Coming up Cherries

I found out last night via USPS.com that my package had arrived yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately, the office had already closed, so the shrimp were going to have to endure 18 more hours of confinement before I'd be able to put them in the tank. I decided to be a little late for work today, so that I could pick u the shrimp when the office opened at 9 AM this morning. After letting the bag temperature equiliberate for 15 minutes, I dumped them in and crossed my fingers.

I thought maybe one of the bigger ones was DOA, but as soon as he descended into the tank, he started swimming away. In fact, I didn't identify a single dead one. They arrived with a nice plant clipping in a Kordon (a division of Novalek) "Breathing Bag" that claims to exchange CO2 (and O2, I guess). It seems to have worked; I'll have to remember that next time I have to transport live specimens. Also, it came with a UniHeat heating pad to make sure the temperature didn't drop to low. Another product pobably worth remembering.

I know there were supposed to be 35; I didn't bother to count, nor could I if I had wanted to. Most of the shrimp were quite small, and shuffling around too much to keep count. When I came home, I was disappointed that I couldn't find more than 10 of them. Considering the number of nooks and crannies, and the ease with which I lost track of them, I wouldn't be surprised if all of them had survived their first hours. In fact, there was a ghost shrimp carcass, and LOTS of bubbling on the CO2 ladder, so I panicked a bit at first.

I think the water quality is sufficient; my main concern for now is susceptibility to a hungry zodiac loach. Some appear to be small enough to be eaten; as of now, it is clear that either he doesn't find them appetizing, or they can elude him. Either that, or he had already eaten his fill, and I was only finding the lucky ones.

I was pretty impressed by how red they have gotten this evening. They were quite pale this morning, having been in a dark box for the last 3-4 days.

Seeing the resiliency of everyone to the very high CO2 output (and the receptiveness of the plants to it), I decided to open up the main valve and tried to pick up the normal pace of bubbles going to both tanks (the 30-gallon isn't pearling and has been experiencing a minor thread algae problem). In order for it to matter to the 30-gallon tank, I went ahead and cleaned the spray bar pipe.