus didn't get him, my fully grown fire shrimp would.. Nope, not only did he get along with the fire shrimp, but next morning when the Melanurus woke up she swam up to him, inspected him, then kinda leaned sideways and put her fins out so the shrimp would clean her. After that he would often hitch rides on her as she went about the tank.

Yeah, I made sure to buy a full size one that can't fit in any mouths. I keep seeing his white antennae getting shorter every once in a while. It's either my Blue Throat Trigger, which I've caught nipping at him, or the little Blue Spot Puffer, who would just take chunks out of him, given the chance.

The shrimps walks all around the fish at night though and none go after him. He doesn't clean any either though . I'm still trying to figure out what the heck he's been eating, lol.

 

[n21benson]

I added 2 x peppermint shrimp, straight from the LFS bag into the tank.

Apart from 1 of them back-stroking into an anemone (which I was able to rescue him from) there was no issue.

 

[Rakie]

Yeah, I made sure to buy a full size one that can't fit in any mouths. I keep seeing his white antennae getting shorter every once in a while. It's either my Blue Throat Trigger, which I've caught nipping at him, or the little Blue Spot Puffer, who would just take chunks out of him, given the chance.

The shrimps walks all around the fish at night though and none go after him. He doesn't clean any either though . I'm still trying to figure out what the heck he's been eating, lol.

He's just scavenging, lots of left overs we just don't realize it. They'll also pick off anything they can on the rocks, even pods. I've seen my fire shrimp munching on one of those big anthropods before, so they're opportunistic too. On that note, i've seen a couple baby snails get munched on too.. So they'll go for it if they're hungry. Personally, i feed a good bit, so they always have something to find. Seriously underrated CUC members.

As for cleaning, my shrimp setup a cleaning spot but he was too aggressive for most anything but my big melanurus and they took off when he lunged at them. Mine was a bit of a spaz, he used to flip out when i'd feed but he's calmed some. Once in a blue moon he'll clean a fish, but my neon goby does that mostly. The fish seem to prefer the neon too, because the shrimp scared everything in the tank for the first 3-4 months trying to aggressively clean them.

It's funny the amount of personality you can notice even in a little shrimp.

 

[Daniel Waters]

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

Yes, I would imagine this could have a very large impact on survival rates for various reasons such as the prolonged temperature drop and the buildup of nitrogenous metabolites. Inverts are very prone to PH differences and salinity differences. Shorter acclimation times may be viable, but a lot of that will depend on the water parameters the invert is coming from versus where it is going. Ideally, I'd recommend a drip acclimation procedure for 1.5 hrs to 2 hrs until the container salinity matches tank salinity (and this is for local purchases where specimens are not being subjected to prolonged shipping times in a small amount of water). Highly recommend you read some of Bob Fenner's comments on wet web media on acclimation of shrimp.

 

[Daniel Waters]

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

Yes, I would imagine this could have a very large impact on survival rates for various reasons such as the prolonged temperature drop and the buildup of nitrogenous metabolites. Inverts are very prone to PH differences and salinity differences. Shorter acclimation times may be viable, but a lot of that will depend on the water parameters the invert is coming from versus where it is going. Ideally, I'd recommend a drip acclimation procedure for 1.5 hrs to 2 hrs until the container salinity matches tank salinity (and this is for local purchases where specimens are not being subjected to prolonged shipping times in a small amount of water). Highly recommend you read some of Bob Fenner's comments on wet web media on acclimation of shrimp.

 

[Coralfuture]

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.

I got some liverock from a fellow reefer moving out of state and had him throw a peppermint shrimp in the 60 degree water(didn't know it was so cold till I got home) he gave me to fill my cooler. That shrimp is still alive today after a 1 1/2hr drive home and me just throwing him into the QT tank. (I figured couldn't be worse than what he was dealing with) So yeah shrimp can be really tough.

 

[Scottshopinc]

Float the bag, which I don't even feel is necessary but I do it. Then proceeded to dump contents into aquarium 100% success rate. I see so many posts about people losing fish and inverts while still doing drip acclimation I think it's a waste of time.

 

[Scottshopinc]

I think drip acclimation is a waste of time. Never a loss with just floating and dumping.. drip acclimation success rate is another story

 

[rlman41299]

If the delivery was delayed then you are entitled to a replacement of the livestock. Spending that much of a time inside a bag would spike the ammonia for sure and once you open it becomes toxic to inverts.
Anyway, I don't drip acclimate any inverts also. I do it like most does. Temp acclimate, remove a bit of shipping water and replace with tank water (bag still in sump temp acclimating so no temp fluctuations), after 10 mins repeat with shipping water removal and replace with tank water. Same process for about 30 mins then net and dump. Have not lost any shrimps yet.