Fire (blood) Shrimp

[Tommy Gunnz]

Hello everyone!

So, I sent my wife out to get some supplies for a nice weekend sitting around the house doing nothing (our first weekend in almost a year without kids!!!!) and she stopped into an LFS on her way back. They had a fire (blood) shrimp in stock and she knew that I had been trying to order one from another store and so she bought it for me! Great wife, huh?

Anyways, right now it is floating in the bag and I have only my actynic lights on. I am pretty sure that I am just going to stick to the drip method in order to get it acclimated over the next couple of hours, but I thought I would ask if anyone has tips or tricks for me on dealing with shrimp. I have kept FW shrimp before, but this is obviously much bigger and I obviously want this one to survive as long as possible due to its costs and the important job I would like it to perform.

I have everything this shrimp is going to need already (i.e. good water, proper salinity levels, lots of rockwork in which it can hide in, etc...) but I am unfamiliar with how to comply with its Iodine needs. Is this something that I need to buy and add to the water chemistry or is it going to be one of the trace elements in my salt mix? I have been using Kent Sea Salt up until my next water change (probrably going to do it on Wednesday) when I will be changing over to Instant Ocean Reef Crystals, if that helps out.

Thanks for any help you can give me!

 

[Eversurf]

I bought a whole bunch of stuff over the internet (Cleaning crew) and it came with a shimp. I used the drip method for about an hour. The issue I ran into was that the house is faily cold and the water temp was a few degress lower in the dripping bucket. I kept pouring full cups of tank water in the bucket toward the end to try to raise the temp. That didn't work so well as far as raising the temp but it did keep it steady. I then used the same bag the shrimp came in and put it back in the bag with the dripping bucket water and let it sit for another 15 min floating in the tank to make the temp equal.

That was my first time and it seemed to work fine. I just dropped him in there and he as been eating since that day.

Have fun!!!

 

[Tommy Gunnz]

Eversurf,

Thanks for the reply and your insight from your experience. This may also be a good tip for you, but I went out and purchased one of the same little plastic things that a LFS uses to catch fish and transport them to their area at which they put the livestock into bags and that sort of thing. This works well for me becasue I simply hang it on the inside of the tank and open the bag up with my new addition. I then do sort of the opposite of the drip method and allow the water from the store to drip into a bucket and I slowly replace it with the tank's water. This keeps both of the water temps the same and the mess is usually limited. This system would also work with one of those plastic, more rigid, breeder's tanks that many people use to put fry in to keep them seperated from the moms and dads while keeping them in the same tank. You just have to ensure that the bag doesnt have a whole in it and that the other fish in the tank cannot bite at the bag through the small holes or slits in the plastic that allows the water to pass through the container. I found this to be a great help to me a few times now.

Unfortunatly, I was unable to quarenteen this shrimp since I have a possible preditor of it in my q-tank downstairs and so I am taking a risk with just putting it into the tank "as is". Now that I have it fully in the tank, I am having second thoughts about it and wish I would have kept it seperated for a while. I am not sure if this is a good thing or not, but this particular shrimp spent no time in the LFS's tanks and was picked up right after being delivered by the store's vendor. I hope this reduces the likelihood of bringing Ich or another problem to my tank. I called the LFS, who put me in contact with the vendor and they stated that their tanks are all healthy and have multiple filtration systems, including being full of RO/DI water which is constantly being run through a series of UV sterilizers. Not sure how much I can take them on their word, but I guess I will find out soon enough.

 

[Eversurf]

I have the same feeling as you when I put stuff in my tank. "I wish I had done this a different way" but you use the best of your knowledge there you are.

I think you should be fine

Good luck

 

[Tommy Gunnz]

Well, all looks good with the fire shrimp. It spent a little bit of time in the corner of the tank but I think that was because as soon as I released it for good, I turned the white lights back on in the tank. Later, once I realized how silly that was, I turned them off and the shrimp went into the live rock. I have finally found its little home and can see it pretty easily in a cave. My flame angel has been requesting a cleaning quite a bit but I am not sure if the shrimp has obliged just yet.

I am getting really happy with the looks of this tank now and I am excited to start getting it up to what I really want it to be. I am fighting myself hard to not do a water change today since my new water with the reef crystals have only been curing for a day so far. I have a store that has told me they can get me any coral I want within three days of when I order it. So, that helps a whole bunch. One of the best smaller 'mom and pop' LFS in my area just went out of business and so that was a big hit to my future plans but it looks like this other store can pick up the slack for me.

 

[cedyced]

Your shrimp should be just fine. Getting him before he went in the tank at your LFS was a good thing. That was he doesn't go through the stressful acclamation process twice. (at your LFS, then at your house). I always use the drip system for a couple of hours and I turn off all of my pumps and lights. I've never had a problem yet (as long as the fish don't have ick. I'll never buy from Petco again... Anyway
like I said he should be fine. Another thing I do is after I add any new "family" to the tank, I drop some food in right away. It's like a "welcome to the neighborhood" thing. That seems to always work for me, because the new fish forget all about their new surroundings because their focused on eating..