Helping Your Shrimp Settle In: How to Acclimate New Shrimp
Your aquarium is full set up and cycled, and finally got your new shrimp ready to go. But wait, not to fast! Your new shrimp just went through a stressful move. So, if you really want your new shrimp to stay healthy you need to help them adapt to your aquarium’s water parameters.
You do this by acclimatising your newly bought shrimp. Proper acclimation helps the shrimp adjust to the new water parameters in your aquarium, reducing the risk of shock and stress.
Quarantining your shrimp
If you are adding new shrimp to an already existing colony it is important to first quarantine your new shrimp. This ensure that they aren’t carrying any pathogens or parasites that might kill your entire population. If you however are adding shrimp to a new aquarium (no other inhabitants), you can skip this step.
Properly acclimatise your new shrimp
Acclimatising your shrimp can be done in just a few steps. The most important part is that it happens slowly, so be prepared for this to take a couple of hours.
- Air tube (with airline valve) or a small measuring cup
- Big bucket or container
- Shrimp safe net
- Aquarium test kit
Preparation
A good preparation already gets you halfway there. Before you buy your shrimp you should think about which acclimation method is best for you. There are two ways to acclimate your new shrimp.
The easiest method is to drip acclimate your shrimp. This is done by letting the aquarium water slowly drip (1 or 2 drips a second) trough a leftover piece of air tube. The end of the air tube has either a knot or an airline valve to control the amount of water dripping out.
The other method is to manually add small portions of aquarium water every fifteen minutes..
Other preparation steps are:
- Reduce your lighting. Bright lights either from the aquarium or your room can make your new shrimp feel more vulnerable and stressed.
- Move your shrimp to a bigger bucket or container. A bag isn’t practical for acclimating and doesn’t allow you to add a big volume of water. Be careful though when your shrimp have been in the bag for a few days or if the bag is not breathable.
- Test the parameters (pH, GH, KH, EC/TDS) of the shrimps their previous tanks water. This will let you compare them to your own parameters. The bigger the difference the slower and longer you will have to acclimate them.
Acclimatising your shrimp
Now that you have prepared everything and now know what the difference in parameters are, you can start the acclimatisation process.
Now it is time to add your aquarium water to your shrimps via your chosen method. Continue this process until the water parameters match, this can take up to several hours. It is okay to take out portions of the water in the container to bring the water level down, this won’t hinder your progress.
If your tank is heated or cooled you should also temperature acclimate your shrimp before adding them to their tank. If you are adding shrimp to a new aquarium it is easiest to wait with turning the heater on until your shrimp are in their new tank.
Now that the parameters and temperatures match you can finally add your shrimp to their new home. Careful catch the shrimp with a shrimp safe net, making sure to minimise their stress.
As a last step it is important to discard the transport water since it will be higher in ammonia and could carry unwanted new inhabitants like duckweed or snails.
Enjoy your new shrimp
By following all these steps, you helped ensure a smooth and stress-free transition for your new shrimp into their new tank. Now it is time for you to start enjoying pets by spending the next hours watching them explore their new home.
You can read more here on what to do next now that the shrimp have settled in their new place.
