Fairy Shrimp

Question
QUESTION: To: Christopher Mark, Karen Fields, Christy, and Erika

Hi Friends,
  Please forgive the Spam-like approach of this message, but I want to make sure you all get it, and I'm sending it individually to the four of you.

Since you've all been so great, and gave me all that great advise that resulted in my achieving such a beautiful and healthy aquarium, I'd like to take advantage of a recent stroke of good fortune, and give you all something back.

I know, I know. You'll tell me payment is not required, and that you help us all cheerfully and for the love of the art.
This not payment, but a combination of gratitude, and selfish interest.

I finally got my hands on Fairy Shrimp eggs (fresh water brine shrimp), very hard to come by item here in the States.
It took months to get them because the original source, TriopsUSA, would not sell me any (why, I don't know), and their distributor in England would not ship them outside of Europe.

As it turns out, I got enough that I can comfortably spare 4 packets, and would like to send one for each of you FREE OF CHARGE (not even shipping).

Gratitude, because as before, you have been so great, and self interest because I'll need a source to buy more if I should muck up trying to breed them myself - LOL (I wont hold you to that though).

If you think you would like to try your hand at raising them, let me know where to send them. I would prefer to send them all to one address in one package, but if need be, I don't mind sending them individually.

Feel free to share them. It would be nice to have them readily available somewhere here in the U.S.

Let me know, Luis
ANSWER: Hi Luis,
I must honestly say thank you for being so thoughtful to all of us! I really appreciate your kind comments and the fairy shrimp offer too!

However, I'm really sorry to say that I currently don't have a suitable tank for the fairy shrimp to be happy and healthy. Currently my life has changed drastically and I've been having to re-do my aquariums and move lots of fish around, I also am raising Angelfish and have two aquariums full of little babies ranging from half an inch to about nickel-sized babies and still growing!

It just wouldn't be fair to have these little critters (the fairy shrimp) and not have them in a suitable tank.

I would feel much better if you kept the extra packet of fairy shrimp eggs yourself to have extras in case say--you lose a batch--then you could easily replace it. I've been researching about these fairy shrimp and they do sound like really neat creatures and I always like the oddballs of aquatic life whether fish, crustacean, ect..

Thank you so much for the offer and I'm really sorry I have to turn you down. You've just got me at a bad time. Think of the packet of shrimp eggs as a "Thank you" to you for taking the time to learn about the wonderful world of fish. Asking questions and all is the best way to learn and the first steps towards being a responsible fishkeeper. I always try to advocate humane ethical fishkeeping as much as possible, and people who take the time to read and ask questions are those I praise greatly for being responsible and care about their fishes health and well-being. So thank you for asking questions, and think of the fairy shrimp as a 'thank you' for being a responsible fishkeeper, I really mean that!

Best wishes,
Karen~

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Karen,
Of course I understand.
To be honest, I didn't expect any of you to accept, and understandably so.
After al I'm basically a stranger.
Did I say basically? - LOL

But I'm the guy that you would see walking bear-chested in the street because I gave someone the shirt of my back - LOL

I'm happy just to be able express my gratitude somehow, and indeed I did.

About the Fairy Shrimp, I put one pack in water 2 days ago,
but the container I used is one that I was breeding Daphnia Magnas in.

I thought I had rinsed it out well, but without scrubbing the algae growing on the surface.

Later I saw a few Daphnias swimming around in there.

Today there are a bunch of something moving in there, but they are so tiny I can't tell if they are shrimp or Daphnias.

To make matters worse, I don't see well up close for long without straining my eyes.

I have a diamond grader's loop, but for some reason the do not get close enough to the glass to be able to accurately ID them.
I guess I'll just have to wait a while till they grow.
I'll let you know how it goes. :-)

Fingers crossed, Luis

Answer
Hi Luis!
I'm so very glad you understand! It's nice to talk with someone who understands and accepts AND is nice because those kind of people tend to be few and far between!

Definitely let us or me know how the Fairy shrimp are doing! What a facinating adventure you are getting into!
Karen~