Water Parameters when moving shrimp to new tank

[travellife]

3 nights ago I moved 15 shrimp from a planted 1 gallon jarrarium to a 4 gallon bent glass tank.  The tank has a small PennPlax HOB which was seeded and has been up and running for about 1 month prior to transferring the shrimp.  The jarrarium in which they were born only had Aquasolum substrate, Anubias, and a bunch of java moss.  In the new tank I used black sand for the substrate and added a nice piece of Malaysian Driftwood along with java moss from the jarrarium.  When I first put them in the tank (after drip acclimating for 1-1/2 hours) they were swimming all over checking things out, acting pretty ecstatic about their new home.  This morning their behavior has become very subdued and most of the time I don't even see them (the driftwood has many openings for them to hide in).  A few have already molted.   All water parameters between the 2 tanks were the same with the exception of nitrate and GH/KH levels.  The jarrarium always had 0 nitrates, the new tank has 10ppm.  The jarrarium GH/KH were both 4, the new tank reads 5 for both the GH/KH.  I'm keeping a close eye on them but don't see any signs of stress.  Most are hiding in the driftwood, the others are resting very still in place. 

How long does it generally take for shrimp to acclimate to new surroundings?  They are neocaridina davidi var. orange that were born in the jarrarium so this new environment is a huge change for them.  They've gone from a vertical water column to a horizontal water column that offers major hiding capabilities.  It was nice to be able to view them when they were actively swimming, now they've gone incognito on me.

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[Madmerv]

Hi @travellife

Generally they should be acclimatized within a few hours. Why they are hiding is anybodys guess but unless you are getting problems/deaths you should not worry to much.

A 1 month old tank is not really what i would call mature even with seeded filter media so keep a close eye on the parameters just to make sure the small bioload, mainly your feeding, does not spike anything. Apart from that the tank looks pretty good and i'm sure you will be seeing some shrimpets in there pretty soon.

[travellife]

Hi @Madmerv

They are starting to come out into the open more, crawling over the java moss I transferred from the jarrarium/vase.  I see a lot of fresh molts so that may have been why they were in hiding, that along with the new surroundings.  Very cool that I can finally see them up close and clear, the vase I had them in was heavy leaded glass with a lot of distortion.  Just learned that right before molting they turn whitish including their eyes, like snakes do.   Always something new to learn about these minute critters.

I'll keep a watch on the parameters.  Funny thing, the jarrarium/vase had the most crystal clear water after running 7 months. I was very careful to not overfeed and I think the java moss really helped clarify the water.  That was totally an experiment and my first venture into shrimpkeeping.  I'm hooked now.

Edited June 24, 2017 by travellife
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