Got my shrimp, everyone looks happy, picture time!

A forum for discussing everything about the Supershrimp (Halocaridina rubra, Opae ula).

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Coluber42
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Got my shrimp, everyone looks happy, picture time!

Post by Coluber42 »

It took the post office people an hour to find my package (they kept asking me if I was sure it wasn't a box of mealworms I was looking for) but I got my shrimpies any hey're now installed in their new home. Only a couple of them were red, and they went frantically swimming all over the place yesterday. But today they look nicely settled in, browsing on various surfaces, and they're mostly red now too.
And - I have a baby snail! No idea if it was born here or if it was a microscopic hitchhiker; it's barely visible as a snail as it is.

And the cobweb stuff I was wondering about is basically gone now. A big chunk of it got clumped up and fell to the bottom while I was adding the shrimp, and a snail ate most of it. The rest of that clump is gone now, too. I wouldn't be surprised if the activity of the shrimp swimming like crazy when they first got here disrupted the remaining strands, or maybe the shrimp ate some and the snails ate more. But as of today there's no sign that it was ever there.

Here's my tank:
It's a 3-gallon "Mr. Aqua" glass bow front tank. I couldn't find a lid for it so I made one out of some transparent poly sheet I had around; I might cut a nicer-looking one out of clear acrylic at some point, but this is fine for now. The light is some cheapo thing from Amazon, on a timer set for 12 hrs on, 12 off. The lava rock with a hole in it is also from amazon. The sand, dark rocks, and shells are all from the craft store. I made the wooden platform so that I can safely pick up and move the tank if I need to.

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Baby snail:
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More photos, because I got a new phone with a better camera :)
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KenCotigirl
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Re: Got my shrimp, everyone looks happy, picture time!

Post by KenCotigirl »

Nice! Thanks for all your pictures.

Ken
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Re: Got my shrimp, everyone looks happy, picture time!

Post by Ace »

I enjoy so much seeing people's environments for Opae Ula shrimpies! Thank you for the opportunity! It looks nice :)
dolfanjack
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Re: Got my shrimp, everyone looks happy, picture time!

Post by dolfanjack »

Very nice :-)
Coluber42
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Re: Got my shrimp, everyone looks happy, picture time!

Post by Coluber42 »

I found a molt today. I gotta say - I used to think that the shed skins of baby snakes were amazing, with their tiny perfect scales and little eye caps, until I saw the hair-fine feelers and appendages on that opae molt! I need to get a magnifying glass! But even to the naked eye, the tiny details on that shed exoskeleton are just exquisite.

Out of curiosity, how long do those sheds take to break down? Do snails or shrimp eat them, or do they just eventually decompose/dissolve?

After seeing the photos, my better half now kinda wants an office tank too!
Varanus
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Re: Got my shrimp, everyone looks happy, picture time!

Post by Varanus »

Coluber42 wrote:Out of curiosity, how long do those sheds take to break down? Do snails or shrimp eat them, or do they just eventually decompose/dissolve?
In my experience they get eaten up pretty quickly, but that may depend on how many shrimp you have and how hungry they are. Early on I would see sheds occasionally, often in the mouths of the shrimp as they carried around pieces of them, but with the current population I haven't seen any sheds in a long time (presumably because they get eaten so quick).
dolfanjack
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Re: Got my shrimp, everyone looks happy, picture time!

Post by dolfanjack »

The one shed I have seen in my new tank was gone over night. I have 12 shrimp :shock:
Mustafa
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Re: Got my shrimp, everyone looks happy, picture time!

Post by Mustafa »

How's your tank doing? Chugging along I assume? :D
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