# How to keep shrimps alive when ones away on holidays



## d0pey (May 7, 2012)

Soak some Indian almond leave(s) and chuck them in! Mine slowly eats it way..


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

The biggest threat will come from the temps.

Supplement the tank with lots of moss, add an airstone to help with water circulation. This will also help keep the tank cooler and remove any dead spots within.

Your sakuras likely fed off the crs. Crystals are intolerant of heat for which I shared a similar experience with earlier this year.

Indian almond leaves left at various stages af decay would be good as well. Place on in two weeks prior to vacation and a new one the day of departure. Perform a water change two days prior as well.


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## Kunsthure (Aug 2, 2010)

First off I'm sorry about your losses. 

I third the Indian almond leaves. Shrimp can pick on those for ages. Soak first to 1) get them to sink and 2) try to release the tannins so your pH doesn't drop too much. 

I'm interested in how you set up and automatic water refiller. That sounds really complicated. 

-Lisa


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

I think the main issues that arise when people leave are temperature, decreasing water height, and food.

Since you said you have a chiller and a fan to keep the temperature stable you're fine in that category. You also said you have automatic water adder so you're good there as well. And for food, since your tank is heavily planted I would drop in some IAL as others have said and let them slowly eat it.

Question though... are your fish and shrimp in the same tank? Any chance your auto feeder is feeding your fish too much food and causing your CRS to die?


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## Rony11 (Jan 21, 2012)

diwu13 said:


> I think the main issues that arise when people leave are temperature, decreasing water height, and food.
> 
> Since you said you have a chiller and a fan to keep the temperature stable you're fine in that category. You also said you have automatic water adder so you're good there as well. And for food, since your tank is heavily planted I would drop in some IAL as others have said and let them slowly eat it.
> 
> Question though... are your fish and shrimp in the same tank? Any chance your auto feeder is feeding your fish too much food and causing your CRS to die?


My fish are in a hi-tech planted tank with chiller. My CRS and fire,sakura shrimps are in a low tech planted tank. 
The hi-tech plants has a good amount of fertilizers added everyday simply not suitable for shrimps. 

I do not keep fish and shrimps in the same tank. Both tanks are heavily planted. 

There is no chiller for my shrimps tanks only fans and automatic water filler. If I had a chiller I wouldn't be worried at all. I fear the heat within the house will rise when my house is closed.


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## Xforce (Aug 17, 2011)

The heat is one issue thats needs to be solved but I also believe that CRS are more sensitive to the food matter and thats another issue .. 
They are just a lot more spoiled (Particularly in the high grades ) than the Sakura and more than few days witout food might become a problem too . 
You can use automatic feeder to throw food every few days and cover that side of the story as well :icon_bigg
Mosura and Broneowild have a long pieces of food and I believe it is possible to use it for feeding them successfully with the feeder .

btw :
I know someone who can help you ventilate the house while you're away roud:


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## Rony11 (Jan 21, 2012)

btw :
I know someone who can help you ventilate the house while you're away roud:[/QUOTE]

I have a better idea. I can bring my CRS with the tank, fans and water to you. :angel:
U have so many tanks one more wouldn't matter right!!! 

Seriously what do you do when you go away for holidays we stay a few blocks away from each other same weather, temperature fluctuaions, etc?


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

Another thing to check is your spray bars (if you use them), make sure they are tight and held in place well. This happened to me last night when I checked my tanks, one spray bar somehow got loose and shot water at a 45 degree upward. It shot the water to the opposite glass wall near the rim and splashed some percentage of water out of the tank (lost about 1 gallon of water in a few hours). Made a big mess behind the tank and it had to spray the water on the power bar. The power bar was soaking wet when I saw it. I can't imagine if I had been away for a few days what would happen. Shrimps dying and water on floor is one thing, wet power bar causing fire hazard would be a real disaster.


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## Xforce (Aug 17, 2011)

Rony11 said:


> have a better idea. I can bring my CRS with the tank, fans and water to you. :angel:
> U have so many tanks one more wouldn't matter right!!!


 
Its never enough tanks for me and I brought my wife to a point she cannot notice the difference anymore so yhea np ! bring it over :icon_lol: 
but seriously now , You can also set the timer of the of air conditioner for hottest hours of the day even just for two hours to pass
the dangerous time of the day when the temp reach the peak .
If you do not have a timer in the air conditioner you can buy an outlet digital timer for the the air conditioner and use it instead .


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## Ryi (Mar 29, 2009)

For what it's worth:

We just got back from a 10 day vacation. We did what Xforce recommends: set the air conditioning to run mid-day, but to keep the temperature fairly constant. The cost of a digital programmable thermometer is much less than the cost of the heartbreak coming home to cooked shrimp.
My father-in-law came by and fed cats and tank-inhabitants. I picked up some daily pill-minders from a local pharmacy and used one for each tank. The daily ration of food went in each compartment, marked by the day (M,T,W, etc) He started feeding 2 days after we left and ran out of food one day before we came back. If we had been gone longer I would have spaced the feedings to alternate days. The portioned amounts kept him from dumping spoonfuls in (as he did on our last vacation).
I don't trust autofeeders, I've heard too many stories of slight malfunctions turning into tragedies.
I know this is very basic, you're operating at a level much higher than I am. Just thought I'd offer a suggestion of what worked in my situation.

(_edit_: all three nanos are mixed fish/shrimp, hence the food. The bigger tank is fish/planted/shrimpless only and food was necessary there)


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

Leave lights on 24 hours, they won't lack food


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