New Belgian opae ula owner!

[Zlatan2601]

Ok good to know, thank you!!:)

[Dch48]

I have seen my Nerites go dormant for days at a time and thought they were dead. I put them in a small cup so the tank wouldn't get fouled if they were dead and after a few days, they have come back out and are moving around. I have noticed that this happens more frequently after they have been feeding heavily. They just seem to go to sleep until they need more food. It makes me wonder how many snails have been disposed of when they were still alive. The horned one in my Opae tank was doing fine until I saw him lying on his side retracted into his shell. He stayed like that for 2 days. I put him in the cup and after another 3 or 4 days, he started moving around again and there were pieces of snail poop in the cup.

There is a lot of brown algae and a good amount of green spot algae on the glass of the tank and on the gravel so he was well fed and maybe just gorged himself. He had been cruising the glass until he sank to the bottom.

I don't dispose of a snail until I see fungus and slime develop on them and they are no longer tightly closed up. Then I usually boil the shells to clean out the dead meat and coat them with clear nail polish after they cool down. I use them for decorations. Now, if I'm going to put the shells in a tank, I do not use the nail polish on them.

[Varanus]

Indeed, snails going dormant is normal and its best to not assume them dead unless you can see far into the shell or can smell rotting flesh when you pick up and sniff a shell (will likely only work on larger snails).

[Zlatan2601]

Thank you for the feedback! They indeed don't move for some days but afterwards they just start again crawling around...

[Zlatan2601]

Hi all!
After moving the opae ula 3-4 weeks ago (because of cyanobacteria) to a new tank, I did not spot any algae yet, but the opae ula are going crazy this evening! Haven't see this before, haven't seen any berried shrimp eitjer.

Is this a good sign? Are they mating?

Link to video: https://youtu.be/HQF2j3kxAVI

[Zlatan2601]

Awesome news guys!!!! Berried shrimp spotted

Too bad my pictures are not very good, but I counted around 20 and it seems that it shouldn't be too long before they hatch...

[Vorteil]

That's great. Keep us posted once she releases. Looks like getting everything cleaned up and balance had a positive effect of your tank.

[Zlatan2601]

Indeed, struggled to get a 'clean tank' but it paid off.
Last days I was getting a bit worried that there are still no visible algae in the tank (brown diatomes appeared but after entering snails a month ago they disappeared real fast). also my snails are sometimes escaping (but returning to the tank), so i got a bit worried about not having enough to eat .

However there is a moss ball in the tank and apparently they don't need more than what they have now. So the "leave thel alone" strategy worked .

I'll keeo you all posted!

Saw the berried shrimp a few times and I think she has around 10 eggs... I also saw them "washing" the eggs, which is a good sign I guess:)

[Zlatan2601]

Mommy shrimp is at this moment giving birth

[Zlatan2601]

Last year my population evolved from 8 opae ula to 16 (one birth).

After having witnessed birth of 12 baby opae ula 10 days ago, my population went from 16 to 28, and I just spotted another very pregrant opae ula today (see pic)!!! Hoeray!

[Mustafa]

Awesome! THAT is what I like to see! A huge part of the fun of keeping these shrimp is to see multiple generations grow up and give birth to even more generations over time...all the while the original shrimp are *still* there 20 years later!

[Zlatan2601]

Yeah, I am very happy with it!:-)
Another question, I had quite some algae on the windows and I added one snail (Nerritina natalensis). The ate all windows clean within a few days, so I have 2 questions:
1) there are no algae anymore on the windows, will it die from starvation and pollute my water?
2) I noticed today some white algae (thats how they call it in Belgium, it's like the tank water consists of two levels, a normal clear level at the bottom, and an upper level which has a white glance...), which seems like a bacteria boom because the equilibrium was disturbed (probably because of adding the snail). Should I do something about it, or will it just pass?

Another picture of the berried shrimp:

[Dch48]

Nerite snails survive quite well without visible algae growth. They eat all kinds of biofilm and even though you don't see the algae, there is some there. They also eat decaying plant matter like pieces of dead or dying macroalgae. They are hardy, adaptible, and long lived compared to a lot of other snails.

[Zlatan2601]

Just an update as it has been a pretty long time. My opae ula are breeding each summer like crazy, I went from 8 oape ula (after the second start) to around 200 right now

The aquarium looks pretty nice with all my friends swimming around!:-)
Last two years I only have one snail and he seems to be doing pretty well. As my group of opae ula expanded this much I will try to see how the aquarium evolves without the snail (whenever he decides to die)

[Ula Hula]

I like your tank. It looks like there are a lot of interesting nooks and crannies for your shrimp to explore. Enjoy!