Thanks! I agree. I love seeing pictures of everyone's tanks.
To answer your question, I started off with about 50. If all of the babies survive and grow up, I'd expect to have about 100. All the while they're still reproducing. I didn't think they'd reproduce this fast!
My new Opae Ula tank
Moderator: Mustafa
Re: My new Opae Ula tank
It all depends on everyone's situation, but once they get going...they get going.AndyH wrote:I didn't think they'd reproduce this fast!
As long as your conditions remain favorable (tank remains cycled, not too much and not too little food) they will continue reproducing...all the time.Re: My new Opae Ula tank
Hello everyone and Happy 2017. Looks like the last time I posted here was summer of 2013. Wow 
Just wanted to give a couple of updates and contribute some information and observations in the hope that it will benefit others interested in this hobby!
I've still got the 3 gallon cube tank and everything has been going well. I will post some pictures later to show how the tank has progressed through the years.
Water/Salinity - The tank is at 1.010 salinity. I normally keep it around 1.010 to 1.012 and have had success. Only ever had to top off the tank with some distilled water. Water clarity is still really good, and I've never done any water changes. Never had any kind of sponge filter or bubbler or anything like that.
Lighting/Algae - I don't believe that I found the correct balance of light (appears to have been a little bit too much) as the once dark green macroalgae has since turned light greenish yellow, disintegrated, spread along the entire floor of the tank, and started slightly growing again. Interesting that under the "wave" of black lava rock, where the light doesn't reach, the macroalgae returned to the nice green color. Regardless, I have not had a problem with hair algae. I've had the light on a timer so that it's on about 14 hours and off about 10. Making a change to move the light slightly further away from the tank and going back to a 12 hour on 12 hour off routine.
Feeding - I've put food in the tank once every three weeks. Thinking of changing this to once every 4 weeks. I've been using the same jar of food this whole time; thinking about getting a new package.
Breeding - There has been slow but constant breeding over the years. My number of shrimp has obviously increased, but there was never a huge boom in the population. Same goes with the snails.
Rocks/Substrate - The lava rock "wave" that I built is still intact and never had any structural issues, which is a nice surprise. However, the substrate was once solid white on one side of the tank and solid black on the other side of the tank. It's now completely mixed black and white because of the snails digging around in the substrate.
Cover/Tank walls - The cover of my tank had a feeding hole in it. Twice during the time since I last posted here, I had a lizard fall into the tank. Decided to cover the feeding hole with some mesh to stop anything like that from happening again. As far as the tank walls go, they've not been overrun by hair algae, but there has been an outbreak of super small pale green plantlife. You'll have to see the pictures and judge for yourself what you believe it is. I was concerned at first, but they have not caused any harm to the shrimp or snails in the past 5 to 7 months. They're unsightly, but they can easily be scraped off of the inside of the tank walls using a plastic scraper.
Other creatures - Decided not to mess with the hermit crabs again because their feeding schedule is so much different than the shrimp. They also seem to harass the snails. Although they are nice additions to the tanks while they're alive, I do not recommend because they are not a long term partner for the shrimp.
As far as plans for the future, I am going to be moving this summer. I have moved with the shrimp once before. Last time I basically prepped the tank, stuck it in the car with me, and placed it in it's new location with no issues. This time I would like to set up a new tank at the new place, put the shrimp in a transportation baggie, put them in the new tank, then slowly disassemble the old tank. The new tank will be a 10 gallon, it'll be a solid black substrate with pieces of lava rock mixed in, and there will be a white limestone/coral rock wall along the side or rear wall of the tank. No black lava rock "wave" this time. I am still debating, but I think I am going to use Mustafa's moss balls in the new tank rather than the macroalgae. I think the key to success with the new tank is to build upon my lessons learned, but not to make any drastic changes since I've been successful to date.
Anyways, I look forward to posting some pictures here soon. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have about my tank. Thanks
Just wanted to give a couple of updates and contribute some information and observations in the hope that it will benefit others interested in this hobby!I've still got the 3 gallon cube tank and everything has been going well. I will post some pictures later to show how the tank has progressed through the years.
Water/Salinity - The tank is at 1.010 salinity. I normally keep it around 1.010 to 1.012 and have had success. Only ever had to top off the tank with some distilled water. Water clarity is still really good, and I've never done any water changes. Never had any kind of sponge filter or bubbler or anything like that.
Lighting/Algae - I don't believe that I found the correct balance of light (appears to have been a little bit too much) as the once dark green macroalgae has since turned light greenish yellow, disintegrated, spread along the entire floor of the tank, and started slightly growing again. Interesting that under the "wave" of black lava rock, where the light doesn't reach, the macroalgae returned to the nice green color. Regardless, I have not had a problem with hair algae. I've had the light on a timer so that it's on about 14 hours and off about 10. Making a change to move the light slightly further away from the tank and going back to a 12 hour on 12 hour off routine.
Feeding - I've put food in the tank once every three weeks. Thinking of changing this to once every 4 weeks. I've been using the same jar of food this whole time; thinking about getting a new package.
Breeding - There has been slow but constant breeding over the years. My number of shrimp has obviously increased, but there was never a huge boom in the population. Same goes with the snails.
Rocks/Substrate - The lava rock "wave" that I built is still intact and never had any structural issues, which is a nice surprise. However, the substrate was once solid white on one side of the tank and solid black on the other side of the tank. It's now completely mixed black and white because of the snails digging around in the substrate.
Cover/Tank walls - The cover of my tank had a feeding hole in it. Twice during the time since I last posted here, I had a lizard fall into the tank. Decided to cover the feeding hole with some mesh to stop anything like that from happening again. As far as the tank walls go, they've not been overrun by hair algae, but there has been an outbreak of super small pale green plantlife. You'll have to see the pictures and judge for yourself what you believe it is. I was concerned at first, but they have not caused any harm to the shrimp or snails in the past 5 to 7 months. They're unsightly, but they can easily be scraped off of the inside of the tank walls using a plastic scraper.
Other creatures - Decided not to mess with the hermit crabs again because their feeding schedule is so much different than the shrimp. They also seem to harass the snails. Although they are nice additions to the tanks while they're alive, I do not recommend because they are not a long term partner for the shrimp.
As far as plans for the future, I am going to be moving this summer. I have moved with the shrimp once before. Last time I basically prepped the tank, stuck it in the car with me, and placed it in it's new location with no issues. This time I would like to set up a new tank at the new place, put the shrimp in a transportation baggie, put them in the new tank, then slowly disassemble the old tank. The new tank will be a 10 gallon, it'll be a solid black substrate with pieces of lava rock mixed in, and there will be a white limestone/coral rock wall along the side or rear wall of the tank. No black lava rock "wave" this time. I am still debating, but I think I am going to use Mustafa's moss balls in the new tank rather than the macroalgae. I think the key to success with the new tank is to build upon my lessons learned, but not to make any drastic changes since I've been successful to date.
Anyways, I look forward to posting some pictures here soon. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have about my tank. Thanks
Re: My new Opae Ula tank
Looks like most of the old pictures I posted in this thread have disappeared. 
This flickr album shows a couple of pictures:
https://flic.kr/s/aHskRPVGPz
-March 2013
-June 2013
-December 2015
-A closeup of the shrimp being fed in December 2015
-November 2016
-Two January 2017 closeups of the new plantlife on the glass. From what I've seen, they don't get any bigger than the ones in the picture of the corner. And like I said, they have not seemed to cause any harm to the shrimp.
This flickr album shows a couple of pictures:
https://flic.kr/s/aHskRPVGPz
-March 2013
-June 2013
-December 2015
-A closeup of the shrimp being fed in December 2015
-November 2016
-Two January 2017 closeups of the new plantlife on the glass. From what I've seen, they don't get any bigger than the ones in the picture of the corner. And like I said, they have not seemed to cause any harm to the shrimp.
Re: My new Opae Ula tank
Thanks for the update, Andy! Glad to hear/read that everything is still going great! Yes, your pictures are gone. Unfortunately, we had to move servers a few years ago and during the move the user uploaded pictures got irreversibly corrupted. 
I'll edit your past posts with the pictures from your link soon though.
I'll edit your past posts with the pictures from your link soon though. Re: My new Opae Ula tank
No problem! Just added about 20 more older photos to that Flickr album. Glad to see these forums are still active and that many people are creating successful Supershrimp tanks.Mustafa wrote:Thanks for the update, Andy! Glad to hear/read that everything is still going great! Yes, your pictures are gone. Unfortunately, we had to move servers a few years ago and during the move the user uploaded pictures got irreversibly corrupted.
Re: My new Opae Ula tank
Thanks for the additional pics! I'm pretty sure the popularity of these shrimp is only going to increase over time.
Re: My new Opae Ula tank
Got a cheap 10 gallon from the pet store last month. I also collected some crushed coral substrate, some base rock, and some white coral rubble. I threw it all in the cheap tank to cycle, and grow some algae, and basically just see how I like certain pieces. There are a couple of snails, but definitely no shrimp. It may seem like a waste of time, but I've enjoyed it. The plan is still to move to a new house this summer. When we get to the new place, I'll have nice cycled rocks and substrate to use when designing the new tank!
Re: My new Opae Ula tank
Ok, just found out what I said above isn't actually the problem. The problem is that you posted those images on "imageshack" and it appears like your account there is either inactive or has been removed. How about this...go back to the posts with the missing images and send me all the images that were supposed to be in those posts and tell me which image (file name) belongs into which part of a given post and I'll try to upload those files from my end so that posts finally show the images again. If you can't figure it out, no big deal. But if you want those posts fixed, that's the way to go.Mustafa wrote: ↑Mon Jan 02, 2017 4:18 pm Thanks for the update, Andy! Glad to hear/read that everything is still going great! Yes, your pictures are gone. Unfortunately, we had to move servers a few years ago and during the move the user uploaded pictures got irreversibly corrupted.
Re: My new Opae Ula tank
Good plan! I love collected coral pieces. If you're lucky enough to live next to a warm ocean (like in Florida or Hawaii) there is an abundance of those. Here in California it's like finding a treasure when I actually encounter a piece of white coral on the beach that must have been swept over from hundreds or thousands of miles away. Either way, keep the updates coming!AndyH wrote: ↑Sun Mar 12, 2017 6:16 pm Got a cheap 10 gallon from the pet store last month. I also collected some crushed coral substrate, some base rock, and some white coral rubble. I threw it all in the cheap tank to cycle, and grow some algae, and basically just see how I like certain pieces. There are a couple of snails, but definitely no shrimp. It may seem like a waste of time, but I've enjoyed it. The plan is still to move to a new house this summer. When we get to the new place, I'll have nice cycled rocks and substrate to use when designing the new tank!
Re: My new Opae Ula tank
Thanks for posting your cool pics.
I was wondering about your nice black substrate. What type is it and where did you get it?
I was wondering about your nice black substrate. What type is it and where did you get it?
Re: My new Opae Ula tank
Hi everyone.
u4rhea, I sent you a PM.
We finally made the move from the apartment to our house this summer. Earlier this week, I broke down the holding tank and set up my new rimless ADA tank. It was a really good idea to use the holding tank to cycle the rocks/substrate and grow algae over the past couple of months. Makes setup of this new tank a breeze. This new rimless ADA tank is 10 gallons or so, and I've used a crushed coral substrate with many different types of coral rocks. Personally it is exactly what I wanted, and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I like the nooks and crannies against the glass because I think the Opae will swim through the various tunnels. It's almost like an ant farm in a way. The mossballs from Mustafa are looking good. The snails are exploring everything already. This Sunday is the day I go back to my parent's house, and collect the shrimp, and bring them back to the new rimless tank. Slightly nervous about collecting and moving the shrimp but I've done it before... Anyways here are a couple of pics of the new tank, waiting for the shrimp to be added!
u4rhea, I sent you a PM.
We finally made the move from the apartment to our house this summer. Earlier this week, I broke down the holding tank and set up my new rimless ADA tank. It was a really good idea to use the holding tank to cycle the rocks/substrate and grow algae over the past couple of months. Makes setup of this new tank a breeze. This new rimless ADA tank is 10 gallons or so, and I've used a crushed coral substrate with many different types of coral rocks. Personally it is exactly what I wanted, and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I like the nooks and crannies against the glass because I think the Opae will swim through the various tunnels. It's almost like an ant farm in a way. The mossballs from Mustafa are looking good. The snails are exploring everything already. This Sunday is the day I go back to my parent's house, and collect the shrimp, and bring them back to the new rimless tank. Slightly nervous about collecting and moving the shrimp but I've done it before... Anyways here are a couple of pics of the new tank, waiting for the shrimp to be added!
Re: My new Opae Ula tank
Yeah that definitely looks like it will provide the shrimp endless hours worth of surfaces to scrub for biofilm!
Re: My new Opae Ula tank
Update on the move: Stressful as I imagined it would be, however 99% of the shrimp arrived unharmed. 
I was only able to get 50 or 60 into a bag with water. The rest of them (probably 200 or 250)had to ride in the old tank. I just lowered the water level to about 2 inches and hoped for the best! The ones that rode in the bag are actually in the new tank now. I'm waiting for the rest of them to calm down a bit before trying to net them and transfer them over too. Will get more pictures once everyone is settled.
I was only able to get 50 or 60 into a bag with water. The rest of them (probably 200 or 250)had to ride in the old tank. I just lowered the water level to about 2 inches and hoped for the best! The ones that rode in the bag are actually in the new tank now. I'm waiting for the rest of them to calm down a bit before trying to net them and transfer them over too. Will get more pictures once everyone is settled.Re: My new Opae Ula tank
Well I got most of the shrimp moved over to the new tank. Short term issue at hand is the hurricane about to hit Florida. We had to evacuate and leave the tanks behind. I think everything will be fine though, and once we can get back home and evaluate everything, I plan to start a new thread with pictures of the shrimp in their new home.