New here

[Olsonnl]

Hi, all! I am in Germany, where we have been living for 9 months. Before this, we were in Hawaii, where I bought my first opae ula about 3 years ago. I still have them! I brought about 12 here with me when we moved, but I didn't know about the importance of cycling their tank to set them up, and all but my three troopers died. Long story short, my husband was just in FL on travel, so my 7-yr-old and I started some tanks, and I had Mustafa ship 30 shrimp, 10 snails, and a moss ball to his hotel last week. He just arrived in Germany with them, and they look great! I have been super worried, because their habitat has only been cycling for 2 weeks. So far, so good. They are all very active, and most are red. Praying they make it! I have Bacter AE to feed them (sparingly) until algae grows in the tank. Fingers crossed. I'm excited to have my scrimps and hope they thrive and breed. Any suggestions are always welcome, and I enjoy reading all your posts. Cheers! -Nancy

[Olsonnl]

Eek. I'm worried, now, because two of the five snails in my new tank are at the top, near the water line, and one more is headed that way. Might a water parameter be off? Or can that be normal?

PS, I removed two molts earlier today, and I see two more in the tank. I actually have all the shrimp in a 3-Liter tank now, although I intended to use this one as a backup and put them into my 5-liter. The 5-liter, though, was cloudy and made me nervous. I changed out the water in that one, keeping the decorations, and put 5 snails in with a marimo ball I've had for two weeks. The snails in that refreshed tank are still at the bottom. It's the snails that are in with the shrimp in the 3-liter tank that are heading for the top. The shrimp are still mostly red and very active.

[KenCotigirl]

More new members. This is great. Your tank looks good. I am not a fan of the moss ball. I would suggest that new shrimpers steer clear of the moss balls till there is confirmation they are safe. The first comment you would probably get should you have a problem is to remove the moss ball.

Do not remove the molts. The shrimp will take care of them. Snails at the surface does not mean a problem. I often find some of my snails near the surface.

Good luck and send more pictures.

KenP

[Olsonnl]

Hi, Ken. Thank you for your response. I've enjoyed reading what you have had to say during my past several weeks of research. Ok. You don't like the Marimo ball. I put that in there because I only had 2 weeks to cycle my tanks and was under the impression it could help. I don't want to kill the thing, so do you think it would hurt in another tank, while I bring that one up to speed? In a few months, if my shrimp begin to reproduce, I'd like to move some to the 5-liter tank. I wish it had been up to snuff when I received these 30 scrimps, but I did what I had to do to take advantage of the hubs being stateside to receive shrimp from Mustafa. There are about 10 shrimp on the moss ball right now. All the shrimp are staying put, now, for the most part. Does that mean there is enough food for them to graze where they are? Just trying to make sure I don't starve or over feed them. With no visible growth in the tank, I am concerned about starving them. And with my research on this page, I'm concerned about over feeding. Oy. There are a couple of shrimp feeding on each snail's shell, so I am wondering if that indicates a lack of other food in the tank. Just over analyzing everything as the new shrimpies settle in. They do look red and happy. Cheers!

[Varanus]

The shrimp can and will feed on pretty much any surface that has biofilm, including the shells of snails, this is perfectly normal for them. That a number are staying put on the marimo ball may mean it is dying/decomposing, producing far more food than they can eat, and thus making it more important to take it out.

It is very hard to give supershrimp too little food, better to focus on not giving them too much.

[nova]

i have Marimo balls in my opae ula tank and they are doing fine with no issues, bit of miss information about them not for brackish tanks (no evidence to show you shouldn't). There is no harm leaving them in unless you see them going bad.

[Varanus]

i have Marimo balls in my opae ula tank and they are doing fine with no issues, bit of miss information about them not for brackish tanks (no evidence to show you shouldn't). There is no harm leaving them in unless you see them going bad.

We have reputable people saying they can't handle the salinities typically found in supershrimp tanks, and others like yourself who have experiences that tell them otherwise. So my impression is more that there is a controversy rather than outright misinformation.

[Arquisto]

I know that Mustafa has a strain that does very well which means there must be some moss balls that can handle it. I've had mine in my shrimp tank now for over three months now and they seem to be doing well. Oxygen bubbles and Ive been snapping close up photos of them periodically so I can see that it is in fact growing as well as opposed to melting away slowly. Only time will tell...

I definitely don't think people should go out of their way to get some and if they have moss balls they want to plop into the tank to break off a smaller amount first. Luckily they usually aren't too expensive either.

[Olsonnl]

Thanks, all. Maybe I'll take them and put them in fresh water. Maybe I can find someone to give them to. I have one of Mustafa's adoraballs. For now, I will concentrate on just relaxing and watching them settle in. Thanks again!

[Varanus]

I know that Mustafa has a strain that does very well which means there must be some moss balls that can handle it.

Yes but it should be noted that Mustafa has long maintained that the moss balls he sells are very different in the salinities they can handle, their size, how they grow, etc. to the extent that they don't have much in common with what most people call moss balls.

[Olsonnl]

Yes, sorry for the confusion. What I mean is, I will stick with Mustafa's moss ball and ditch the other.

[Mustafa]

I know that Mustafa has a strain that does very well which means there must be some moss balls that can handle it.

Yes but it should be noted that Mustafa has long maintained that the moss balls he sells are very different in the salinities they can handle, their size, how they grow, etc. to the extent that they don't have much in common with what most people call moss balls.

Exactly! I'm going to finally write an article about this so I don't have to repeat myself...or you...or anyone.

I'm glad all the animals and plants made it to Germany in excellent shape. Not that I doubted it for one second.