Best way to acclimate crabs,shrimp?

[Bcb577]

So I cannot keep an crab or shrimp alive for more than 24hours and its frustrating! I've tested my waters and had the water checked by my lfs and they say my water is within parameters and they actually replaced the first shrimp due to what they said wasn't my fault.this has been a few weeks ago but can't recall what the numbers where ,before I have had green emerald Prasad peppermint shrimp with no problems,so I think I'm acclimating wrong or not long enough,there's lots of info out there all from just open the bag and throw them in to drip acclimating,I need the best way as I'm wanting these I in my tank!

[fishfreak0114]

A slow drip, over the course of an hour-hour and a half is good because they are sensitive animals. Let the water volume double, then take half out. And then let it double again. I usually do this in a container, and I have to float it on the surface of my tank for a while to get the temp the same. I've never lost a shrimp or crab from acclimation other than one hermit. And I think it actually died before I got home.

[Bcb577]

Ok next time ill do that I was only doing a half hour to forty five minutes,and I was following some bad advice.I was floating them which is good,but then I'd put them in a container and putting a third of a cup of tank water in every few minutes and was closer to a half hour! No wonder they died!! Thanks

[niQo]

Ok next time ill do that I was only doing a half hour to forty five minutes,and I was following some bad advice.I was floating them which is good,but then I'd put them in a container and putting a third of a cup of tank water in every few minutes and was closer to a half hour! No wonder they died!! Thanks

I don't see anything wrong with that. I never drip acclimate. I float the bag for about 10-15 min. Then I open it, remove some of the water and add about 1 cup of tank water per 10 min and remove a cup of water from the bag. I do that about 4 times.

[Mariaface]

So what were the test results for the water?

[Tamberav]

I don't see anything wrong with that. I never drip acclimate. I float the bag for about 10-15 min. Then I open it, remove some of the water and add about 1 cup of tank water per 10 min and remove a cup of water from the bag. I do that about 4 times.

 

We don't know anything about the water of his LFS and the water of his tank so what may work for you, may not work for him. Slow drip of shrimp/inverts is much safer advice when dealing with unknowns.

 

For example, a Petco I visited sells sexy shrimp, but if you didn't drip them A LONG TIME, they will surely die, that petco's parameters are very different from what we run our reef tanks, even though they have nems/corals.

[niQo]

 

We don't know anything about the water of his LFS and the water of his tank so what may work for you, may not work for him. Slow drip of shrimp/inverts is much safer advice when dealing with unknowns.

 

For example, a Petco I visited sells sexy shrimp, but if you didn't drip them A LONG TIME, they will surely die, that petco's parameters are very different from what we run our reef tanks, even though they have nems/corals.

Do you think Petco drip acclimated those sexies?

[Mariaface]

Do you think Petco drip acclimated those sexies?

 

 

I think Petco got them from a facility that matches their parameters and still drip acclimated them, yes.

 

EDIT: Wait, don't they own LA now?

[Tamberav]

Do you think Petco drip acclimated those sexies?

 

Their little pamphlet even says "Drip acclimation is highly recommended". They either drip, the shipping water is close to theirs, or they have dead shrimp.

 

 

I was just trying to point out what works for one person doesn't always work for others. I have seen people say its okay to use Tap water or its okay to not QT "because they never had problems". While that is true for some people, its better to take the safe than sorry approach when you don't know everything about that persons tank or their livestock.

[RobSpeed13]

Not saying i may have had to go to work one day and just let the bag sit in my tank while getting ready, then tore it open and put the shrimp in before work lol. He was a trooper though as my cleaner shrimp is still alive to this day even when i was in a hurry.

[Mariaface]

High levels of ammonia in the bag will make drip acclimation dangerous, but I don't think this would've built up in the short trip from the LFS to your home..

[niQo]

Just to be clear, I'm not saying drip acclimating isn't good. When done properly it's the best way as it's slow and consistent. Still, almost the same can be accomplished by adding and removing water every few minutes, this can be done very slow too.

 

Either way, without more information it's pure speculation about what may have caused the death of these inverts.

[Tamberav]

Just to be clear, I'm not saying drip acclimating isn't good. When done properly it's the best way as it's slow and consistent. Still, almost the same can be accomplished by adding and removing water every few minutes, this can be done very slow too.

 

Either way, without more information it's pure speculation about what may have caused the death of these inverts.

 

Yes, truth, it could not be acclimation at all.

 

I guess my course of action would be to do a slow acclimation, if the inverts are still an issue, than it may be the LFS who is not acclimating properly too depending how long they had them.

[Bcb577]

I appreciate all the input,all the inverts where new to the store and since my way hasn't worked ill at least give drip acclimating a shot

[John L]

Not saying i may have had to go to work one day and just let the bag sit in my tank while getting ready, then tore it open and put the shrimp in before work lol. He was a trooper though as my cleaner shrimp is still alive to this day even when i was in a hurry.

 

If your sure your water params are good, try just sitting bag in tank for 10 mins to match temp, then net / carefully lift them out and straight in tank. I feel drip acclimation etc kind of prolongs the stress in a bag, just get them straight in and settled.

 

Touch wood I've never had ANY issues with this so far. Sexy shrimp/cleaner shrimp/emerald crab/, all my fish x 5, all corals softies, SPS, LPS absolutely NO issues what so ever and all doing great. I think sometimes you can go over the top? Or maybe I'm just lucky lol!

[John L]

Ofcourse I'm not saying drip acclimation is bad, its good to be careful and have done it in the past with other tanks. I just gave my current method a go under careful observation of my inhabitants, and thats just what i do now, and seems to be working for me.

[ReefWeeds]

I drip acclimate shrimp and crabs for about an hour. Haven't lost one yet.

[Bcb577]

All great ideas to ponder,but I just don't get it,I've had some hermits and and other inverts I just added to the same tanks,I've had two cleaner shrimp die after 24hrs in one tank,then I lost an emerald crab in my other in 24 hours but I have inverts like snails and such in both talk s that I've had for six months or longer,I'm kinda leaning to my lfs being at fault?all I have to go by are my water tests from my apt kit and one magnesium test kit to go by,according to my new tests tonight everything is great in my tanks,I even keep my salinity the same as the lfs where I buy my livestock from?

[Mariaface]

So what were the results from all the tests you have? Do you run carbon filtration? Has anything ever started to rust in your tank?

[Bcb577]

Phosphates tested 0 but I have and api test kit,calcium 420,magnesium was 1450,nitrates 0 ,dkh was 9 supposed to be between 8-12,

Sorry nothing rusted that I can tell

[ReefWeeds]

What are you using for top off water? Sorry if you already addressed this. Hard to read up the chain on my phone.

[Bcb577]

Di water that I've used from the same store for about a year now

[Sancho]

The only thing I acclimate anymore are inverts. I fill up my little turkey baster and squirt water in my acclimation Tupperware every 5 mins or so. An hour seems to be sufficient.

[Mariaface]

What are you using to measure salinity?

[John L]

Have you measured the di water yr buying for quality with TDS meter?

I used to get rodi from a lfs I used. I upgraded to my own small rodi unit to help with costs/ transport, and tested out of curiosity the lfs water, it was far from pure. Maybe there's a chemical or something in it that's affecting yr inverts.