Parameters of 'ideal' opae ula tank

[PinkTissue]

Can someone help me with working out the 'ideal' parameters for an opae ula tank? Sometimes I come across posts that the poster say that ammonia tested ok at xx. But is there a range or must it be a specific number?

Salinity - 10 to 23 ppt
Nitrate - ?
Phosphate - ?
Dissolved Oxygen - ?
Nitrite - ?
Ammonia - ?
pH - ?
Silicates?
Temperature - 60°F-86°F
Size of tank for shrimps - e.g. 100 or less - 1 gallon, 101-200 - 2 gallons (they are only examples)
Any other parameters?


How often should I test? I read that one shouldn't test too often because it would stress the shrimps.

Thank you - the information is for me to look after my shrimps and to document on my newly started blog.

[PinkTissue]

Basically, I hope to know:


- What the parameters are
- Why's it Important? The importance of that water parameter, and what impacts that parameter has on the tank
- What Value should I Aim For? What values I should try to strive for, and why
- What do the values mean? Importance of each value at certain stages, understanding the values (what they mean, how to convert them, etc)
- When Should I Test For It? How to know which test(s) to do, when to test, and how frequently I should test

[Mustafa]

My advice is always: Leave the tank alone. If you set up everything the way I recommend on this website, then there is nothing to test for. I have not tested in years. And yes...there are no set in stone numbers. These shrimp are adaptable, so naturally there are ranges (salinity, oxygen, pH, temperature (your room temps in Singapore are just fine, no cooling needed) etc.). Just feed them every two weeks, replace evaporated water, then sit back and enjoy.... There is a reason why I call these shrimp Supershrimp!

[sabbylina]

I was wondering the same thing. My shrimps are hardly ever all red, and when they are, most are only a pinkish color (the exception is one shrimp I call phoenix who is always deep red, unless he's been scared). I was wondering if this was from too much ammonia? I know when I first got them I tried feeding them a few times,they didn't eat, and one of the fish food pellets was left in the tank because it got buried. (They never ate anything I gave them either. Only the purchased algae).

They are pinker more often than the used to be though, after I realized the salinity was outside the preferential range. They pinked up immediately after that change.

But the fact that they aren't all usually red, and that they haven't breed after 1.5 years of having them worries me. Is there anything I should check or do?

[KenCotigirl]

Sabbylina this may not make you feel better but i know how you feel. My first tank took years to start breeding. This was because i kept adjusting everything. Light, temperatures, feeding, salinity. You name it. Why? Because it seemed like everyone else was successful but me. So you change things. Did it help. No. Made it worse. Luckily these shrimp are long lived and hardy. I lost no shrimp. Other shrimp species would not have been as lucky.

So i finally stopped everything. Basically just followed this sites instructions. Turned off heater. Kept salinity at 1.013 sg. Feed them every week or two. Reduced the bubbler to a very low flow (now it is off). Several months later i was rewarded with berried shrimp. Not just one but two, three, four. Forty plus larvae floating.

Should you do anything. Probably not. Remember not all shrimp are red like in pictures. They are from clear to dark red. A few questions: You just changed the salinity to what parameter? And when? Are you feeding them? Every couple weeks? They should be eating after a year and a half. Ammonia would only spike if you over feed or if there is large die off. How many shrimp do you have? Tank size? Are you using a filter? Depending on you answers, do nothing and be patient.

[sabbylina]

A few months ago I had changed it from mid to high 20s ppt to just below I think. I'm not entirely sure. After I posted my last comment I changed it from around 21 (I think) to 17 ppt. They don't seem to be very happy. Should I add more salt to raise it where it was 2 days ago, or just leave it alone a few more days and see what happens? My one red one is red again, but not as dark as a few days ago. The rest are still mostly white, where they were pink before.

I have 6 shrimp in a one gallon tank. No filter, No heater. They have a 12 hours light plus some indirect sun. I don't feed them at all as there is plenty of bio film and a high clump of Algae bought form this site. They all seem to be growing/molting fine.

[KenCotigirl]

If you are not having any losses leave them alone. 17-21ppt is ok. Change is bad especially if done quickly. Give them several weeks not days to acclimatize. If they were doing fine why would you change anything? Just step back and enjoy. Take a photo and post it.

[sabbylina]

Well i had to refill their tank so I checked their salinity at the same time and tweaked it a bit.

I wasn't sure if they were doing ok, that's why i changed it. They didn't seem to be as red as everyone else's

[Mustafa]

Don't tweak anything because your shrimp aren't red. The reason why you observe red shrimp in my tanks, for example, is because I leave them alone.

[sabbylina]

Thanks guys!

I'll just leave it alone at 17 ppt then.

[flaknekm]

I am struggling with my tank parameters as well .. I started it up in it Oct20. I fed them a couple times in the beginning but haven't since. I never noticed any dead ones, but they seemed to hide more often than not. I started with 20, but would only ever maybe see 5 or 6 at a time. Normally clear or light pink, but otherwise didn't really mess with them at all. I recently ordered another 40 to try and actually have shrimp to watch and enjoy. They arrived this week and I acclimated and added them to the tank. These guys are much more active and are basically just swimming the perimeter of the tank on repeat. They are relatively clear as I imagine they would be stressed this week. I have found 3 dead shrimp since I added them ~24 hours ago. I am not sure what could be wrong. My nitrates and nitrites are all safe/ideal, alkalinity is about 80, pH is about 7.4, and salinity ~19 ppt.. any advice??

[Mustafa]

I would do an immediate 90+% water change with the right kind of salt. Also, the fact that your pH is only 7.4 tells me something is wrong in your tank that drags down your pH value. How about you start a new topic/thread and describe how you set up your tank in detail (i.e. what salt, substrate, decoration, any organic stuff like drift wood that can decay etc.,) and we'll go from there. Make sure to include pictures, too, so we can diagnose your problem.

Contrary to what people believe, shrimp swimming around all the time in a tank is *not* a good sign. And neither is them just hiding all the time. They need to walk around and pick at things.