Hi Everyone,
Like many here, I impulsively bought a small sphere as an interesting hobby and then started reading more about Opae Ula Shrimp. After reading a lot from this board I decided to up my space to one gallon and order everything from Petshrimp. My Gallon has been cycling for just one week and my order arrived today. I added the Chaetomorpha and Moss Ball and half of the snails to the tank right away and will follow the directions by Mustafa for cycling before adding the shrimp.
Meanwhile I transferred the new shrimp to a jar set next to the sphere. I was curious if they would be totally different, larger, more vibrant and active. In my experience the answer is yes! After I get through cycling and the new shrimp are stable, then I will free the shrimp in the sphere and add them to the tank. The plan is to go slow and easy from this point and not rush everyone into the pool. I'll try to share some pictures as I go.
Five days after adding macro algae, moss ball, and snails there is a nice layer of biofilm developing. The shrimp neighbors are chilling on my desk waiting for their new home to cycle. I'm waiting for one more decoration for the gallon jar tank to arrive then maybe I can start putting the shrimp in their home.
Free at last! I couldn't stand it any more so I opened the ***sphere. The jar side was happy and the other side was sad in my opinion. I found the best way to open it was to place it upside down in packing pellets and break out the bottom. See the picture. All four shrimp and the entire contents are now in a jelly jar like their friends. They are relaxed and much more active now that they have some air.
The four shrimp are now in the One Gallon Jar. They are actively foraging for food all over the tank and swimming laps. One thing I noticed is that they like to dive into spaces between the lava rock substrate. It looks like they are having fun and not just surviving as they were in the sphere. I'm happy to say that it's all good. They also seem to like hitching a ride on the back of the snails, or are they eating bacteria off their shells?
Thanks for the pictures and updates! If it looks like your 4 shrimp are doing fine, you can put the rest of them in there too at this point....and then update this thread with a picture.
Thanks Mustafa, and everyone else on the Discussion Forum. I got my barnacles today and released the Super Shrimp to the tank. They all are doing well swimming around and foraging for food. It's been a lot of fun so far. The only thing left on order is a light for the tank. There is a lot of indirect light on my living room for now but some extra light will be needed in winter.
Another week in my gallon jar has passed uneventfully. The shrimp have settled down now that I stopped moving them from bag and sphere to jelly jars and finally to the One Gallon. Their color has deepened to a dark reds, orangey and white. In the beginning they swam a lot in circles just like fish, and now they seem to be content to hang around the decorations picking at stuff. I have a thin biofilm layer on top and occasionally a shrimp or a snail will eat at the surface. There is no visible algae growing yet, however I think there is enough for them to eat. I plan to feed them a tiny amount of spirulina once a month until I see algae growth then stop feeding. I'm enjoying just watching the shrimpies go about their day and watching for mating behavior.
I left the algae from my sphere in the jar and set it near a window to see what it would do. The recommendation is to leave it out of the new tank and use Mustafa's Microalgae instead. Now I see . The old algae has finer filaments and grows rapidly, I can see now that MM is better suited to my shrimp. I'm glad I didn't throw it in when I released the shrimp.
I fed my tank yesterday because the is no visible algae yet. They had feeding frenzy. No more feeding for at least a month, I promise.
I got a good picture of biofilm in my tank as I did a little clean up with a toothbrush. This created a Thanksgiving feast for the snails and shrimpies. No need for another feeding just yet. I'm still enjoying the easiest pets ever!
