Full Ocean Salinity (1.025 - 1.027)

[Fiore de'i Liberi]

Can Opa Ula survive at Full Ocean Salinity (1.025 - 1.027)? I was thinking of adding a few to an already established salt water reef tank. There are no aggressive fish and plenty of places for them to hide.

[Fiore de'i Liberi]

I also have a nano tank (15 gallon) with some mollys in it (1.011 salinity). I am thinking of getting 10 Opae Ula and slowly increase the salinity to that of the ocean over the course of 3-4 months. I am thinking maybe that would give the shrimp time to adjust?

[i<3Opae]

No can, that’s why there is no opae ula in the ocean.

[Fiore de'i Liberi]

No can, that’s why there is no opae ula in the ocean.

True, but isn't it possible that they just get out competed for resources in the ocean, eaten, stressed, or any number of other factors? Do you know if anyone else has tried?

[i<3Opae]

Full ocean salinity WILL kill them. Simply because they evolved to live in brackish water only. Metabetaeus lohena (so-called Alpha Opae Ula) also live in anchialine pools. Part of their life is spent in the open sea. So no, it's not like H. rubra also goes to the ocean and doesn't make it due to harsh environment. You can't undo evolution by adapting.

[Fiore de'i Liberi]

Lol. So maybe I will look into the Alphas. I was just curious about how adaptable they really are haha.

[Vorteil]

I think even if you add the opae to your tank with mollies the opae would stay hidden. The mollies would probably pick on the opae. Right?

[Fiore de'i Liberi]

I think even if you add the opae to your tank with mollies the opae would stay hidden. The mollies would probably pick on the opae. Right?

I hear mixed results with shrimp and mollies. If they have enough algae and fish food they will focus down that. If there is not enough algae then they will quickly target shrimp.

Would be cool to get 10 Opae with some macro-algae and see what happens. I can't imagine the Opae breeding or the larvae surviving, but they would at least serve as a food source if nothing else.

[Mustafa]

Just don't do it. It's not going to work out. There are no "mixed results" with mollies and Supershrimp...the mollies will "take care" of them. Guaranteed. These are tiny shrimp...*any* fish out there will either eat them or harass them to death to a point where they won't come out at all if there are hiding places. These guys need their own setups.

Ocean salinity won't kill them, but not sure how well they'll do in the long run. Plus, why bother? Anyway, really bad idea.

[Fiore de'i Liberi]

Looking into other options, but for clarification...

The mollies are temporary inhabitants. The tank is semi-cycled but I am in the process of cycling some live rock. I would add the shrimp after the mollies are gone.

I want the shrimp to crawl into the super small crevices to eat any left over food (detritus) in the tank. The back panel is hollow and has incredibly small openings. Opae Ula are the only shrimp I can find that can tolerate the salinity, fit the size requirements, and are readily available.

Plus a truly massive amount of hiding places for them.

Even if I only rarely see them, they would still be doing their job.

[Ggg]

Did you have any luck with keeping them in 1.025 sg? Did they breed?