Glass Shrimp Questions

Question
I'm going to be starting a 10 gallon aquarium. In my previous experience with glass shrimp they didn't last too long in my brackish water tank. I'd say no longer than a few hours. The weaker ones were dead in about 30 minutes and the stronger were already turning a milky white color. I've heard of people having them survive in pure fresh water. I've tried to slowly acclimate them to fresh water and still lost them all.

The only luck I had with them was in a pure salt water environment. I don't see glass shrimp sold in any of the pet stores here so all glass shrimp is caught from brackish water. Is there something I should treat the shrimp with before putting them in the tank? I've also heard that glass shrimp are burrowers, can they burrow in aquarium gravel(specifically river rock)? What kind of fish coexist without eating the shrimp?  

Answer
Hi Rylance,
I am a bit unsure how to answer this because there are many shrimp that go under the name glass shrimp. Even the common ghost shrimp goes under the name glass shrimp as well? Is this the species you are talking about?

There is also the Amazon Glass shrimp. Which unfortunately I don't know much about. I did find some info on them on this website dedicated to shrimp care-

http://www.petshrimp.com/amazonglassshrimp.html

I'm not sure whether or not that is your species but perhaps it 'could' be. Remember I'm only taking guesses here.

I have a feeling your shrimp is actually what's commonly called "Amano Shrimp" named after the famous aquatic designer Takashi Amano. These shrimp are said to prefer brackish but I have a tendency to say they can adapt because Takashi Amano keeps Amano shrimp in his freshwater planted setups.

I imagine the high death rate -might- be related to some kind of water quality problem. High ammonia, nitrites, nitrates. Or maybe even metals or contaminants in the water.

Then again, you can also get very weak shrimp in the first place and they will not be able to handle the extra stress of all the netting, shipping, and having to acclimate to your water.

With your shrimp vs. brackish tank episode... are you certain they were already living in brackish water when you got them? Are these by mail-order or from the petstore?

If these shrimp are in fact Amano Shrimp then this shouldn't be such a big problem. I'm sure its something simple that can be resolved.

Here's some info on Amano Shrimp-
http://www.theshrimpfarm.com/amano_shrimp.shtml

I hope we can figure this out! Best of luck!
Karen~