Your shrimp have arrived: how to acclimate them and what to do in the first days

Your shrimp travel to you in a bag for more than a day. The water in the bag changes during that time, and if you pour it straight into the tank together with the shrimp, some of them will not survive the difference. Acclimation takes about an hour. Here is how we do it and how we advise you to do it.

First, photos, without opening the bags

As soon as you receive the parcel, photograph the closed bags so that the shrimp inside are visible. If any of them did not survive the journey, write to us within 2 hours of delivery with your order number and the photos: on that basis we compensate the losses. Without a photo of the closed bag, unfortunately, we cannot confirm that a shrimp died in transit.

Acclimation with the drip method

• Dim the light in the room and switch off the tank light. After the darkness of the box, shrimp are frightened by bright light.
• Float the closed bag on the tank water for 15–20 minutes so the temperature evens out.
• Pour the shrimp with their water into a clean bowl or jar.
• Start adding tank water little by little: drip it through airline tubing (2–3 drops per second) or add a tablespoon every few minutes.
• When there is 2–3 times as much water in the bowl as at the start, after 40–60 minutes, net the shrimp into the tank.
• Don't pour the water from the bag or the bowl into the tank.

There is no need to stretch acclimation over several hours. Once the bag is open, the water in it starts to change, and a long wait does more harm than good.

The first day

Don't feed on the first day. After the journey the shrimp hide, and the food will just be left to rot. You can leave the tank light off until the next day. Don't worry if the shrimp look pale: after the journey and in new surroundings their colour often fades, and it comes back after a few days.

The first week

It is normal if the shrimp stay in hiding for a few days and then start crawling around actively. It is normal if some of them moult in the first days: a change of water often triggers moulting. An empty shell does not mean the shrimp has died.

Why shrimp die after the move

• The tank was set up recently, and there is ammonia or nitrite in the water. This is the most common reason.
• The shrimp were poured into the tank straight away, without evening out the water.
• There is copper in the water, from fertilisers, medicines or old pipes.
• The tank is overheated, above 28 °C.
• A big water change or a filter clean was done right after the shrimp were added.

If one shrimp out of twenty dies in the first days, unfortunately that does happen. If several die every day, check the water with test kits and write to us, and we will work it out together.