Cherry shrimp are hardy within their tank and fragile outside it. A colony that has thrived for a year can be lost in a single journey if the water at the other end differs sharply in temperature or mineral content, because a shrimp's body is in constant negotiation with the water around it and a sudden change can trigger a failed molt. Everything in a good shrimp move follows from that: keep the water familiar, keep changes slow, and measure success in the week after the move rather than on arrival day.
Take their water and their world with them
Fill a sturdy container with a generous volume of the colony's own tank water; shrimp travel better with water to spare. Add a clump of moss or a leafy plant clipping from their tank. The plants do three jobs: the shrimp cling to them instead of being swirled around, they graze the biofilm on the leaves during the journey, and a berried female tucked into moss travels far more calmly than one exposed in open water. When catching them, herd them gently into a cup or small jug rather than pursuing individuals with a net; nets crush legs and stress egg-carrying females at exactly the wrong moment. Fasting is unnecessary for shrimp, but do not add food to the travel water.
Keep the journey boring
Dark, still and temperature-stable is the whole brief. Keep the container in the car cabin, insulated against both summer heat and winter cold, and never in the trunk. Cherry shrimp tolerate a range of temperatures in a settled tank, but it is the swing during transit, warm car to cold doorstep, that harms them. If the move is long, an insulated box earns its place. At stops, leave them alone; opening the lid to check teaches you nothing and changes the temperature every time.
Acclimate at the new home drop by drop
This is the step that decides the move. Set the container beside the new tank and add the new water a little at a time, ideally a slow drip over one to two hours, until the volume has at least doubled and the two waters have effectively become one. Then net or cup the shrimp out gently and release them low, beside plants and moss, with the tank lights dimmed. Do not chase a head count; shrimp hide after disturbance and an honest census is impossible for days. Expect a wave of molts in the first few days as the colony adjusts, and empty molt shells on the substrate are a sign of life, not death. Worry instead about repeated actual deaths across the first week: test the new tank's water, compare it against the old readings, and correct any mismatch slowly, seeking specialist shrimp-keeping or aquatic veterinary advice if losses continue.
The colony's KinsLe Pet Passport, holding its settled temperature, its hardness readings and its feeding notes, turns the new setup from guesswork into matching, so the water waiting at the new home is the water the shrimp already know.