Last Updated on November 1, 2022.
Acclimating shrimp is a necessary task before moving shrimp between different water conditions. Maybe you’re moving your shrimp to a new tank or maybe you’ve had some shrimp shipped in. You could have just bought some from your local aquatics and have a tank at home waiting for them to jump right into.
In any situation, you must make sure to acclimate your shrimp to avoid any potential problems that can come from moving shrimp around. This detailed guide will cover the acclimating shrimp wherever they’ve come from, in easy to follow steps.
Why do I need to drip acclimate shrimp?
The process of acclimating your shrimp takes away the stress and shock that a shrimp could experience moving to its new home. By acclimating, you give your shrimp time to get used to the water parameters in their new tank, while slowly separating them from the water they’ve come from. It’s always best to acclimate shrimp whenever they move, even if it’s just to another tank in your home.
Water in your home can have many parameters that fluctuate frequently, including water hardness levels and PH levels. These parameters can be vastly different even between two similar tanks. If you’ve actually had shrimp shipped in, they’ll have been adding waste to the small amount of water they’ve been sent in, which could lead to their water parameters being scarily different than yours.
With that in mind, and assuming you’ve tested your water to make sure it’s okay for shrimp to live in, you can use the acclimation process as peace of mind that you’re not going to add to the potential risk of early shrimp death from moving. If you’ve just bought shrimp and brought them home, consider the ride they’ve already been on to get to you. It would be best not to shock them further during their move to a new environment.
What do I need to drip acclimate shrimp?
To drip acclimate shrimp properly, you will need:
- A jug if you’re moving shrimp between two tanks
- A container that will hold your shrimp and the water they came in
- A drip acclimation kit, or:
- Airline tubing to go between your tank and container
- Air switch valve if possible
- 2 suction cup clips
- Shrimp catching net.
How to drip acclimate shrimp – 7 steps
Hopefully, you got everything you need before you purchasing or any new shrimp or prepared anything to move them between tanks. The setup is a very simple yet effective one, even if you’re doing it without an acclimation kit.
1. Dim your lighting
Your shrimp will be coming from a dark environment if they’ve been shipped in or bought at a store and placed in a brown bag. You must make sure you don’t shock them when they come out by dimming your lights enough that you’re still able to see them but won’t cause any immediate shock.
2. Inspect your new shrimp
Once they’re out of the bag or box they came in, the first thing you want to do is take a good look around for any dead shrimp. This is very important because if some shrimp have died during shipment it could mean ammonia has built up in the water, which would now be toxic for your shrimp. It’s a common cause of death for shrimp.
Checking your shrimp for any signs of fungus or parasites is essential. Look for any neon yellow/green branches coming off of the shrimp from under their belly or around their face. Also, check the top of their head for any fuzz or small white parasites that could have attached themselves to your shrimp.
If you find anything suspicious on your shrimp, record video and take photos and immediately send them to the store you bought them from. Prepare yourself to put them in a hospital tank separate from anything else in case you can’t bring them back to your store straight away, or can’t have them sent back.
It’s also a great idea to see if you can tell what gender the shrimp is. If you’re looking to start a growing colony, it’s good to make sure you have an evenish amount of males and females. If you’re unsure whether your shrimp are male or female, we have a guide on how to sex your shrimp.
3. Set up your acclimation container
In the case of having purchased new shrimp from your local aquatics, you’ll have a bag of shrimp with some water and air to keep them safe. This should be placed carefully down on its side somewhere so you can put the parts of your acclimation kit together.
Make space for your container that’s close enough for the length of your airline tubing. Place a suction cup clip in both your container and your new tank, making sure that the suction cup clip in your shrimp’s new home sits higher than the suction cup in the acclimation container. If it can’t be lower for whatever reason, you’ll need to move your container down to a lower surface, because your airline tube needs to act as part of a siphon, and the siphon won’t work if the entry and exit points of the water are at an equal level.
If you’re not able to source suction cups or an air switch valve, don’t worry. These are mostly just “nice to have” but aren’t necessary. Without an air switch valve, just tie a knot at the end of the airline tube to restrict the speed of the water flow down to small drops around every second. This will do the exact same thing, but it’s just a bit more fiddly to do.
4. Prepare to move the shrimp
Measure the length of the airline tube you’ll need to go between your two suction cup clips and cut to size if needed. Attach one end of the airline tubing to the suction cup clip in your new tank, making sure it’s submerged, and put your air switch valve on the other end of the tube, ensuring it’s closed.
If you’re moving shrimp between two tanks, scoop some current tank water to fill just under 25% of your container to prepare to move your shrimp. The amount of water you need to put in depends on the size of your container but I recommend just enough for your shrimp to have a bit of movement. In the case of buying new shrimp, you’ll be pouring the water they came in into your container.
5. Moving your shrimp into your container
Depending on whether you’re moving shrimp between two tanks or bought them from a store, the following step is a little different:
Between two tanks
In the case of moving shrimp between two tanks, now you can start to move your shrimp. Carefully, use your shrimp net to catch your shrimp and move them immediately into your container. If you’re not used to catching shrimp, as long as you have a smaller shrimp net or a larger diameter net with smaller netting, you should have no problem keeping them safe during transfer.
The key to moving shrimp is to be swift and confident. Shrimp like to get jumpy, so in some cases when a shrimp seems very over-stressed about you catching it, cover the top of the net with your hand before you move a shrimp over.
It’s always best to lower your net into the container water while your shrimp is caught, as opposed to turning your net upside down over the container. This allows the shrimp to immediately calm and then you can manoeuvre them out of your net while it’s in the water if they haven’t already swam out of it. It also prevents any situation where a shrimp could jump out in a direction you don’t want it to. Sometimes they just don’t know what’s good for them, so don’t take any chances!
From a store
If your shrimp are from a local store, open your bag carefully, keeping an eye on the corners of the bag that could catch and trap shrimp as air is being left out. Pour the contents of the bag, including the shrimp carefully into your container, making sure no shrimp are left behind or are trapped.
If any become trapped, try to open your bag further to swiftly turn the bag inside out close to the water in the container, to allow your shrimp to easily drop out straight into the water. Alternatively, you can also pour some water out of the bag first, and then use a net to try and scoop them out of your bag. If you’ve ended up with too much water in your container now, just take some of it out to leave plenty of room for new tank water.
6. Start your siphon
Now that your shrimp are all in your new container, it’s time to start the siphon. Ensuring that one end of your airline tube is under the water in your new tank, you can open the air valve and suck on the other end to pull water out of the tank, keeping an eye on the tube to make sure you don’t actually start drinking any of it! As mentioned earlier, if you’re not using an air valve, that’s fine as long as you have a little knot tied at the end of your airline tube going into your shrimp acclimation container.
If successful, you’ll have water coming down the tube from your new tank, and up to the air valve, at which point you can stop sucking and let the water naturally siphon down into your container. Use the air valve to close up the end of the tube to just a small drip and then place that end into your suction cup clip, so small drops of water from your new tank and dripping into your container with shrimp in.
How long do I need to drip acclimate shrimp?
Set your timer for between 1–2 hours, depending on how different your water parameters are between the two tanks. Make sure you come back regularly to check on your shrimp, and also just in case your drip acclimating is filling up the container too fast!
If you notice that it is filling up too quickly, turn down your air valve and monitor it further. Do not walk away for too long during this process. Even though it’s tedious to wait, you can never be too confident. You’re aiming to fill the container with up to 75% new water.
7. Net your shrimp out into their new container
It’s time to net your shrimp out of the container into their new tank. You must net them out, instead of poring the water from the container into your tank, in order to prevent anything in the water that could cause problems if pored into your tank.
It’s time to sit back and enjoy your new shrimp! If you have any issues with them during their arrival, make sure to document them and send photos and videos to your supplier. Other than that, you now know how to acclimate your shrimp into their new home! Congratulations!