Easy Steps to Acclimate Shrimps
You have to acclimate your shrimps! Yes, it is mandatory and one of the most important procedures to follow for any shrimp keeper. In fact, acclamation is very essential to follow for any tank mate. Not performing proper acclamation could get your shrimps into shock and cause a lot of stress. You need to acclimate your shrimps for at least 2 to 2.5 hours. This will help the shrimp accumulate to the new tank water, PH scale, and parameters. Acclimate your shrimps by keeping them in a separate container with a continuous flow of water droplets (2-3 drops per second) from an existing aquarium tank into the container.
Why You Should Acclimate Your Shrimps?
The shrimps are not stressed, they get adjusted to the water parameters, they are protected from getting distressed by osmotic shock, they show increased life span, and prevents the parasites to enter the new tank.
- Shrimps are not stressed
- They get adjusted to the new water parameters.
- Protects the shrimps from getting distressed like an osmotic shock.
- Increased lifespan of the shrimps
- Prevents the parasites from entering the new tank.
Following these Steps Is Essential To Properly Acclimate Your Shrimps Or Any Other Tank Mates
1. Planning The Day of Purchase
Planning out the day of shrimp purchase is essential when you are buying shrimp from an online store. you need to make sure that you are at home during the date of delivery so you are able to remove them from the package and acclimate them properly.
In the same way, whenever you buy shrimps from a pet store make sure you have enough time once you reach home to acclimate and quarantine your shrimps. Since we spend a lot of money buying the shrimps, we would not want them to die Under carelessness.
2. Keep Your Tank Prepared
Before you add in your shrimps once the water acclimation is done, make sure that you adjust the water parameters as per the needs to prevent any faults and help the streams adjust to their new environment easily.
Also, make sure that you have the so-table tankmates for your shrimps. Aggressive fishlike angelfish, barbs, or certain catfish could be violent and stress out your shrimps. Big fish will end up making your shrimp their food, so make sure you know your shrimp tank mates before adding your shrimp into their new home.
Some suitable tank mates for your shrimps are:
- Amano shrimps
- Tetras
- Clown pleco
- Corydoras
- Guppies
- Rasboras
- Otocinclus catfish
You can refer to our detailed list of ‘Top 11 tank mates for Shrimps’.
4. Water Temperature
Temperature is the most crucial aspect of the aquarium and needs to be in the right range for the health of the shrimps. If the temperature of the new tank lies within a 5-degree difference from the temperature of the water of the shrimps that you bought, it is safe to add the shrimps into the tank.
Having a larger temperature difference can lead the shrimp or any other fish to suffer from a temperature shock and die. Or at the very least get them extremely stressed out.
5. Unboxing the Shrimp
Some important things needed for the drip acclimation include:
- Tubing airline pipe
- Control nozzle
- Spare tank or bucket
- Shrimp net
The above tools will suffice for a complete set of drip acclimation accessories found in pet stores.
Once the temperature is checked and the shrimps are now in the acclimation setup container or tank, you need to grab your ‘airline tubing, nozzle control, bucket or bowl container, and the fish net close to you.
- Connect one end of the tubing to the nozzle control and add it into the bucket or container of new shrimps, and add the other end of the tubing to the aquarium.
- Suck the nozzle end of the tubing so the water starts flowing through the tubing from the aquarium into the container.
- Once the water starts flowing into the container, make sure you adjust the drops with the nozzle and allow only 2-3 drops to fall every second.
- Let the water fill the shrimp container till it reaches ‘4 times’ the shrimp container water. This water level shall be sufficient to acclimate the shrimps into the new aquarium.
6. Adding Shrimps into the Tank
Once the drip acclimation is done for up to 2-3 hours, it’s time for you to transfer your new shrimps into their new home.
Makes sure that the light of the aquarium is off kept off to avoid stressing out the shrimps.
Now start taking the shrimp out of their container with the fish net and add them one by one into their new home.
Always note that it is recommended for you to not add the acclimated water in the shrimp container into the aquarium as there are chances of it having unnecessary bacteria, parasites, or other fungi. Thus, take these precautions and add your shrimps just with the net one by one into their new home. Make sure that your shrimp container is at a lower surface level than their new home during acclimation as it allows an easy flow of water from a higher level to a lower level.
