my Opae Ula finally arrived!

[abc]

Thanks soooooo much to Mustafa for helping me get my shrimp order after a horrendous experience with USPS

They are settling well in my 5.5 gal tank that has had plenty of time to cycle well these past weeks

[JennyPenny]

The shrimp look rather pale, but otherwise great!

[abc]

I have pale, orangish and red shrimp. I don't mind. They vary in color and I think it's normal

[JennyPenny]

Yes, totally normal. I even have some banded shrimps in my tank.

[Dch48]

Mine change color constantly. Sometimes bright red, sometimes brownish, sometimes pale red or pink, and a few seem to always stay white. There are a couple that have red stripes when they are in full color. I don't know why they change because it just seems random.

[Nellyville41]

They change color usually based on what’s going on in their environment. If you top off water, if a female sheds and she’s ready to mate, if you feed them, they’ll all change in color from red to pink to pale.

[Mustafa]

Great! How are they doing so far? They should have colored up some by now, but it may take a few weeks or months before they are fully colored up. Most of them should get pretty red.

[abc]

They are doing well. No casualties. But most are still white. Some yellow in the photo. May be 2 are red pinkish.

5.5 gal tank. Salinity is right. No nitrates. I turned off the filter. 1x a week a very minuscule piece of Ken's spirulina pellet

They seem to be doing well but I just have not seen them color up yet

I'm patient. May be it's white coral substrate. I am happy that one algae ball I bought here on the forum, after cutting into four pieces have turned into four algae balls

[Dch48]

I've had mine since June and they never stay consistently red. Some never do get red but a light pink at best. I have noticed that many times, they have the most color right when I turn the lights on. Then they seem to gradually fade.

I did just see one with berries though. The first one since the last one back in October. I haven't lost a single one so far and have 3 small guys from that last batch of eggs. They are always white and have yet to show any color at all.

[abc]

I'm happy with whatever color they are, so white is cool, pink, yellow, or red. They do seem to change color, as you say. I have not seen any berried shrimp yet, but I think that's going to take time. I'll get worries if I start seeing casualties but I'm thinking everything is OK since they are active

[Mustafa]

Feeding once a week is too much. Just stop feeding for now (for a few months) and things will stabilize in your tank. If you feed once every month or two that's already enough. Even if the shrimp aren't dying they are not feeling optimal with a frequent feeding regime. If things are not optimal the shrimp don't reach their optimal colors for months or even years. Once the conditions are right, they almost all turn bright red. These are fickle creatures when it comes to coloration even though they are tough in all other ways.

[abc]

Thanks for the advice. I'll stop feeding for a while and see if they eventually respond with some coloration. Looks like then if I get some good color on the shrimp, that's a good indication that the water paramenters/tank conditions are nearly optimum conditions... did I get that right?

[Mustafa]

Thanks for the advice. I'll stop feeding for a while and see if they eventually respond with some coloration. Looks like then if I get some good color on the shrimp, that's a good indication that the water paramenters/tank conditions are nearly optimum conditions... did I get that right?

That is correct!

[abc]

Update:

Here is some video of my 5gal Opae Ula tank.

Different colored adult shrimp grazing: https://youtu.be/TO7FrcRsQXc
Babies floating around randomly in the tank: https://youtu.be/RUsQr05aekM

I feel like the tank has settled and the parameters are right because they are reproducing. Very fun right now in the midst of "social distancing" because of COVID-19.

Thanks Mustafa! Very much enjoying the opae ula

[redhotshrimp]

Great looking tank -- it is so green! Really liked the video of the baby shrimp. Your babies arrived so quickly after your tank started!