New pics of my Opae Ula / Halocaridina rubra / Hawaiian Reds

[ernopena]

Hello,

It's been a while since I've posted on this forum. Here are a few current pics of my shrimp tank:















This is a 2.5 gallon betta tank with a 20W CFL light hood above and air pump with diffuser stone. There are 3 pieces of Fiji live rock, one black Hawaiian lava rock from the ecosphere I rescued them from, a few chunks of generic red lava rock from the gardening store, and a 1/4" thick layer of Hawaiian sand. The water is roughly 3 parts distilled water, 1 part RO saltwater from my aquarium shop, and 1 part bottled Fiji Water, kept at ~80 deg F and 12-14 PPT salinity. Every month I do a half gallon water change.

I started this tank with roughly 20 Opae Ula, aka Halocaridina rubra, aka Hawaiian Red Shrimp, that my friend brought back from Oahu. Half were red, the other half white or clear. Now after 14 months, there are roughly 25+ adult size shrimp, 30+ juvenile shrimp, and 30+ larval shrimp. For the last 3 months there have always been 2-3 berried females.

I feed them twice a week alternating between 2-3 Tetra fish flakes, 1/4 of a algae disk, and a toothpick tipful of spirulina powder mixed in distilled water. I have 2 timers on the tank. The one for the lights turn on at 10am and stay on for 4 hours. The one for the air pump turns on 4 times a day for ~20 minutes. My shrimpies like to play and swim in the air bubble stream and generally wake up and start swimming around when the water starts circulating.

Although many people say the live rock isn't necessary for them to breed, I think it helps tremendously. If you look at pics of my old tank, which was a 1 gallon fish bowl and 3 rocks, there are lots of activity, but now breeding. Once I moved them to this bigger tank and built a house of lava rock with a considerable volume of water inside in the shadows, things changed. The first berried female appeared 3 months afterward, and it's been steady since, an approx 4x increase in population.

In May I move to NYC and I hope they all survive the cross country drive. There I will move them to a new 10 gallon with approx 2x the live rock in a house formation...

Thanks again to everyone who helped me in the past!

[Neonshrimp]

They look great, thanks for the pictures. Hope you have continued success

[EastCoastShrimp]

You can already see the red color from the babies. Good luck.

[shrimpbaby]

Wow. It looks like they are really doing well for you.

[zapisto]

Nice and neat
too bad i cannot put my hand on some opae

[aberfitch]

What beauties. I am trying to get my hands on some of these.

[Neonshrimp]

What beauties. I am trying to get my hands on some of these.

I feel the same way. I will get some someday

[aberfitch]

What beauties. I am trying to get my hands on some of these.

I feel the same way. I will get some someday

I am jumping for joy!!! I found some and I am placing an order tommorow. I am so excited. They are beautiful shrimp and I just cant wait. My rcs are doing amazing so I hope to have the same luck with the hawaiian reds.

[janbee]

Where are you ordering the hawaiian reds? Jan

[aberfitch]

a freind is getting them for me in hawaii

[Newjohn]

Hi janbee

Just a friendly reminder,
It is against the Forum Rules to ask where to get Shrimp.

This can be done through the PM section of this Forum.

John

[janbee]

I should have known better . Thanks for the gentle reminder. Jan

[aberfitch]

Hi ernopena

the shrimp are beautiful!! What do you use on the bottom of the tank is that?? ie regular sand, live sand, volcanic sand...etc.. thanks!

[thief]

Wow that is such a awsome tank.

[aberfitch]

I went to buy some rocks at the local Pet store this week and just finished setting up the Opae ula tank. It is running and looking good. I have done a lot of research but I still feel very unsure what is the correct way to make these shrimp happy.