I've posted here a few times with issues. My tank has been going for about year now and had a big surprise this morning so I figured it's time to post pictures of my setup and what I found!
Some background: I rescued some opae from a ecosphere and moved them into a 5 gallon tank. I also ordered about 11 supershrimp and some macroalga from Mustafa to add to the tank shortly after. I have 5 nerite snails (which I think might be one too many, but it has worked out so far) that keep the glass super clean. About 3 or 4 months down the road I added a little dwarf blue legged hermit crab as well. After a few batches of babies I probably estimate I have around 20 shrimp now in the tank.
I have one super mom in the tank which I think came from the group Mustafa sent me! Today she has a TON of eggs. This will be her 5th batch of eggs in a year!
Here of some pictures of the tank:
This forum helped me get this tank going (first tank ever for me). There is so much good info here! If anyone has any questions or comments just let me know!
Mech wrote:what water stats do you have in your tank if you don't mind me asking?
Not at all.
Temp 72f-74f (Sometimes it jumps to 76-78)
Salinity 1.012 - 1.014
pH ~8.0
Nitrates near 0
Nitrites 0
Alkalinity from my chart is somewhere between 180-300
No water changes. I just top off the water when it needs it with Arrowhead spring water.
Last edited by sl0th on Tue Aug 11, 2015 1:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Thanks for the reply, I'm new to this species and I'm seeing alot of conflicting info on the SG levels preferred by these little guys. Mine came in water with the SG at 1.020 which I have bought down to 1.018 so far
Mech wrote:Thanks for the reply, I'm new to this species and I'm seeing alot of conflicting info on the SG levels preferred by these little guys. Mine came in water with the SG at 1.020 which I have bought down to 1.018 so far
I just went with Mustafa's 1.005-1.016 sg because that tends to be what most people agree on for what the brackish range is. The only reason I went towards the higher end is because of my hermit crab. I targeted 1.016 but settled on 1.014 and it has fluctuated a bit since then. I would think 1.018 would be safe since they can survive in varied conditions I just don't know if they would thrive.
yea im thinking the same thing, im going to lower it slowly. what sort of ecosphere did you rescue them from? was it like one of those homemade ones they sell or the sealed glass bubble one that is sold and branded with nasa stickers
Mech wrote:yea im thinking the same thing, im going to lower it slowly. what sort of ecosphere did you rescue them from? was it like one of those homemade ones they sell or the sealed glass bubble one that is sold and branded with nasa stickers
It was a sealed glass bubble one from amazon. I forget where I had heard of it, but thought it was really neat so I ordered one. When I started researching them I stumbled across this forum and decided to liberate the little guys and the whole process was a blast. How did you get into opae ula?
-hangs head in shame.... i had one of those biosphere sealed units as a young'n and thought it was cool. The shrimps only lived for about 2 years
I have started keeping fresh water shrimps and stumbled across these brackish shrimp which reminded me of the ones in my biosphere and low and behold they were the same ones so now im repaying the debt of that dreaded biosphere and setup an opae ula tank. They are pretty hard to come across here in the UK
these turned up yesterday, if i dont post here again then the mrs has thrown me out for buying more tanks
Mech wrote:-hangs head in shame.... i had one of those biosphere sealed units as a young'n and thought it was cool. The shrimps only lived for about 2 years
I have started keeping fresh water shrimps and stumbled across these brackish shrimp which reminded me of the ones in my biosphere and low and behold they were the same ones so now im repaying the debt of that dreaded biosphere and setup an opae ula tank. They are pretty hard to come across here in the UK
these turned up yesterday, if i dont post here again then the mrs has thrown me out for buying more tanks
Arnt they great?! I love my opaes, i could stare at them all day, very therapeutic for me. I got in trouble with the mrs too when i got my tanks. At least you didnt get the more expensive ADA tanks like I did. but worth every penny.
