Compatible tankmates/plants

[SillyDaddy]

I have only read of a very few plants being compatible, and I have read of a few other animals that are compatible. More specifically in addition to your Quilted Melania (Terebia granifera) & the Taro Snail (Melanoides tuberculata), I include the the Black Nerite (Nerita picea) or "pipipi", & Lastly is the Assiminea (Assiminea nitida) as observed in yet other tanks. I have seen a video of one home tank where a friend who lived in Hawaii had collected the Opae'ula from ponds and raised them at home to repopulate a pond near his home (after removing all the introduced fish). Yet in his large aquarium there were little dots swimming the the water. After study we discovered they were called clam shell shrimp (species unknown). Yet another introduced some form of sea slug (about 5mm long) to the water, and though it only lived for a couple years it was quite the show stealing aquatic acrobat. And finally, the story of my neighbor whom after opening his sealed 6 inch Ecosphere to rescue his 3 surviving Opae'Ula, he successfully added Brine Shrimp he had purchased from Australia to the mix to then wish he had not later. (sorry for grammatical errors)

I have also heard of at least 3 different types of macroalgae 2, filament and one just a few floating specks. The same video with the clam shell shrimp were some tiny plants with very small buds or tiny leaves. If anyone knows of any plants that can handle this high level of brackish water, please share...

I say all this to bring to light there are other plants & animals compatible with Opae'Ula, and I was wondering if anyone knows of any further research to this end. I would like to try to make the liveliest tank possible. Please let me know if any of you has found anything or knows of anything that may be added.

[Mustafa]

"Compatible" doesn't just mean "it can live in brackish water." There are lots of animals that can live in brackish water, but, they will either eat the shrimp, or require more regular feeding (and possible water changes), which will mess up the parameters for the Supershrimp. Compatible, in this case, obviously means that the plants and animals can live in a similar environment like the Supershrimp. Most plants will just melt if they have no nutrients...again, that messes up the water. The Supershrimp Macroalga, on the other hand, can just sit there with *no* nutrients for weeks and months. It won't grow, but it won't die either. When nutrients are available, after feeding for example, the plant sucks them up and grows.

That's why there aren't all that many plants and animals that can live with the Supershrimp. I'm sure that either I or someone else will discover more compatible algae species and possibly other inverts that could be kept with the shrimp (I'm actually conducting experiments as we speak), but for now there just aren't that many options.

[SillyDaddy]

When I say compatible, I mean with the shrimp, not their environment. I can maintain a brackish tank, though not used to this level of salinity, I am fully capable of maintaining it. What I want is something that does not produce harmful effects for the shrimp such as releasing toxins or attacking the shrimp. I know that at their size even if I did gradually graduate them into a lesser or greater salinity, I would not want them with those fish or the carrion crew (to include hermit crabs) just for the safety of these shrimp. That is why I was asking. Guess I will have to do some studying myself. Let me know of anything you find. Thanks...

What of the small clam shell shrimp?

[Mustafa]

I'll definitely let you (and others) know when my experiments are fruitful. There is a very promising small crab species (at most an inch body legth, withou legs) that has been living with my Supershrimp for a while now without any issues. No predation whatsoever...and they seem to live just fine on the Supershrimp Macroalgae and young snails..and whatever food they might get every two weeks or so when the Supershrimp are fed.

As for clam shrimp...I'm sure they would be fine, although I doubt they will find enough food in the long run to survive in Supershrimp tanks.

[AndyH]

The small crab species sounds very interesting! I'm excited to see if they make it past all your tests and become available for us to purchase.

[KenCotigirl]

I agree! Mini crabs would be a great addition.

[Mustafa]

Yes, and these crabs aren't shy at all, either. I just need to figure out a way to efficiently breed them and you'll see them for sale here. I want to avoid raiding nature to obtain crabs. Captive-bred animals are always of much higher quality anyway (in terms of health etc.). So far so good, I have an ovigerous female already.

[KenCotigirl]

Hopefully the larvae are advanced when they hatch. It certainly would increase our chances of getting new tank mates this year.

[Mustafa]

Generally, crab larvae do hatch at a pretty advanced stage. There are, on average, only 4 larval stages and a "megalop" stage. To develop into a juvenile crab, the larvae can take anywhere between 2 to 5 weeks depending on temperature and feeding rate. Apparently the eggs hatch in about 10 to 15 days, so we'll see what happens by then. I'm thinking that the first batch won't be a success since I wasn't planning on this at this point and still have to set up and cycle a larval rearing tank.

[ShrimpGuy]

Generally, crab larvae do hatch in a pretty advanced stage. There are, on average, only 4 larval stages and a "megalop" stage. To develop into a juenile crab, the larvae can take anywhere between 2 to 5 weeks depending on temperature and feeding rate. Apparently the eggs hatch in about 10 to 15 days, so we'll see what happens by then. I'm thinking that the first batch won't be a success since I wasn't planning on this at this point and still have to set up and cycle a larval rearing tank.

Hey Mustafa.... how did the first batch turn out? Are you having any luck at all? It sure would be nice to have a new tank mate for the supershrimp.

[shrimpy4]

Wow, mini-crabs would be amazing!! I'd snap those up in a second when they become available. With crabs in the environment though, I imagine feeding becomes mandatory so they're not tempted?

[BostonJill]

Would you need a filter too?

[Rob in Puyallup]

I have small hang on back (HOB) filters on both of my opae ula tanks. Both contain sponges, bio-rings and Purigen. Both tanks also have air driven duo-sponge filters as well.

Just because our shrimp do well without filtration there's no reason not to use it. I do for my other shrimp.

I also feed the shrimp every other day...

[Mustafa]

I have small hang on back (HOB) filters on both of my opae ula tanks. Both contain sponges, bio-rings and Purigen. Both tanks also have air driven duo-sponge filters as well.

Just because our shrimp do well without filtration there's no reason not to use it. I do for my other shrimp.

I also feed the shrimp every other day...

Your other shrimp come from completely different environments and are physiologically *completely* different from Supershrimp, too. Getting these shrimp (or any shrimp for that matter) to carry eggs is not a huge problem, getting a perpetually breeding colony without random deaths and upset biological balance *is* a huge problem, however. I will eat my nonexistent hat if you don't run (or already have run) into problems (like cyanobacteria, random shrimp deaths, larvae not surviving etc. etc.). As I said in your main picture thread, your tank already has problems with overgrowth of algae. That's a sign of severe overfeeding and causes all kinds of problems now and down the line. That is *not* an ideal setup for this species (and it's not ideal for freshwater shrimp, either).

In any case, I do not recommend feeding every other day or filters at all if you want your shrimp to be happy *in the long run* and actually want your larvae to survive. I have no monetary interest in saying this...I'd rather sell filters, food and even heaters to make more money off of a Supershrimp setup, but it would be wrong. So, I'm really saying it because almost 9 years of experience breeding these shrimp has proven these methods right.

[Mustafa]

Wow, mini-crabs would be amazing!! I'd snap those up in a second when they become available. With crabs in the environment though, I imagine feeding becomes mandatory so they're not tempted?

Would you need a filter too?

So far I have not fed the crabs *at all* besides what food they ate when I fed the shrimp every two (or three, or four) weeks. They have been munching on the brackish water snails and macroalgae that are in the same tanks. Their physiology is not such that they would be efficient hunters, so, although I saw some crabs raise their claws towards some shrimp, the shrimp are *always* ready to jump away if they need to. To date, I have not see a crab catch a single shrimp. I think the crabs just give up after a while. Since the crabs are in the same tank with the shrimp, they don't have filters, either, of course. So, as long as the crabs just eat snails (maybe breeding the snails in a different tank would help..as a low-pollution food supply) and macroalgae, no additional feeding is required. I would suspect that having lots of Macroalgae becomes even more important with crabs in the tank, as the crabs eat the Macroalgae and the algae help take care of the slightly increased nutrient levels.

I will need more time, though, to completely assess the suitability of these crabs to Supershrimp tanks.