Surprise Shrimp Arrival

[Tavyn]

Ok so I am a high school Marine science teacher. I have been reading about Opae and thought they would be an interesting addition to the in class specimens I use to support my curriculum. I suggested the idea to my administration and they seemed receptive. Well..... surprise! 100 opae 10 hermit crabs and 10 pipipi snails along with a dozen algae covered rocks were delivered to my class room today. I didn't even know they had ordered them.

Ok so I had, in hopes that they would allow me to order some, started a 1 gallon brackish water hex tank. I had no idea they would get them or that they would get me so many so I thought 1 gallon would be plenty big. It had some live carbonate sand, some coral rocks, and some lava rocks in it. It has been sitting filterless for about 2 weeks. I have brown diatoms on the surface of some rocks. I moved all of this into a 5 gallon, added a little bit of play sand to make sure the bottom of the 5 was covered to a depth of 3/4 to 1 inch. Mixed up another 3 gallons of distilled water to 1.010 sg, and added all of that together. Drip acclimated everybody to their new home and after a couple of hours (the acclimation took longer than usual since I wanted to use it as a teachable moment) then added them all in.

I am aware that the cycle is probably not complete. I know that Opae don't normally need water changes. Put these two things together and ... should I do water changes till the cycle is complete? How often? 10% everyday? once a week? only on ammonia detectable by the test kit?

Ultimate goal would be to put them in a 20 gallon and have thousands I have one sitting around empty

[JennyPenny]

The first thing you should purchase is a test kit to check the water parameters. Do not buy the strips, as they can be inaccurate, but instead the liquid kits with test tubes. I would check your ammonia and nitrite levels daily. Purchase a bottle of Seachem Prime, which will detoxify nitrite and ammonia. This works for 24-48 hours, so you will have to keep using it until your tank is cycled. This way you don't have to do water changes.
Does your tank have a filter? These shrimps do fine without one, and also do not need a heater.
I don't know if your hermit crabs will thrive in this setup, as it's not ideal for them. Some people keep them successfully with H. Rubra, some do not.
At this point, I would not feed your shrimp at all. They can eat algae and diatoms, and overfeeding will add ammonia to your tank. My tank has been set up for about 2 months and I have a plethora of algae, and no plans to feed them for a long time. Some people never fed their shrimp. If you get a light for the tank, you can pair it with a timer so it will turn on and off on the weekends when you are not at school.
Can you post pictures of your tank? Sometimes that is helpful, plus it's fun to see other's setups.

[Tavyn]

I already have test kits. Water parameters are 0/0/4. Tank has been sitting with live rock, live sand, and a little bit of fish food for maybe 2 weeks. I have Amquel not Prime. Labeling seems to indicate they do the same thing. I will not feed since the shrimp will now be providing ammonia for the cycling.

Pics are here.

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=5841;bcsi-ac-06d42 ... AAAKbtBwA=

[Varanus]

That's certainly a pretty set up! Be aware of course that without a top evaporation will be more of a problem (and you may also have to worry about potentially toxic to shrimp chemicals getting into the water more easily, keep most cleaning fluids and such away from the tank).

And yeah, putting them in when its not cycled is not ideal. However, provided you keep track of things and the ammonia level doesn't get too high you may be okay. Having a larger tank to dilute the ammonia more helps.

[KenCotigirl]

Tavyn your setup looks nice. I would consider adding fan coral or the like to give some vertical appeal. The shrimp will crawl over it and I believe will induce more open water swimming. I would add a cover. Reduces evaporation and keeps fingers out. Consider water changes if ammonia exceeds 0.5 and the shrimp behavior changes (this can be difficult in the beginning as you have no baseline to measure it against and shipping stress causes odd behavior) . Otherwise just monitor and ask questions. How does the saying go: ask twice, change once.

Ken

[Tavyn]

Well here we are a week later and the Opae are doing well. Swimming around and doing shrimp stuff. Hard to tell if all 100 are still in the tank since there are so many hiding places in the rocks. I used a piece of plexiglass to make a temporary lid. I have access to several aquarium tanks of different sizes. I could go from a 1 gallon hex all the way up a 20 long. Currently they are in 5 gallon rimless. Should I upgrade to a 10 or even to the 20? Or is leaving them in the 5 gallon ok? Any other advice?

[KenCotigirl]

I vote for leaving them in the five gallon. As they multiply move some into the one gallon hex.

Ken

[Tavyn]

Hmm interesting response. Any particular reason why you prefer the smaller tanks? I would have thought that the stability issues associated with smaller tanks would make the larger ones more attractive.

[jonesinfershrimp]

you're better off with smaller tanks so they are more visible. from what i understand they arent the most active shrimps. im gona do an experiment with them when i get mine, with a 40B, 20L, 10, 5, 2.5 and see what works best for viewing and best for breeding. might be a good experiment in the class too making observations and noting activity and such. just some random ideas.