Transporting of Shrimps

[Maru]

Hi all

I had never bought any shrimps before and intend to add some to my newly cycled tank over the next few days after i double check my water parameters to be stable.

Questions :
How long can i keep the shrimps in those bags frm LFS/Fish farm? Would a journey of an hour back home kill/harm them?

Is the snowball shrimps as hardy as RCS? Nowadays like not easy to find RCS (saw alot of yamatos and CRS at my LFS).

Basically they eat anything right? Doesnt have to be those packaged shrimp food right? I heard of people feeding them raw lettuce and garlic.

THanks in advance!

[Urban Aquaria]

The shrimps can usually be kept in the pre-packed bags for up to a day, they will be okay with the travel time from LFS to your home (just don't leave them in the bag for too long or under hot sun which will heat up the water).

Once you reach home, you should open the bag immediately and pour the shrimps and their bag water into a temporary container or tank (those plastic "guppy brand" tanks are suitable).

If you are not adding them to your main tank yet, then just keep the shrimps in the temporary tank... gradually add de-chlorinated water to increase the water volume, that will help slow down the accumulation of ammonia levels in the water. Every day do a water change to help reduce ammonia building up.

Running an airstone or sponge filter in the temporary tank will also help oxygenate the water and increase the shrimp's survival rate during the transition.

When its time to transfer the shrimps over to the main tank, make sure to do a drip acclimation process (1-2 hours should be enough) beforehand so that they have sufficient time to adjust to the new tank conditions.

Snowball shrimps are a more unique color variation, so they tend to be alot less common than the other shrimps, i guess you just have to keep check around to find them. They are supposedly quite adaptable too (like RCS), so the care requirements should be similar.

Shrimps are generally not fussy about food, they can be fed fish food or shrimp food, algae wafers, clean vegetables etc, just have to make sure not to overfeed or it'll quickly pollute the water... shrimp don't usually need much additional food as they typically forage on algae and bio-film in the tank.

[Maru]

Wow UA u are everywhere LOL.

Thanks. Was just worried that the transportation process will kill them due to the possible violent movement of the waters in the bag or the heat of our weather. Will drip acclimatise them upon reaching home by putting them into the pineapple tarts container (thoroughly cleaned). Yep, saw them at greenchapter but not at Y618. Some forums even suggested feeding garlic to them to improve their immunity and health thats why i asked about garlic/veg :P I got quite a bit of green hair (or thread) algae on my tank now, plus some copepods. Shld have enough food for 10shrimps LOL

[nicholasliao]

So snowball shrimps wont cross breed with rcs?

[Urban Aquaria]

So snowball shrimps wont cross breed with rcs?

Snowball shrimps are neocaridina species, so there may be a chance they can cross breed with RCS (which are also neocaridina species).