New to hobby - first try at Opae Ulas!

alohakepeli · Post by **alohakepeli** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 3:36 pm

Hello I just moved from hawaii and took a few little friends with me! They are the hawaiian 'Halocaridina rubra' shrimp found in the anchialine ponds. I bought them from a store called shirokiya in the main mall on oahu. That store is awesome by the way, everything is imported from japan and you'd find the weirdest things there!

The shrimp came in a small container of brackish water and a little piece of rock or dead sea fan (I think the total was around $7.00). There is only 5 of them and I moved them into a 5.5gal tank by acclimating them via the drip method. The container was too small to actually test the water with my hydrometer so I looked on here to see the most acceptable conditions, and just developed the tank accordingly (salinity=1.011, ph=8.2, no ammonia/nitrates/etc., temp fluctuates 73-79F) Also, I made sure to cycle the tank first, and then added a few rocks from my main SW tank so they had some algae to start off with.

So far it has been 3 weeks and they have actually gotten brighter!! I think a couple of them may have molted, is that generally a good sign? I don't see any pregnant ones but I'm praying one of them is female!

Here are a couple pictures
Thanks for the advice! This site helped out a lot

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 5:04 pm

So far it has been 3 weeks and they have actually gotten brighter!! I think a couple of them may have molted, is that generally a good sign? I don't see any pregnant ones but I'm praying one of them is female!

Thanks for the nice pictures, very good set up

It is a good sign that they are brighter and also that they have grown and molted. You better hope that one is at least a male

and female

YuccaPatrol · Post by **YuccaPatrol** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 6:00 pm

It sounds like you have made an excellent first start at shrimp keeping. So very good of you to take them out of that tiny container and give them a real home.

Welcome and I'll look forward to hearing how your shrimp do. Not a lot of people here seem to be keeping these, so it would be great to hear more reports on them from time to time.

dhavoc · Post by **dhavoc** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 11:51 pm

glad to see someone else rescuing opae ula from one of those death traps. i live in Honolulu and have seen the containers you got yours in. LFS sell them here for a buck each also. good start with your setup, but i would add or rearange your rocks to give them more shade/shadows. these guys dont seem to like bright light much and hang out in the shadows, comming out only to eat etc. just be patient with them, once they are comfortable in your tank they should start to breed. the females only produce a few eggs at a time, so dont expect your population to explode like RCS (breed like roaches). if the conditions of the tank are stable, these guys are one of the easiest to keep, and very long lived as well. good luck.

Post by **Mustafa** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 7:49 am

dhavoc wrote:these guys dont seem to like bright light much and hang out in the shadows, comming out only to eat etc.

That's true for the wild-caught ones (in other words all the shrimp offered for sale right now). The vast majority of my population is now captive-bred and don't mind foraging in very bright light at all. Even the wild ones will adjust at some point, but it takes a very, very long time. Until then, they shoud of course have a dark place they could retreat to. Basically, at some point they realize that there are no predators out there and start coming out.

AnneRiceBowl · Post by **AnneRiceBowl** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 3:28 am

That's sad that they come in those cups! Let's just hope no one finds then in conditions like I've found bettas.

zapisto · Post by **zapisto** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 8:17 am

nice
what are you feeding them ?

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 9:06 am

Also, I made sure to cycle the tank first, and then added a few rocks from my main SW tank so they had some algae to start off with.

I like zapisto want to know if you have been feeding them just the algae or have you added something else to their diet. Your shrmp have molted and I assume gotten bigger?

Thanks.

zapisto · Post by **zapisto** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 11:35 am

Neonshrimp wrote:
Also, I made sure to cycle the tank first, and then added a few rocks from my main SW tank so they had some algae to start off with.
I like zapisto want to know if you have been feeding them just the algae or have you added something else to their diet. Your shrmp have molted and I assume gotten bigger?

Thanks.

thanks Neonshrimp, to clarify, i did not put more detail sorry, but it is exactly what i want to know

dhavoc · Post by **dhavoc** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 11:55 pm

mine eat the algae in the tank, and once or twice a week i'll drop in a VERY SMALL amount of fish pellets (like 3-4 tiny pieces), they go nuts over it.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 10:22 pm

dhavoc, how many do you have in your tank. I hear that these shrimp need less food due to their size.

dhavoc · Post by **dhavoc** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:56 pm

its only a 2.5g, but i have around 25-30 or so. it can probably hold 30-50 more before i need to get a larger tank for them. i know you can cram more in there, but i want to keep the maint to a minimum, as my crs already take up too much of my time.

alohakepeli · Post by **alohakepeli** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 9:35 pm

I tried feeding them a tiny little speckle of spirulina, but they were much too busy with the algae and i took the speckle out so it didn't cause problems. I haven't changed the water and haven't added food, just rock and sand with algae already on it from my main saltwater tank. Yes they are BRIGHT red and have molted, so far so good! Just waiting (hoping) to see one pregnant...