My Opae Ula Tank Introduction

[Nexus6]

Hello fellow supershrimp keepers,

I just wanted to introduce myself and my setup:

5 gallon ADA Mini M Low Iron Rimless Tank w/glass lid
Azoo Flexi Mini Light
Red Volcanic Rock
Black Sea Fan
Caribsea Tahitian Moon Substrate
Custom HMF filter with Altum Aquatic Nano S1 Air Pump
Thermostat controlled fan
Seachem Purigen
Media Bag filled with Caribsea Florida Crushed Coral (for Ph and calcium)
I keep my tank at 77 degrees and salinity levels at 1.010 (instant ocean sea salt) topped off with Distilled Water.

I plan on getting rid of the HMF which takes up a large chunk of space and replacing it with the External Zoomed Nano 10 Canister filter filled with Eheim Substrat Pro and a small bag of Seachem Purigen. The only worry is the flow output, I tried looking for the smallest canister filter with the least flow and this was it along with the Boyu EFU-05. I'll probably put the Caribsea Florida Crushed Coral where the HMF filter used to be. I am a bit worried about the size of the crushed coral, and that shrimplets might get stuck in it, but we'll see. I absolutely adore my opaes. I hope to see some berried soon.

I'll have pictures up soon, in the meantime here is a video I did of my shrimp feeding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMJQ_iJQ9fc

you can see a wider view of the tank at 2:00

I'll post pics when I can. Thanks for reading!

[camaronqueseduerme]

Your tank looks really beautiful, professional and high tech. Looking forward to those pictures!

[mcdaney]

Nice tank Nexus6! Reminds me of those Japanese gardens. Using a high-end tank I see hahaha! ADA tanks are so pricey!

[Mech]

very nice tank

[hardware_failure]

Wow you spared no expense for your Opae Ulas! Very nice! Those must be some happy shrimp Ive only had mine for about 2 weeks now too. They truly are fantastic shrimp to watch.

I am curious - what are those double ended bottle-like-looking things sitting on the substrate?

[Nexus6]

Thanks for the compliments, the glass tubes you see are prodibio biodigest and ammolock. Basically just beneficial bacteria.

[Mech]

Thanks for the compliments, the glass tubes you see are prodibio biodigest and ammolock. Basically just beneficial bacteria.

are you using the prodibio biodigestto help your tank cycle? what is this products main purpose?

[JasonG3333]

Nice tank! Concerning your decision to replace the larger filter with a smaller one, with Opae Ula, it's actually best not to have any filter at all. With these particular species of shrimp, not only is it not necessary regarding keeping the water chemistry healthy, but they also prefer completely still water. Same goes for the air pump. Anything that moves the water is neither necessary or desired. You also do not need any type of temperature control. These guys are comfortable in a very wide range of temps, and can survive in an even wider range, from just above freezing to just below boiling. Especially if the room your tank is in is kept at room temperature, then that's as good as it gets for these guys - no additional temp control needed. Opae Ula that live in a tank that uses none of those devices (filter, air pump, fans/heaters) will live just as long as the shrimp in your tank, all other parameters being equal. Anyways, just my $.02. Thanks for sharing your tank!

[Mech]

Nice tank! Concerning your decision to replace the larger filter with a smaller one, with Opae Ula, it's actually best not to have any filter at all. With these particular species of shrimp, not only is it not necessary regarding keeping the water chemistry healthy, but they also prefer completely still water. Same goes for the air pump. Anything that moves the water is neither necessary or desired. You also do not need any type of temperature control. These guys are comfortable in a very wide range of temps, and can survive in an even wider range, from just above freezing to just below boiling. Especially if the room your tank is in is kept at room temperature, then that's as good as it gets for these guys - no additional temp control needed. Upae Ula that live in a tank that uses none of those devices (filter, air pump, fans/heaters) will live just as long as the shrimp in your tank, all other parameters being equal. Anyways, just my $.02. Thanks for sharing your tank!

that's actually pretty reassuring

[Nexus6]

Nice tank! Concerning your decision to replace the larger filter with a smaller one, with Opae Ula, it's actually best not to have any filter at all. With these particular species of shrimp, not only is it not necessary regarding keeping the water chemistry healthy, but they also prefer completely still water. Same goes for the air pump. Anything that moves the water is neither necessary or desired. You also do not need any type of temperature control. These guys are comfortable in a very wide range of temps, and can survive in an even wider range, from just above freezing to just below boiling. Especially if the room your tank is in is kept at room temperature, then that's as good as it gets for these guys - no additional temp control needed. Opae Ula that live in a tank that uses none of those devices (filter, air pump, fans/heaters) will live just as long as the shrimp in your tank, all other parameters being equal. Anyways, just my $.02. Thanks for sharing your tank!

Hi jason, thanks for your input. This has been a long going debate i think. Yes, the overall concensus is that opaes prefer completely still water and can survive in any conditions witout any filtration nedded, but i tend to rely on what successful breeders do, since breeding is difficult to perfect. Check out what shrimpmart does: http://youtu.be/K_arDfD3zDs

Hes got a lot of foam and a huge HOB filtration unit and as you can see from the numerous healthy red opaes, i think hes got a great setup, its not a show tank, but i would want healthy happy opaes like his.

There are a few other videos ive seen where they've used either a air bubbler foam filter or a undergravel filter with GREAT success. One tank had literally thousands of them.

I was originally going to keep them in the tank without a filter, but after seeing these tanks i think its okay to use a filtration system with minimal flow, although through my own observation the opaes DO prefer still waters, if you see videos of them in their natural anchialine pool habitats, the water does seem pretty still as well. Im sure theyll do great without any filtration as well.

[Nexus6]

Thanks for the compliments, the glass tubes you see are prodibio biodigest and ammolock. Basically just beneficial bacteria.

are you using the prodibio biodigestto help your tank cycle? what is this products main purpose?

Hi mech, yes ive been using prodibio to help jumpstart the cycling process. You can learn more about it here: http://www.prodibio.com/bacteria-tank-d ... filtration

[JasonG3333]

Hi jason, thanks for your input. This has been a long going debate i think. Yes, the overall concensus is that opaes prefer completely still water and can survive in any conditions witout any filtration nedded, but i tend to rely on what successful breeders do, since breeding is difficult to perfect. Check out what shrimpmart does: http://youtu.be/K_arDfD3zDs

Hes got a lot of foam and a huge HOB filtration unit and as you can see from the numerous healthy red opaes, i think hes got a great setup, its not a show tank, but i would want healthy happy opaes like his.

There are a few other videos ive seen where they've used either a air bubbler foam filter or a undergravel filter with GREAT success. One tank had literally thousands of them.

I was originally going to keep them in the tank without a filter, but after seeing these tanks i think its okay to use a filtration system with minimal flow, although through my own observation the opaes DO prefer still waters, if you see videos of them in their natural anchialine pool habitats, the water does seem pretty still as well. Im sure theyll do great without any filtration as well.

Checked out that video. That guy has a healthy set-up generating lots of shrimp, so obviously there's nothing wrong with how he's doing things. But Mustafa, the guy who established and administers this site, and who also sells these shrimp, is one of the top Opae Ula experts and breeders around (so definitely a "successful breeder" as you put it), and I would bet that his breeding tanks (of which he has many) are just as packed with shrimp as that guy's is, and he doesn't do any of that stuff. He used to use filters, etc. years ago until he realized it made no difference either way to their health or their rate of reproduction. Same thing with one of the frequent contributors to this forum, KenCotigirl. Based on the updates and photos he posts, his tank continues to go nuts with offspring since he established it a while back. There are people who have had shrimp live 20 years in one of those completely closed Ecospheres, so that definitely indicates they don't need much! I'm sure these shrimp, as hardy as they are, can get used to most anything going on the tank, within reason, but it could be argued that the more a tank resembles their natural environment, those anchialine pools you mentioned (I've seen the videos), the better. But who knows - maybe how the guy in that video does it is producing more shrimp than a more basic set-up would, but it's hard to tell if that's actually the case since the stripped-down tanks also do so well. To each his/her own! Thanks for the discussion!

[Nexus6]

Hi jason, thanks for your input. This has been a long going debate i think. Yes, the overall concensus is that opaes prefer completely still water and can survive in any conditions witout any filtration nedded, but i tend to rely on what successful breeders do, since breeding is difficult to perfect. Check out what shrimpmart does: http://youtu.be/K_arDfD3zDs

Hes got a lot of foam and a huge HOB filtration unit and as you can see from the numerous healthy red opaes, i think hes got a great setup, its not a show tank, but i would want healthy happy opaes like his.

There are a few other videos ive seen where they've used either a air bubbler foam filter or a undergravel filter with GREAT success. One tank had literally thousands of them.

I was originally going to keep them in the tank without a filter, but after seeing these tanks i think its okay to use a filtration system with minimal flow, although through my own observation the opaes DO prefer still waters, if you see videos of them in their natural anchialine pool habitats, the water does seem pretty still as well. Im sure theyll do great without any filtration as well.

Checked out that video. That guy has a healthy set-up generating lots of shrimp, so obviously there's nothing wrong with how he's doing things. But Mustafa, the guy who established and administers this site, and who also sells these shrimp, is one of the top Opae Ula experts and breeders around (so definitely a "successful breeder" as you put it), and I would bet that his breeding tanks (of which he has many) are just as packed with shrimp as that guy's is, and he doesn't do any of that stuff. He used to use filters, etc. years ago until he realized it made no difference either way to their health or their rate of reproduction. Same thing with one of the frequent contributors to this forum, KenCotigirl. Based on the updates and photos he posts, his tank continues to go nuts with offspring since he established it a while back. There are people who have had shrimp live 20 years in one of those completely closed Ecospheres, so that definitely indicates they don't need much! I'm sure these shrimp, as hardy as they are, can get used to most anything going on the tank, within reason, but it could be argued that the more a tank resembles their natural environment, those anchialine pools you mentioned (I've seen the videos), the better. But who knows - maybe how the guy in that video does it is producing more shrimp than a more basic set-up would, but it's hard to tell if that's actually the case since the stripped-down tanks also do so well. To each his/her own! Thanks for the discussion!

Theres probably no difference whether you use filters or without, etc. I might have to skip the canister filter altogether due to the water flow it creates. I just worry about ammonia buildup, especially when feeding them. Im at a loss at what to do, i want to take out that huge black HMF sponge filter ive got in the tank, but worry that by doing so, i will have taken out a heavy chunk of beneficial bacteria. Thus creating a mini cycle. I ordered a gallon of cultured water, so hopefully that will help. Ill update with pictures once i change things around.

[Mech]

I use one of those small filters attached to a pump and have it set very low, it barely moves the water just kicks out a few bubbles on the surface around the exit on the pump. so far so good .




its pretty small.

[Nexus6]

I use one of those small filters attached to a pump and have it set very low, it barely moves the water just kicks out a few bubbles on the surface around the exit on the pump. so far so good .




its pretty small.

Hi Mech, thats pretty neat, ive been wanting a small one, whats the size on that and where did you get it?