2 liter Opae Ula project - I have larva!

[hardware_failure]

My original post on my setup is here. I havent posted updates in a while as there was not much to update - until now!

Apparently I now have baby shrimp. I did not notice them on Friday (02/05/2016) but I did yesterday afternoon (02/08/2016). Admitedly I do not pay as much attention to this setup as I used to. I usually look at it once a weekday to make sure everything is okay, but not in great detail. I never even noticed a berried female, (shame on me?) although I could occasionally see at least 3 of them with prominent harnesses.

I have counted exactly 7 larva. Not sure if this is impressive or not for a female's first brood. At any rate I now have 70% more shrimp!

I received my shrimp from Mustafa almost exactly 7 months ago (07/10/2015). Since then I have topped off twice. I fed I tiny amount each of these times as well. I took one med size flake food and broke it up into the water that I added to top off.

You can see a youtube video here.

As you can see in the pics below, I need to top off again, the last time I did this was at least 3 months ago.

Questions:
Should I wait on topping off? (Are the larva extremely sensitive?)

Do I need to supplement more? I really have fed this setup hardly anything. My main concern are the snails. Ive gone through a few generations I think, where now I have more small ones vs big ones. Im no expert but my gut tells me the adults die off early because theres so little for them to eat.

You can see in the pics below I have a ton of salt creep. Its very annoying. I dont suppose there is anything I can do about this? The last time I checked, my salinity was between 1.012 and 1.013.

My macro algae is turning yellow/white. There are a few strands in the "shade" of the rocks that are more green. Too much light? (is that even possible for algae?) Not enough nutrients?



This is really really cool. Thank you Mustafa for providing the shrimp and hosting this community!

Pics:

[Varanus]

Well I can give a few answers based on my personal experience:

1. Salt creep was a problem in my tank for a while too, each night (I presume due to temperature changes) led to salt crawling out of the tank (didn't know till now that there was a actual popular term for it) and I would have to scrape up what I could and put it back in the tank. It stopped once my tank's water level got below a certain point (and started again when I added more water), and so I keep the tank at that lower level now. I suppose that isn't the case in your tank though since the water level doesn't seem that high (I had been filling mine up to near the top of the tank).

What's weird is that a quick search on the internet reveals that salt creep seems to refer only to the result of saltwater splashing/spraying due to filters and such. That doesn't happen in a Opae Ula tank with no water movement. Makes me wonder how the salt creep occurs in such situations (again, temperature changes seemed to effect mine, but I am unsure of the mechanism beyond that).

2. Looking at my macroalge, the algae exposed to more light is indeed a lighter shade of green, but it doesn't seem to harm it (my main mass is light green on top where it gets direct light, and dark green on the bottom). New growth (the extending strands from the main mass) is quite pale/white so I assume it simply turns greener with age.

3. The larva do seem to be more sensitive/fragile than the adults based on what I have read here and what I have seen in my tank (though its still unclear to me if the larva I have seen that seem to have problems are actually in real distress as I've never been sure I've seen a dead one). It may be safest to wait until at least a few have metamorphosed successfully before adding water, but someone else may be able to give clearer advice on this. It should only take around two weeks for them to metamorphose so you shouldn't be waiting too long.

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Regarding the snails, have you seen any dead ones or empty shells? If not then I presume they are not starving. They may even be spending a lot of their time burrowing to find food where the shrimps can't (assuming that is sand beneath the rocks).

It perfectly normal though I think to have a lot more small snails than larger ones, simply because in a Opae Ula tank the baby snails grow very slowly.

[hardware_failure]

Yeah that salt creep is lame. I dont re-add it to my setup because taking the top off and on is a bit of a chore and I avoid disturbing the setup as much as possible. Oddly the 2 times I did top off I did a measure before and my salinity didnt seem that affected (the creep is a bit flaky and not that dense). Maybe it happens from some sort of osmosis and water vapor touching the sides of the tank? This setup is in an office so I can imagine that there is indeed a bit of temp changes vs day and night.

I do have a fair amount of dead snail shells. But, I suppose there are still a good handful of adult snails. Probably just them balancing out to the available food.

If its only a few weeks for them to metamorph past the larva stage then I will def wait on the top off/disturbing it.

Thanks for the reply.

[Varanus]

Yeah that salt creep is lame. I dont re-add it to my setup because taking the top off and on is a bit of a chore and I avoid disturbing the setup as much as possible. Oddly the 2 times I did top off I did a measure before and my salinity didnt seem that affected (the creep is a bit flaky and not that dense). Maybe it happens from some sort of osmosis and water vapor touching the sides of the tank? This setup is in an office so I can imagine that there is indeed a bit of temp changes vs day and night.

Yeah, I was worried at first but it doesn't seem the salt creep does much to the salinity, its a lot less salt loss than it looks like. The mystery is that regular salt creep is caused by evaporation leaving behind salt, and only fresh water evaporates into water vapor. Ergo the water vapor should be freshwater and have no salt in it.

[hardware_failure]

For a while I wasnt sure if the shrimplets died or not. I couldnt locate any of them for a time.

Yesterday I spotted at least 2 separately. They are very very hard to see! They have indeed turned into mini versions of the adults, and display the same benign behavior etc.

I will probably top off later this week.

Fascinating creatures to say the least!

[KenCotigirl]

I hope all new shrimpers read your post. Transformed larvae seem to hide for several weeks. Most of the time they have not died but are just hidden. Be patient and you will be awarded.

Ken

[dapug]

@hardware_failure, I've had mine for 11 months, and just noticed today little larva kicking around in there!

I have done NOTHING with this setup all year. I haven't fed them anything, other than the microalgae I got from Mustafa, which is getting just enough light to grow slow and steady. I also included in the tank some "live rock" (aka dead coral, etc) so there is calcium in there.

As for topping off, I haven't done anything, yet. I started out at 1.010 last year, and have not checked it since. I have a closed lid and have lost maybe 1 inch of water all year in my 2 gallon setup. It sits in my basement office at 67F almost entirely neglected.

I can't remember if we are supposed to feed the larva spirulina, or if they are fine with just the microalgae. I'll have to read up.

[Varanus]

I can't remember if we are supposed to feed the larva spirulina, or if they are fine with just the microalgae. I'll have to read up.

Apparently the larva don't eat at all, living off nutrients they got as eggs.

[hardware_failure]

Small update:

I went to go do a top off, clean up salt creep etc. Before I did this, I spent a good 15+ min looking for the baby shrimp. I could not find a single one. I really looked hard! I was a bit disappointed.

So I proceeded to do the top off. Im not sure why but when I do the top off, the shrimp go CRAZY. They zoom all over the place for a few hours. In addition to the adults going crazy, so did the little ones. I guess they just hide really really good. The most I ever saw at once was 3, but I think its likely (Im hopeful) that all 5 are alive.

This was about a week ago. Today I was able to get some pics of the juveniles. One picture has 1 juveniles next to 2 adults, another has 2 juveniles in them. Theres not many snails in the pics but there are definitely alot of snails in the box.

[Varanus]

So I proceeded to do the top off. Im not sure why but when I do the top off, the shrimp go CRAZY. They zoom all over the place for a few hours.

My assumption has always been that they are so used to still water that any drastic water movement panics them (the same thing happens when I have to move an object in the tank). Last time I fed new water in very slowly through an air tube and the shrimp stayed much calmer. Not that I think the panic/excitement puts them in any danger, but it was an interesting comparison.

[Mustafa]

This is really really cool. Thank you Mustafa for providing the shrimp and hosting this community!

You're welcome! This is what it's all about..the joy of being rewarded with offspring after doing a good job of providing them with a suitable environment. And there will be more!

[Mustafa]

Yeah, I was worried at first but it doesn't seem the salt creep does much to the salinity, its a lot less salt loss than it looks like. The mystery is that regular salt creep is caused by evaporation leaving behind salt, and only fresh water evaporates into water vapor. Ergo the water vapor should be freshwater and have no salt in it.

Yeah, it doesn't affect salinity immediately but if you have lots of salt creep over longer periods of time it can. But, yes, in this case it's a mystery to me, too, how salt creep happens. There actually has to be some running salty water that dries out for the salt crystals to form. In the pictures here I do see a line of salt crystals running down the front of the tank, though, which indicates water flow. So...somehow water *was* flowing.