Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

I've read many different things about salinity. One Opae Ula site states that the Opae should be kept at 1.005 to 1.010. Another says that 1.016 is ideal for breeding. Both my tanks are now at 1.014. I'm wondering if anyone has any scientific clarification for the ideal tank. I know that Opae can li...

I usually leave them in a jar with the original water for 5 days or so. I continuously add small amounts of my tank water, so they will acclimate. But snails can survive harsh conditions for weeks or months. So I would just wait it out.

You can breed Mustafa's snails in the brackish tank along with Opae. They are prolific breeders. They breed asexually, so it only takes one snail to breed and they are livebearers so there are no eggs to hatch. I would feed the Opae minimally and you will find that these snails can easily overtake y...

Just to add in; I've had two small brackish tanks for over a year. I've never had an algae buildup, but there has always been algae on the walls of the small jars. However, you would need a magnifier to see those tiny dots of algae that the shrimp pick off the glass. And the shrimp have reproduced. ...

There is another interesting aspect to adding natural food every now and then. And I do mean every now and then as opposed to often. The shrimp go crazy over spinach, kale, carrot, peas, etc. But it also brings out the other inhabitants of the tank. Hermit crabs that I have not seen in weeks, and I ...

Ken, I hear you. I don't do this in my 1-1/4 gallon jar. But the ten-gallon tank is less sensitive, I'm thinking. Anyway, it's a rare treat and not a daily thing. Thanks for the concern.

I am still experimenting with foods for the shrimp, crabs and snails. They attack leafy greens with no mercy, eating down to the veins and stems until there is nothing left. Today, after breakfast, I tried something new. I put in a small piece of leftover ham. This was an instant hit. It usually tak...

How can one nerite snail clean up "tons of algae buildup" so quickly?

Shrimp love spinach, kale, lettuce, sweet potato, etc. Par-boil for one minute first to soften it up. Leave it in the tank for 24 hours, and they will have eaten all of it. Sometimes there is a stem left, but they usually eat that too.

Here's one of the new striped horn nerite snails sharing the spinach leaf.

Here's a good shot of my Opae sharing a spinach leaf with two dwarf hermit crabs. There have been at least four different hermits on that leaf while populated by Opae. They get along fine. Every now and then a hermit may make a very sudden or clumsy move and a few shrimp "popcorn" away. Bu...

Very cool! You can see a bit of leg motion.

I received some nerite snails today for my ten-gallon tank. That's the good thing about a ten-gallon; it takes some doing to overcrowd it. The nerites are: zebra, tiger, leopard, spiral horned and tri-color horned. They are like the snail shells I bought as spare homes for my dwarf hermit crabs. The...

My source sells dwarf zebra crabs. They have grayish-green legs and white claws. I do not know where to get the blue-legged ones and I am not sure they are dwarfs.

The macro-algae will absorb nitrates, as that is the last part of the tank cycle and plants aid with that. The stuff that Mustafa sells is perfect because it is not that messy hair algae. I suspect that the three shrimp died for a reason. So I would check salinity and also pH. Shrimp like a pH of ab...