8965
Aquarium Advice Activist
i just bought my first cleaner schrimp and i thought everything was going well. the past 3-4 hours it's been on the sand substrate just kind of sitting there, not very active. is this what they call molting? TIA
my new cleaner schrimp
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Not exactly. Molting is the process of sheeding its exosketon. The resulting molt looks just like the live shrimp except its a hollow shell with faded colors. The resulting newly molted shrimp will often hide for a few days until its new exosketon can harden.
The shrimp is probably just getting accustomed to its new enviorment. They dont really move about the tank all that much. Most of the time they setup a 'cleaning station' where they sit and wait a fish to arrive to clean. About the most activity I have seen out of them is when you feed your tank.
The shrimp is probably just getting accustomed to its new enviorment. They dont really move about the tank all that much. Most of the time they setup a 'cleaning station' where they sit and wait a fish to arrive to clean. About the most activity I have seen out of them is when you feed your tank.
8965
Aquarium Advice Activist
there are no fish in the tank as it just cycled....it looked a little better yesterday when i got it than it does today. should i just feed it some generic flake food i have?
dralarms
Aquarium Advice Addict
Mine are all over the tank.
Just drop an algae wafer in front of it. (or close) it should go after it. Mine do.
WarOrks15
Aquarium Advice Addict
they will eat any thing they can find. any thing that you would feed your fish if you had any.
8965
Aquarium Advice Activist
well it's been about 7 hours now in the same spot and i'm pretty sure it's dead....i'll have to get another one this weekend. not sure what i did wrong. all my tests have come in where they should be so maybe it was the source. maybe i'll try another LFS.
austinsdad
Aquarium Advice Addict
How did you acclimate it? They are very sensitive. Most have had success with a slow drip acclimation over hours.
8965
Aquarium Advice Activist
i think that was my problem. it was my first ever acclimation and i did it over a period of about 30 min's. any suggestions on how to do it properly?
austinsdad
Aquarium Advice Addict
Shultz
Aquarium Advice Freak
I'll tell what I did with the 3 cleaners, 1 Blood & 1 peppermint I have......
Put the bag in the tank for 30 mins with it still sealed shut to allow the temp to equalise.
Open bag & hang it off my lid so its still in the water & rig a bit of air tube with air valve on end from a plastic container full of tank water standing on lid, draw water through air tube & slowly close the valve until it drips about 1-2 per sec, put tube into bag & leave like this for 2 hours. you can tie a knot in the air tube to get it to drip but the valves are a lot easier!
you might have to use another bit of airtube to draw some of the water out of the bag every 45mins or so as it gets full, don't put that water back in your tank!!
at the end of 2 hours I slowly tip the bag of water through a fish net into another container until I have the shrimp in the net which is then released straight into the main tank, the water in the containers is then dumped down the drain.
Cheers Shelton.
Put the bag in the tank for 30 mins with it still sealed shut to allow the temp to equalise.
Open bag & hang it off my lid so its still in the water & rig a bit of air tube with air valve on end from a plastic container full of tank water standing on lid, draw water through air tube & slowly close the valve until it drips about 1-2 per sec, put tube into bag & leave like this for 2 hours. you can tie a knot in the air tube to get it to drip but the valves are a lot easier!
you might have to use another bit of airtube to draw some of the water out of the bag every 45mins or so as it gets full, don't put that water back in your tank!!
at the end of 2 hours I slowly tip the bag of water through a fish net into another container until I have the shrimp in the net which is then released straight into the main tank, the water in the containers is then dumped down the drain.
Cheers Shelton.
Check the salinity of the water in the bag. That will give you an idea of how long you need to acclimate for. I do 2 hrs at 1 drop/sec. Then I do an additional hour for every 0.001 difference at 2 drops/sec. Be sure to equalize the temperature every 30 mins if the bag isn't floating in the tank/sump.
8965
Aquarium Advice Activist
well, my schrimp did die and was getting eaten pretty good by my hermits when i woke up. i went out and purchased two more cleaners and they are doing great. from what i was told i make two mistakes;
1. i have read in numerous articles that aquarium schrimps will suffer much less stress if they are in pairs.
2. my acclimation the second time around was much slower at 3 hours as compared to the 25 min' s like the first time around.
a good newbie lessen learned by me :?
1. i have read in numerous articles that aquarium schrimps will suffer much less stress if they are in pairs.
2. my acclimation the second time around was much slower at 3 hours as compared to the 25 min' s like the first time around.
a good newbie lessen learned by me :?
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