Opae ula shrimp

[Odd Duck]

I think they would be fantastic!  Just the thing to get people started.  Am I crazy or have I seen somebody advertising blue Opae ulas for sale?  That might have been on Band?

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 7/3/2023 at 5:55 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

Hey everyone Aloha!!

Ive been contemplating my Opae ula lately and am presently back in our last place of residence Bend, OR.  While discussing our hobby and how our tanks are doing our dear friend here mentioned the Opae ula bowl I made her for her birthday-she told my wife how jealous she was of hers and well my wife told me and I made it! She has a burgeoning colony of shrimps, she feeds every couple Of weeks, and her office mates are constantly asking her about her bowl.

I realized that I really just need to convert one of my 40 g tanks into a massive Opae ula setup and go full on! I have access to shells, algae, rocks and the abundance of the ocean 🌊 and why not just harness that and breed beautiful shrimps! I’ve even contemplated making some aquascapes and taking them to one of my local shops and seeing if they’d sell them for me?! 
 

Am I crazy? What say my Nerms?! Have fun everyone!

Do it!!! The hobby has become used to keeping shrimps in small containers, so it would be interesting to see if they modify their behavior in a larger tank. Would you have to put some filtration in? 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@TheSwissAquaristI’d use an underpowered hang on back filter along with an undergravel - OR a mattenfilter. It depends on where it will be located and what kind of utility access I have.

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 7/4/2023 at 8:01 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

@TheSwissAquaristI’d use an underpowered hang on back filter along with an undergravel - OR a mattenfilter. It depends on where it will be located and what kind of utility access I have.

I’ve read that they don’t like filtration and the water flow that is caused by it. Maybe a very weak mattenfilter?

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Marks Shrimp Tanks is what I’ve based a lot of my info on. As you’ve said gentle flow is fine. I’ll put the flow so it’s top 3rd as they spend very little time there. The main thing is have enough biofilm and algae for them. I’ve been aging 2 two gallon containers for some new setups. The 40 g would be to breed and sell. I only feed once a week, when life’s hard maybe every 2-3 weeks. 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

The Opae ula “tank” which is a 1.5 g glass peanut keeper is my most under appreciated aquascape. It sits in the living room and for the last couple months my wife has basically had me turn the light out in the evening so I’ve not been able to enjoy it as much. But now with a change in my job I have it turn on right when I’m getting up and getting things ready for the kids lunches and it’s a real joy to sip my coffee and watch these beautiful creatures. 

So most of the algae I’ve placed in there has died except the Marimo “moss” balls. There’s a think coating of this almost fluorescent yellow green algae covering a good deal of the setup. The nerite aquascapes it as they see fit and the shrimps respond in kind. 

At times the nerite has a thick carpet of algae all over his shell. With my wife requesting the light off in the evening the whole setup got less than the ideal 12 hours of light. I’ve now fixed the photo period and I think we’ll see better algae growth. 

Really love this “scape” and have 2 containers that are seasoned I plan to do something with. One is a 2 gallon glass storage container and the other is a 1 gallon cookie jar. I’ll leave you with the power of a Nerite snail. 

Have fun everyone!

[TheSwissAquarist]

The scape reminds me a bit of those Acropora or Fire Corals you see in documentaries. 

 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@TheSwissAquaristThis algae loves this dried fan coral, literally the whole thing down to the base is covered. Totally agree algae’s are remarkable organisms and I think all of us need to learn to appreciate what they do for our tanks and creatures. 

[Odd Duck]

I’ve been contemplating putting opae ula into my 2 gallon jar but haven’t pulled the trigger on it yet since I NEED to get my mountain of a fishroom project done first.  I’m considering putting it on the dining room table for hubby’s entertainment - he doesn’t know this yet.  He sits at the table and watches videos whenever he’s not in the garage fiddling with “stuff”.  I figure watching cute little shrimp moving around will be a good break from videos.  😆 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

On 11/29/2023 at 10:36 AM, Odd Duck said:

I’ve been contemplating putting opae ula into my 2 gallon jar but haven’t pulled the trigger on it yet since I NEED to get my mountain of a fishroom project done first.  I’m considering putting it on the dining room table for hubby’s entertainment - he doesn’t know this yet.  He sits at the table and watches videos whenever he’s not in the garage fiddling with “stuff”.  I figure watching cute little shrimp moving around will be a good break from videos.  😆 

It’s rewarding to put it together, watch the parameters come around, set up the hardscape and then put them in. I really think I should do a setup video. If I find a new container for it I’ll go for it and film the process this time. I’m amazed how something I setup in 2021 is still going and so happy! 

[Odd Duck]

On 11/30/2023 at 7:46 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

It’s rewarding to put it together, watch the parameters come around, set up the hardscape and then put them in. I really think I should do a setup video. If I find a new container for it I’ll go for it and film the process this time. I’m amazed how something I setup in 2021 is still going and so happy! 

I would love having a tutorial!  I’d buy you a jug just to get access to a tutorial from you!  I can gift via Amazon, you know!  😆 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

What I continue to love about this scape is how interactive it is. The nerite moves all the algae’s about the container and the Opae ula react to it. 

Have fun everyone!

Also @Odd DuckI purchased some new containers from Home Depot and will be doing setup videos for those containers. When I’m done and they’re edited I’ll post them here! 

[GoofyGarra]

On 12/5/2023 at 12:43 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

What I continue to love about this scape is how interactive it is. The nerite moves all the algae’s about the container and the Opae ula react to it. 

Have fun everyone!

Also @Odd DuckI purchased some new containers from Home Depot and will be doing setup videos for those containers. When I’m done and they’re edited I’ll post them here! 

What algae is that? It reminds me of coral, or some saltwater algaes.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I think it’s a combination of algaes. There’s Marimo, Chaeto, there was some Caleurpa and I’ve tried some other algaes but the lighting and the salinity weren’t right. It’s fun to experiment. I’m going to setup 2 containers a 2.5 g and a 1.5 g and use different salinity’s to see what algaes I might be able to grow. 

[GoofyGarra]

On 12/5/2023 at 1:03 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

I think it’s a combination of algaes. There’s Marimo, Chaeto, there was some Caleurpa and I’ve tried some other algaes but the lighting and the salinity weren’t right. It’s fun to experiment. I’m going to setup 2 containers a 2.5 g and a 1.5 g and use different salinity’s to see what algaes I might be able to grow. 

its saltwater then?

[Odd Duck]

On 12/5/2023 at 4:25 PM, GoofyGarra said:

its saltwater then?

They’re a brackish water shrimp that live in tide pools in Hawaii. They are nearly always shades of red to pink but sometimes will be blue. The blue is far less common and very rarely seen in the hobby.  They aren’t super picky on temp or salinity as long as you’re reasonably steady on your parameters but I’ve never heard of anyone successfully converting them to fresh.

They are small enough to have a very light bio load and can be raised in no filter tanks with only infrequent water changes according to everything I’ve read but I suspect nearly anything would benefit from a bit of filtration and water circulation. A sponge filter or undergravel would probably be ideal but the undergravel would risk them getting trapped under it unless you did a homemade out of tubing.