Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

I thought that I’d share the final set-up of my seventh Opae environment with the group. This is the smallest of my ecosystems which is using a 5000ml (~1.3 gallon) laboratory reactor. Many thanks to Mohamed for the Opae (15 to start). I also introduce 15 Opae fry from one of my other tanks that bre...

I wanted to share with the group my latest Opae tank, which I set up in a 5000ml / ~1.3 gallon laboratory reactor. This is my 7th tank and smallest I’ve constructed to date (my others range from 3 to 11 gallons). This one was established using algae, snails and larval-stage Opae from my other tanks,...

As I noted in my prior post regarding Batophora occidentalis, I had I initially introduced it into three of my tanks but only one successfully took and that tank took months to evidence any growth well after the algae appeared to have totally died off after it’s introduction. This dates back to late...

Quick update. The zebra dwarf hermit crabs have all acclimated well and grazing actively on the algae in the tanks. They also periodically congregate together, which is pretty funny to watch.

Indeed OpaeOasis. It’s both fun snd intellectually rewarding seeing what can be achieved in these environments. For reference here is my +10 year old crab grazing on Algae right next to the shrimp. They totally coexist without any friction. C5E53198-41DC-4AD9-A727-1D354D026F39.jpeg EAF3DEAE-BF8E-412...

Totally agree. And interestingly, not only are the shrimp seemingly fine but in fact they seem to almost be drawn to the cloud bank. In both tanks where it’s occurred, I’ve witnessed several of them swimming in and out of the cloud barrier in an undulating S pattern. Very interesting behavior! It do...

Thanks for the note OpaeOasis. I read similar things before introducing the dwarf crabs to my 3 gallon tank a decade ago. My personal experience with them runs totally counter to what’s been posted elsewhere. First, the species is herbivorous. Any predation that occurred in my first tank (which I ne...

I’m case there group is curious, I wanted to share my latest dwarf hermit crab experience as I reintroduced the zebra variant into some of my tanks. I previously had six of these in my smallest setup (3 gallons) and had pretty good luck with them. Of the six, I lost one roughly each year for the fir...

Given the recent posts regarding “cloud”layers popping out of nowhere, I oddly just experienced the same issue with two of my five environments. Both have been up and running for 8-10 years and I’ve never seen this before and there has been no change to their care, etc. Just a small top up last mont...

Thanks Mustafa. In not 100% sure if the ultimate population spawned from the sprigs that I picked up from you (all of which seemingly died) or a second batch that I picked up from another member a few months after your batch had seemingly died off. This second batch also seemingly died off — as I no...

Mustafa, they did wipe out most of the snails but two of the larger ones survived and they coalesced together for years. Ultimately the two snails died but the last crab is still going strong. Separately, about three weeks ago I introduced dwarf Zebra reef hermit crabs into two of my tanks (four in ...

Hi all. It’s been a bit of time since I’ve posted here and I wanted to share some pics of the success that I’ve had growing Batophora occidentalis in one of my Opae ula tanks (the largest one, a 42,000ml / ~11 gallon Kontes lab reactor that I set up in 2017). After introducing a small cluster of Bat...

Just a quick update for the forum. After over eight years, I still have one hermit crab left and going strong (his roommate passed away about 6 months ago). He’s still fun to watch and adds character to the tank.

With six weeks behind us, the tank was finally cycled and introduced snails and shrimp this week. All are happy and healthy

Mustafa, I’m still feeding them one small crushed pellet per week, which they pick off pretty quickly. I’ve never had a problem either with it fouling the water nor have I had an issue with algae overgrowth from too much waste/nutrients and it’s a pretty small tank. Only ~3 gallons. It’s been a very...