Aquarimax Pets I will! I set up a tank using RO water and old saltwater from my aquarium. I’ll have to wait for a while for it to cycle. If you want to trade I have some marcgravia, rare ferns, and mosses I could give you.
they really get in the mood, when you always let a decent amout evaporate before topping the tank off, say 10-25%, and try to be somewhat frequent over the year. it tells them, that theyr habitat has a safe supply of water. topping off too often reduces vreeding conciderably.
I just watched the latest Opae ula video and I’m absolutely amazed. This is now my #1 choice for low maintenance pets on my wishlist. I might even have to get them before my #1 Isopod wishlist which is really saying something (A. gestroi)
I had a very successful tank in California that I gave away when I moved East. Now I am getting read to set up another tank in my new location so I am refreshing my knowledge by watching videos and reading again. I have one suggestion for this video. Tell people how Malasyian Trumpet snails can be invasive. I had a real problem with them in my tank. I introduced 6 Into my tank and in no time they numbers exploded. These snails can procreate by themselves. The shrimp became stressed out, I think, by the growing population. I think they were becoming competition for food generated by the tank. I never fed my shrimp, they successfully got what they needed from the algae in the tank and they had a lot of babies. What made me decide to set up a new tank is one morning when I came to look at the shrimp I coudn't believe what I saw. A mass of the shrimp had gathered on one side of the tank and on the other side was a mass of the snails. So I set up a new tank with new substrate and new lava rock for the shrimp to hide in, I went from a 13 gallon tank to. 35 gallon tank. I transferred all of the shrimp out of the original tank into the new one and ordered a new batch since the tank was so large. I kept the original tank running in case I missed any shrimp. I also couldn't bring my self to kill the snails or let them loose in a local water way. Some people have released these snails and they have created big problems in municipal water systems. They can adapt to any environment. I had left behind some shrimp and some very small shrimp that were babies. After two weeks it seems that I had gotten all of the shrimp in the tank, but I kept the tank running for the snails. For the new tank I got Nerite Snails which were great except for the amount of poop they generated. Everything in the new tank was going along swimmingly. One day I spotted a speck on the side of the tank. It was a Trumpet Snail, a very tiny one. I knew when I saw that I was in trouble. Every time I saw one I vacuumed it or got it in a net and transferred into the. snail tank but it didn't matter. Soon they were a lot of Trumpet snails. I don't know how they got into the tank. I used everything new in the new tank. I didn't even use the same nets or other tools in both tanks. The only thing I can think of is either I caught one in a net while transferring the shrimp even though I had a holding area I put the shrimp in first before putting them in new tank to make sure no snails were present and so I could use a new net to transfer them in. Maybe a baby was on one of the shrimp, I don't know. I couldn't get rid of them even after setting up a new tank with all new items and not using equipment in both tanks. I will never get those snails again. I have even asked my supplier if. he keeps those snails, he doesn't. I don't want to populate my tank with shrimp that have come anywhere near those snails. Beware of what you put into your tank. The Nerites worked well in brackish water. They laid a lot of eggs, but the eggs need full ocean salinity to hatch and they wont hatch in brackish water. With the new snails I had a lot of snail poop and had to deal with them laying their eggs all over the rock, but they were so beautiful that. it was not a big deal for me.
Interesting, thanks for sharing your experience! Even after having trumpet snails for years in one of my Opae ula tanks, I have never had an issue with overpopulation. (I HAVE had issues with that snail in freshwater tanks, where much. Ore food is present.) in my Opae ula tank that has the snails, the population has remained small, the snails themselves are also darker and smaller than they are in freshwater setups. It is true that the trumpet snails reproduce through parthenogenesis, so one miniscule individual is enough to found an entire population…one of the reasons they are invasive. The adults can also survive long periods out of water.
Thank you for all of this information. Recently (I suppose, at least that I've noticed) these shrimp have become a little popular here in Japan. However, not a huge amount of information is available. I will do my best to put your tips to good use.
You're welcome! I've heard that people keeping in them in Japan sometimes call them pixie shrimp. I'm glad to help provide information, and definitely check out petshrimp.com...plenty of information there. Best of luck, and I would be interested in hearing how your shrimp do!
MobyDicksWife Thank you! These shrimp can handle a variety of temperatures, but seem to breed fastest in the 70s F. Any reasonable room temperature is fine. 👍
I bought this with a concealed tank ecosphere on amazon and I wanna move them to a tank, can I add regular water or does it have to be salt ? Please answer don’t want them to die in the concealed tank :(
Rene Aguas you can successfully transfer them to a large tank. You will need marine salt mix though. Here are some great instructions: www.petshrimp.com/set-up-a-supershrimp-tank-step-by-step-instructions/
Amazing video, i hope i can find where i live, but for sure i can find nerites :) can i keep all nerites ? because there are a lot under “nerite” gene. i love them all and surely make them comfortable and breeding them would be fantastic.
In the video it is mentioned that the opae ula feed on fish food. Can they have shrimp food, or only fish food? And what kind of commercial fish (or shrimp [?]) food should they be fed (algae wafers, snowball, insects [not insects only; but insect-based foods (example being black soldier fly larvae)], shrimp, bloodworms, etc.) ? Is there any certain ingredients (good or bad) I should look out for when choosing a food? Are there any certain products/brands you would recommend? Thanks! C: EDIT: I was also wondering if there are specific types of food would be best (ex; flakes, powder, sinking pellets) ? I've heard that the sinking pellets are the least messy, but there are more (specifically for shrimp) algae powders out there. Would the powder be problematic due to the fact there are no water changes?
They don’t seem to have much of a preference. I have fed flake, sinking pellets, floating pellets, and powders without any issues. The key is to feed sparingly. When I feed powders, I use a tiny amount about twice per week, and when I use pellets, once a week or even once or twice per month.
Careful about feeding them. Your tank should be able to produce enough algae to keep them fed. Don't filter your water continuously. I filtered mine once a month for 24 hours and once my tank was established I never fed them. Once in a while I would drop in a freeze dried piece of seaweed but they weren't too interested in eating it. Mostly the snails ate that.
It boggles my mind that multiple sources say no water changes and no filters. It goes against everything I know as a fish-keeper. I guess there must be anaerobic bacteria that develop in the aquarium to help deal with nitrates, since there is low water flow. It would be interesting to compare the microbial communities of enclosures with these shrimp to say, cherry shrimp. I watched your video for 15k subs and the room tour, and since I saw these guys I have researched a bit and really want some! I have a two gallon glass bowl I bought for decor, but now I think maybe I will try and keep some in there.
E. K. Rendtt It is quite bizarre that this species thrives in conditions that would be deadly to many aquatic creatures. It makes sense that there is some anaerobic bacterial activity processing nitrogenous wastes. I wonder if anyone has researched that, I agree it would be interesting to hear more about it. You could have a thriving community in a two-gallon bowl. Let me know when you set it up! 😊👍
The guy who runs petshrimp.com who goes by "Mustafa" says he's had tanks for about 20 years with no water changes, and the shrimp are thriving. It's quite amazing.
Hi Aquarimax Pets, how are you?. Just wanted to let you know, i have had Opae Ula Shrimp for about 20 years now in Hawaii. And have noticed the water level to there aquarium water tank has gone down quite a bit sense these last years. It's about half way down. I was just wondering because I just purchased Hawaii Volcanic Naturally Alkaline Premium artesian Water with PH of 8+. would it be okay to put Hawaii Volcanic Naturally Alkaline Water in their aquarium tank?. Or no it would hurt them?.
Glad to hear that your opae ula are doing so well! My guess is that the water you mentioned would be okay, but I would suggest distilled or reverse osmosis water, I know those are safe.
@@Aquarimax thank you that means a lot to me 😀. Yeah their still hanging in there. Thank you, that’s really helpful. I will look into that for sure. Should I also get spirolina to feed them once in a while and salt?.
I have mine( 2 of the shrimps ) for about 3 months now and the shrimps are not red at all. Why? I have a tube for them to hide and a small oxygen pump. Do I feed them normal fish food? I haven't feed them yet.
Different localities have different levels of red, but food and other environmental factors can influence the color as well. Even disturbances like an air pump can make a difference. They can survive for years without any food but the microfauna in the tank. If algae is growing, they can feed on that.
Old video but I figured I'd ask anyway--what light source is best for proper algae growth and (if possible) sustaining low-light aquatic plants? A small desk lamp with low-wattage and minimal heat emissions is probably ideal but I'm not sure what exact bulb I should be getting for them. If you have a specific type you'd recommend, what plants or mosses could it sustain? I impulse bought one of those "eco-spheres" and it feels like the shrimp equivalent of putting a betta in a bowl--I want to treat these little dudes right.
Great question! Very few plants thrive in the concentration of brackish water these shrimp thrive in. The macroalgae sold at Petshrimp.com is the only one I have had good luck with. I use this lamp on my 10 gallon setup with success: #ad amzn.to/3BDcgjq
Where can I find trumpet snails? I've tried adding pipipi snails from the ocean after acclimatizing to brackish but they all eventually die in the brackish water. Also don't the trumpet snails exit the tank/bowl? I keep the opae in a 1 gal fish bowl and the pipipi snails kept crawling out.
Matthew Ruel I used to catch pipipi when I lived in Hawaii, but I found them next to the mouth of a stream so they were already acclimated to brackish...that might help. I never see the trumpet snails leaving the water. Where are you located, in general?
Aquarimax Pets I live on Kaua’i so it’s easy to find pipipi snails but hard to keep them in the bowl! The ones I collected recently were in ocean water but I could collect from brackish as well. I ended up taking the first batch back to the tide pool where I found them since it was clear they wouldn’t stay in the bowl.
These shrimp are naturally red. When they are in the dark, they become pale, and they darken back up when exposed to light. That said, different populations vary somewhat in intensity of the red color.
Caroline Thank you! I use Seachem Prime to detoxify chlorine\chloramine when I use tap water. When I use distilled water, I don’t add anything but the salt mix. 👍
PacJoe there is another brackish-tolerant species, Terebia granifera, that can work in the same way, but I think they are less common. Do you have a local online classifieds page you can check for trumpet snails on with local hobbyists?
Good question...these shrimp are not only a lot smaller than Neocaridina, they have VERY different requirements. They eat so much less that the bioload is negligible...Neocaridina shrimp would starve on what these shrimp thrive on.
shrimpie-kins Thanks for watching! Sounds like you are off to a great start...people sometimes start with too few, and don't see much of them until they start to reproduce. Most of these shots are actually with my old iPhone 4S. A few were with my dear departed Canon Powershot.
I have seen Copepods in opae ula tanks...I am not sure if the opae ula eat them or not, but they do no harm. However, if you have too many copepods, you might try reducing food...it should reduce the population.
Dovakiin Dragonborn I bought a mini ‘moss ball’ from petshrimp.com, but algae will naturally appear in the enclosure as it cycles if conditions are right.
You can also buy chaetomorpha algae from petshrimp.com, and it grows very quickly. I started with a very small clump and less than a year later I probably have 8x what I started with in my 5-gallon tank.
This was so helpful. Thank you! Is it possible to purchase eggs to hatch them? And secondly, would they survive in an ecosphere? From the looks of it, I think they might, but I'd like confirmatio!
A Dutto You’re welcome! These shrimp carry their eggs until they hatch, so they eggs can’t be purchased separately. They are, in fact, the species of shrimp sold in ecospheres...they are so hardy they can survive in them for years, but they rarely breed or truly thrive in them.
Aquarimax Thanks for the answer! Well, at this point I'll try buying some live shrimps and create an ecosystem for them. I'd love to have them in a big aquarium in my room during college.
A Dutto you’re welcome! They would certainly be one of the best low-maintenance college pets. A 10-gallon aquarium could house hundreds of them. I probably have 300-500 in my 10-gallon.
Dovakiin Dragonborn Great question! They can survive for years in small sealed containers, but it is not ideal. They usually become paler, smaller, and breed much less frequently.
Sealed ecosphere is a torture chamber. They end up dying by choking on the ammonia from their urine. In a tank environment these can live for 15 years. In an ecosphere I have never heard of any living more than a year or heard agout all dying except for one who then got to live in a sphere with its friends dead at the bottom. These little shrimp are social animals so having one in a ecosphere where the others have died is criminal. I started my tank because someone sent me an echosphere as a gift. When I got it I started to read ab out them and was horrified by what I leaned. I got a tank and broke the shrimp. out of the sphere.
Cherry shrimp are definitely pretty easy too, but I would say that cherry shrimp do better with regular partial water changes and seem to need a little more food.
+Neon Tetra Aquarist I've bred all variations of CRS and related species and to answer your question, it's not so much that CRS are easier as they are just freshwater only in comparison to the Opae that thrive in fresh to saltwater however do best in low salinity brackish water around 1.001 ppm. I find CRS and others like cherries, king kongs, electric blues, etc far more colorful however they only survive for about a year or two compared to the Opae that live 20 plus years!!! That coupled with the fact that they are the most forgiving shrimp you could possibly keep literally needing no filtration, nearly no food supply (they can live on small hair algae that naturally grows in the tank alone) and survive a crazy variation of water temperatures is what makes the Opae more forgiving of a hobbyists lack of shrimp husbandry but also quite a curious animal to study. That's why it was picked by NASA to be the species to study in space and how it would be used in ecosystems.
SS TING I use a brackish concentration of 50% ocean salinity water, 50% fresh in the tanks I set up most recently, and they seem to breed very well at that level. I have kept them at lower salinities, down to 8 parts fresh, 1 part salt, and they do ok at that level as well.
Hi, I recently got into shrimps and want to create a tank from scratch but i'm uncertain on how to create the brackish water part. I want to make sure that my ph levels are good and I don't over put salt. I bought Instant Ocean® Aquarium Sea Salt and a Top Fin® 3.5 Gallon Enchant Aquarium. Also, about how long will it take to go through the cycle of it being ready?
Make the salinity in your tank 1/2 of what the ocean is. It is suggested to introduce shrimp after a month of cycling your tank. However, I did not wait that long. These are really tough little shrimp. My tank was fully cycled when I put shrimp in. I just checked the water every day and. would adjust things manually until it was fully cycled. There are also additives you can get to make your tank cycle faster, I fed them during this time and then when algae appeared I slowly eliminated food. I didn't lose one shrimp.
hi how do you get algae to grow? I want to provide them with an ample amount. also can I use a filter while cycling because I don't want the water to go stagnant?
Algae spores are all over the place, so chances are algae will grow on its own if given enough time and light (12 hours a day is recommended). You can speed it up by putting in water form an existing opae ula tank, and this can be done by ordering shrimp or macroalgae from a breeder like the supershrimp store. Opae ula prefer still water so a filter is best not used, but if you want to use a small filter to clear cloudy water (like how it may look after adding the sand) then that's fine, but once the water is clear you shouldn't need a filter for cycling. The water won't get stinky or anything provided you don't overfeed the tank.
+Aquarimax I have a 100 gallon aquarium with one fish in it my black bullhead catfish could I put another black bullhead in it or is my aquarium to small?
Chocotato I am not sure what the treatment process for that toe is, but if it is carbon filtered and/or treated via reverse osmosis, then yes. If additional minerals are added for taste, I would be a little suspicious of it.
Chocotato If the stores on the island are still mostly the same as they were when I lived on Oahu from 2004-2007, you should be able to find plain, pure distilled water at Foodland, Safeway, Star Market, or Walmart. Here on the mainland it usually costs less than a dollar per gallon, hopefully it isn't too much more expensive there...
This honestly makes them seem like some of the easiest pets in the world and even tho i made up my mind to never have fully aquatic pets that need a larger than 20 gallon tank i now have an easy and adorable option. But what about heating and filtration.
I hear the Opae ula do really well with a certain type of algae ball seen here ruclips.net/video/ZmYQUsDmVlQ/видео.html . Do you know what kind of algae this might be???
I actually purchased one of these algae balls from Petshrimp.com about 2.5 years ago. It has just started to reproduce! I have about 4 tiny algae balls in the tank, in addition to the "parent" ball. Unfortunately, is have no idea what the species might be, but i can confirm that it does indeed grow very, very slowly.
+Aquarimax Thanks for the reply. It makes it all the more interesting to consider an algae species that actually grows that slowly. I've only seen BBC Algae to reproduce in ball like form as well but I've got to check into this. Hope others chime in on what it may be. Thanks!
Michael Baker I (and others) have wondered whether the shrimp have an influence on the shape of the algae with their constant grazing..much as water movement in their native lakes causes Marino moss balls to form ball shapes.. As you do, I find it interesting that this species grows so incredibly slowly. There is a thread on the Supershrimp forum discussing the ID of this species, but I last I checked it had not been identified conclusively. When ai get enough of them, if it hasn't been done yet, in may send a specimen to a lab with an algae specialist to see what can be determined.
+Aquarimax I was planning on doing the same (buying one and inspecting it for identification). It would suck if it was just hair algae with some guys in the back rolling them up into balls....lol What's the link to the discussion you are on? I'd like to possibly chime in with you guys. I think your idea of the shrimp being the cause of the ball is certainly a plausible idea. I know some species do naturally grow this way but I'd think it would be more well known and not really a new discovery. In your tank(s) did you have shrimp in the tank where you saw the algae spore out into new balls of algae or did they do that on their own with nothing in the tank?
Michael Baker It would indeed be sad if it were just hair algae, but I think it is something else...if only because it grows so slowly, and there are plenty of other algae a that the shrimp don't roll into balls. Hard to know though...if you do get one tested, I'd be very interested in hearing about the results. Here is a link to the discussion:www.petshrimp.com/discussions/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=5206&start=45
Kenneth Reyes You can actually have hundreds in a 10-gallon tank, no problem. They are unlikely to overpopulate the tank, so while you could sell some, you wouldn’t need to.
joemanta7 A very valid question. The snails do produce ammonia, and without a filter, oxygen levels will be lower, so this will affect the ability of the beneficial bacteria to colonize the tank. However, opae'ula are a very low bioload, so the smaller bacterial colonies are still enough to handle the very small amounts of ammonia produced.
Thx for the quick reply ,i have a 2 1/2 gallon tank so does that mean i can just add these to that tank right away with no filter and no heater and are snails necessary .I do have a a 40 gallon saltwater tank so i do have the correct salt for the shrimp water.
joemanta7 The snails help a lot, but they are not absolutely necessary. No heater is needed (unless the room gets below about 40 F,) and no filter is needed either. I suggest setting up a tank and letting it sit for about 2 months, or at least until you see algae growth before adding the shrimp. It is risky to add the shrimp too early. Once you add the shrimp, you won't need to feed them for at least a month or two. When I set up this tank in the video, I didn't feed them for six months after I introduced them...they find algae and biofilm to eat and do just fine.
Robb Valentine good question- Well, the setup itself takes a little effort, but since I set up the tank in the video over 3 years ago, I have never had to do a water chsnge. I only feed them once a week or less. I top off the water once every couple of months, and that is it.
hi how do you get algae to grow? I want to provide them with an ample amount. also can I use a filter while cycling because I don't want the water to go stagnant?
If you use a fluorescent light fixture, you should get plenty of algal growth. What size is your aquarium? You could use a filter to cycle the tank, but then you'd need to keep using it or the bacteria would decline once the additional oxygen provided by the filter is gone. The easiest thing to do is skip the filter entirely....the shrimp will not be harmed at all by the still water, and you avoid the salt crust that a filter causes.
If you use a fluorescent light fixture, you should get plenty of algal growth. What size is your aquarium? You could use a filter to cycle the tank, but then you'd need to keep using it or the bacteria would decline once the additional oxygen provided by the filter is gone. The easiest thing to do is skip the filter entirely....the shrimp will not be harmed at all by the still water, and you avoid the salt crust that a filter causes.
+Aquarimax ten gallons and I guess I'll skip the filter I just hope it cycles. would one t5 daylight bulb suffice or should I go with something less bright?
+Damien G if you already have the t5 fixture you can use it, but I might suggest something a little less bright. Cycling for these shrimp seems to work just fine without a filter, though I am sure the dynamics of the system are different. Adding a few trumpet snails will help get the cycle rolling...normally I do not suggest cycling with live organisms, but with an opae'ula tank the bioload is quite low and many factors are different.
They’re much more active than I expected for guys living in such a stillwater and low nutrient environ!
Yes! They are super active…never even seem to rest much!
Can you make more on opae ula? I gained a strong interest in them.
Kenneth Reyes Sure! I am going to be doing some work on moving my colonies, maybe do some upgrades, and will make sure to make some more videos, 👍
I’m in love with these shrimp. It would be nice to have something that requires little effort.
Forest Oasis you should give them a try!!
Aquarimax Pets I will! I set up a tank using RO water and old saltwater from my aquarium. I’ll have to wait for a while for it to cycle. If you want to trade I have some marcgravia, rare ferns, and mosses I could give you.
Tempting me to get some of these little dudes lol. I'm gonna end up with animal enclosures in every room at this rate! Thanks Rus!
C S LOL! That’s what I am here for! 🦐🦐🦐
they really get in the mood, when you always let a decent amout evaporate before topping the tank off, say 10-25%, and try to be somewhat frequent over the year. it tells them, that theyr habitat has a safe supply of water. topping off too often reduces vreeding conciderably.
Cuda FX Interesting point! That may also be why they tend to reproduce a lot once they settle in to a new aquarium. 👍
I just watched the latest Opae ula video and I’m absolutely amazed. This is now my #1 choice for low maintenance pets on my wishlist. I might even have to get them before my #1 Isopod wishlist which is really saying something (A. gestroi)
They are extremely easy! I have them available, too!
@@Aquarimax Yup, that’s exactly why I started researching them, it’s because they were on your shop! Also much cheaper than petshrimp shop
I had a very successful tank in California that I gave away when I moved East. Now I am getting read to set up another tank in my new location so I am refreshing my knowledge by watching videos and reading again. I have one suggestion for this video. Tell people how Malasyian Trumpet snails can be invasive. I had a real problem with them in my tank. I introduced 6 Into my tank and in no time they numbers exploded. These snails can procreate by themselves. The shrimp became stressed out, I think, by the growing population. I think they were becoming competition for food generated by the tank. I never fed my shrimp, they successfully got what they needed from the algae in the tank and they had a lot of babies. What made me decide to set up a new tank is one morning when I came to look at the shrimp I coudn't believe what I saw. A mass of the shrimp had gathered on one side of the tank and on the other side was a mass of the snails. So I set up a new tank with new substrate and new lava rock for the shrimp to hide in, I went from a 13 gallon tank to. 35 gallon tank. I transferred all of the shrimp out of the original tank into the new one and ordered a new batch since the tank was so large. I kept the original tank running in case I missed any shrimp. I also couldn't bring my self to kill the snails or let them loose in a local water way. Some people have released these snails and they have created big problems in municipal water systems. They can adapt to any environment.
I had left behind some shrimp and some very small shrimp that were babies. After two weeks it seems that I had gotten all of the shrimp in the tank, but I kept the tank running for the snails. For the new tank I got Nerite Snails which were great except for the amount of poop they generated. Everything in the new tank was going along swimmingly. One day I spotted a speck on the side of the tank. It was a Trumpet Snail, a very tiny one. I knew when I saw that I was in trouble. Every time I saw one I vacuumed it or got it in a net and transferred into the. snail tank but it didn't matter. Soon they were a lot of Trumpet snails. I don't know how they got into the tank. I used everything new in the new tank. I didn't even use the same nets or other tools in both tanks. The only thing I can think of is either I caught one in a net while transferring the shrimp even though I had a holding area I put the shrimp in first before putting them in new tank to make sure no snails were present and so I could use a new net to transfer them in. Maybe a baby was on one of the shrimp, I don't know. I couldn't get rid of them even after setting up a new tank with all new items and not using equipment in both tanks. I will never get those snails again. I have even asked my supplier if. he keeps those snails, he doesn't. I don't want to populate my tank with shrimp that have come anywhere near those snails.
Beware of what you put into your tank. The Nerites worked well in brackish water. They laid a lot of eggs, but the eggs need full ocean salinity to hatch and they wont hatch in brackish water. With the new snails I had a lot of snail poop and had to deal with them laying their eggs all over the rock, but they were so beautiful that. it was not a big deal for me.
Interesting, thanks for sharing your experience! Even after having trumpet snails for years in one of my Opae ula tanks, I have never had an issue with overpopulation. (I HAVE had issues with that snail in freshwater tanks, where much. Ore food is present.) in my Opae ula tank that has the snails, the population has remained small, the snails themselves are also darker and smaller than they are in freshwater setups.
It is true that the trumpet snails reproduce through parthenogenesis, so one miniscule individual is enough to found an entire population…one of the reasons they are invasive. The adults can also survive long periods out of water.
I love opae shrimp They have a lot of personality
They do, don't they! 👍
:)
very cool! I never heard of these until your Aquarimax live stream last night. Thanks.
Sean Meister Awesome, a new critter for you to ponder from the livestream! These little shrimp are pretty amazing...
Thank you for all of this information. Recently (I suppose, at least that I've noticed) these shrimp have become a little popular here in Japan. However, not a huge amount of information is available. I will do my best to put your tips to good use.
You're welcome! I've heard that people keeping in them in Japan sometimes call them pixie shrimp. I'm glad to help provide information, and definitely check out petshrimp.com...plenty of information there. Best of luck, and I would be interested in hearing how your shrimp do!
+Aquarimax Yes, pixie shrimp was the label mine had when I bought them (incredibly expensive, btw). Will do, thank you!
this is pretty cool I've been trying to set up more brackish tanks and I really do like shrimp thanks for the info
Great! I hope you set up an opae ula tank, they're a lot of fun.
Mine came yesterday, can't wait to see them settle in and grow.
Becky Fischer I hope they flourish for you! 😊👍🦐🦐🦐
Where did you order from?
cool tank. the rocks look great
Great video. Perhaps I missed it but I didn't see any mention of water temperature.
MobyDicksWife Thank you! These shrimp can handle a variety of temperatures, but seem to breed fastest in the 70s F. Any reasonable room temperature is fine. 👍
I bought this with a concealed tank ecosphere on amazon and I wanna move them to a tank, can I add regular water or does it have to be salt ? Please answer don’t want them to die in the concealed tank :(
Rene Aguas you can successfully transfer them to a large tank. You will need marine salt mix though. Here are some great instructions: www.petshrimp.com/set-up-a-supershrimp-tank-step-by-step-instructions/
Thank you for the great video. Does an opae'ula tank require any filtration?
Thank you! No filtration required, beyond the biological filtration that occurs naturally in a proper setup.
Amazing video, i hope i can find where i live, but for sure i can find nerites :) can i keep all nerites ? because there are a lot under “nerite” gene. i love them all and surely make them comfortable and breeding them would be fantastic.
Mert G These shrimp can only be found in Hawaii, but nerites are quite widespread. 👍
In the video it is mentioned that the opae ula feed on fish food. Can they have shrimp food, or only fish food? And what kind of commercial fish (or shrimp [?]) food should they be fed (algae wafers, snowball, insects [not insects only; but insect-based foods (example being black soldier fly larvae)], shrimp, bloodworms, etc.) ? Is there any certain ingredients (good or bad) I should look out for when choosing a food? Are there any certain products/brands you would recommend? Thanks! C:
EDIT: I was also wondering if there are specific types of food would be best (ex; flakes, powder, sinking pellets) ? I've heard that the sinking pellets are the least messy, but there are more (specifically for shrimp) algae powders out there. Would the powder be problematic due to the fact there are no water changes?
They don’t seem to have much of a preference. I have fed flake, sinking pellets, floating pellets, and powders without any issues. The key is to feed sparingly. When I feed powders, I use a tiny amount about twice per week, and when I use pellets, once a week or even once or twice per month.
Careful about feeding them. Your tank should be able to produce enough algae to keep them fed. Don't filter your water continuously. I filtered mine once a month for 24 hours and once my tank was established I never fed them. Once in a while I would drop in a freeze dried piece of seaweed but they weren't too interested in eating it. Mostly the snails ate that.
Can they be acclimated to full salt? Gonna have some extras and idk where to put them but i have a reef tank
They can live in full salt, but I hear they don’t breed as well in it. Not entirely sure about that, but they might well get eaten in a reef tank
It boggles my mind that multiple sources say no water changes and no filters. It goes against everything I know as a fish-keeper. I guess there must be anaerobic bacteria that develop in the aquarium to help deal with nitrates, since there is low water flow. It would be interesting to compare the microbial communities of enclosures with these shrimp to say, cherry shrimp.
I watched your video for 15k subs and the room tour, and since I saw these guys I have researched a bit and really want some! I have a two gallon glass bowl I bought for decor, but now I think maybe I will try and keep some in there.
E. K. Rendtt It is quite bizarre that this species thrives in conditions that would be deadly to many aquatic creatures. It makes sense that there is some anaerobic bacterial activity processing nitrogenous wastes. I wonder if anyone has researched that, I agree it would be interesting to hear more about it. You could have a thriving community in a two-gallon bowl. Let me know when you set it up! 😊👍
The guy who runs petshrimp.com who goes by "Mustafa" says he's had tanks for about 20 years with no water changes, and the shrimp are thriving. It's quite amazing.
Hi Aquarimax Pets, how are you?. Just wanted to let you know, i have had Opae Ula Shrimp for about 20 years now in Hawaii. And have noticed the water level to there aquarium water tank has gone down quite a bit sense these last years. It's about half way down. I was just wondering because I just purchased Hawaii Volcanic Naturally Alkaline Premium artesian Water with PH of 8+. would it be okay to put Hawaii Volcanic Naturally Alkaline Water in their aquarium tank?. Or no it would hurt them?.
Glad to hear that your opae ula are doing so well! My guess is that the water you mentioned would be okay, but I would suggest distilled or reverse osmosis water, I know those are safe.
@@Aquarimax thank you that means a lot to me 😀. Yeah their still hanging in there. Thank you, that’s really helpful. I will look into that for sure. Should I also get spirolina to feed them once in a while and salt?.
I have mine( 2 of the shrimps ) for about 3 months now and the shrimps are not red at all. Why? I have a tube for them to hide and a small oxygen pump. Do I feed them normal fish food? I haven't feed them yet.
can they survive without any food? I have some algae starting to grow in the tank
Different localities have different levels of red, but food and other environmental factors can influence the color as well. Even disturbances like an air pump can make a difference. They can survive for years without any food but the microfauna in the tank. If algae is growing, they can feed on that.
I have some brackish chaeto w/ some dead white spots. Do you think the Opae Ula would eat the dead spots off the chaeto?
wcdeich4 I think there is a good chance that they would
Old video but I figured I'd ask anyway--what light source is best for proper algae growth and (if possible) sustaining low-light aquatic plants? A small desk lamp with low-wattage and minimal heat emissions is probably ideal but I'm not sure what exact bulb I should be getting for them. If you have a specific type you'd recommend, what plants or mosses could it sustain? I impulse bought one of those "eco-spheres" and it feels like the shrimp equivalent of putting a betta in a bowl--I want to treat these little dudes right.
Great question! Very few plants thrive in the concentration of brackish water these shrimp thrive in.
The macroalgae sold at Petshrimp.com is the only one I have had good luck with. I use this lamp on my 10 gallon setup with success:
#ad amzn.to/3BDcgjq
Where can I find trumpet snails? I've tried adding pipipi snails from the ocean after acclimatizing to brackish but they all eventually die in the brackish water. Also don't the trumpet snails exit the tank/bowl? I keep the opae in a 1 gal fish bowl and the pipipi snails kept crawling out.
Matthew Ruel I used to catch pipipi when I lived in Hawaii, but I found them next to the mouth of a stream so they were already acclimated to brackish...that might help. I never see the trumpet snails leaving the water. Where are you located, in general?
Aquarimax Pets I live on Kaua’i so it’s easy to find pipipi snails but hard to keep them in the bowl! The ones I collected recently were in ocean water but I could collect from brackish as well. I ended up taking the first batch back to the tide pool where I found them since it was clear they wouldn’t stay in the bowl.
Matthew Ruel I see...If you try collecting them from brackish water you may have better luck then. 👍
Why are some red and some white? Is the red color due to selective breeding or is it naturally red?
These shrimp are naturally red. When they are in the dark, they become pale, and they darken back up when exposed to light. That said, different populations vary somewhat in intensity of the red color.
Very interesting, thank you for the quick reply!
Blue Bowser You’re welcome, and thank you for watching! 😊👍
How do you make or get brackish water?
Alexis Ang You buy salt intended for marine aquariums, and mix it according to package directions, except that you use twice as much water. 😊👍
Great video! What do you use, if anything, to treat your water?
Caroline Thank you! I use Seachem Prime to detoxify chlorine\chloramine when I use tap water. When I use distilled water, I don’t add anything but the salt mix. 👍
So should I put trumpet snails in right away or wait 3 weeks once tank is setup?
Also is there any other kind of snail I could use? Locally nobody has any trumpet snails for sale
Trumpet snails can go in immediately. 👍
PacJoe there is another brackish-tolerant species, Terebia granifera, that can work in the same way, but I think they are less common. Do you have a local online classifieds page you can check for trumpet snails on with local hobbyists?
I feel like 12 shrimp in a half gallon is crazy. Neocaridinas only get like 4.3 per gallon. How are you doing 12 in a half....
Good question...these shrimp are not only a lot smaller than Neocaridina, they have VERY different requirements. They eat so much less that the bioload is negligible...Neocaridina shrimp would starve on what these shrimp thrive on.
Nice info. I just started my Opae Ula tank and got 80 of them about a week ago. What camera/lens are you using to record your video?
shrimpie-kins Thanks for watching! Sounds like you are off to a great start...people sometimes start with too few, and don't see much of them until they start to reproduce. Most of these shots are actually with my old iPhone 4S. A few were with my dear departed Canon Powershot.
Hi, do opae ula eats copepods? Because I have a lot populating my tank...
I have seen Copepods in opae ula tanks...I am not sure if the opae ula eat them or not, but they do no harm. However, if you have too many copepods, you might try reducing food...it should reduce the population.
Hey, thank you for your fast response! Appreciated. Its a relieve(: but they are not very pleasing to look at.. :( haha
+Lyndon T 😀
What kind if algae do you use? Where did you get it?
Dovakiin Dragonborn I bought a mini ‘moss ball’ from petshrimp.com, but algae will naturally appear in the enclosure as it cycles if conditions are right.
You can also buy chaetomorpha algae from petshrimp.com, and it grows very quickly. I started with a very small clump and less than a year later I probably have 8x what I started with in my 5-gallon tank.
Is there a way to keep this in freshwater rather than salt or will they die
Albert bob They can live in fairly weak brackish water, but not pure freshwater, at least not for very long.
Really interesting animals. Probably I can't find them where I live, though.
Invasive Kitten Who Crawl And Climb Your Wall That is possible. They can be found outside of Hawaii now, but not everywhere.
What is the best temperature for the shrimp?
I’s say anywhere in the 70s F.
This was so helpful. Thank you!
Is it possible to purchase eggs to hatch them?
And secondly, would they survive in an ecosphere? From the looks of it, I think they might, but I'd like confirmatio!
A Dutto You’re welcome! These shrimp carry their eggs until they hatch, so they eggs can’t be purchased separately.
They are, in fact, the species of shrimp sold in ecospheres...they are so hardy they can survive in them for years, but they rarely breed or truly thrive in them.
Aquarimax Thanks for the answer! Well, at this point I'll try buying some live shrimps and create an ecosystem for them. I'd love to have them in a big aquarium in my room during college.
A Dutto you’re welcome! They would certainly be one of the best low-maintenance college pets. A 10-gallon aquarium could house hundreds of them. I probably have 300-500 in my 10-gallon.
Aquarimax that's amazing 😍
Can these be used in sealed ecosphere/bioshperes or do they need an open tank?
Dovakiin Dragonborn Great question! They can survive for years in small sealed containers, but it is not ideal. They usually become paler, smaller, and breed much less frequently.
Sealed ecosphere is a torture chamber. They end up dying by choking on the ammonia from their urine. In a tank environment these can live for 15 years. In an ecosphere I have never heard of any living more than a year or heard agout all dying except for one who then got to live in a sphere with its friends dead at the bottom. These little shrimp are social animals so having one in a ecosphere where the others have died is criminal. I started my tank because someone sent me an echosphere as a gift. When I got it I started to read ab out them and was horrified by what I leaned. I got a tank and broke the shrimp. out of the sphere.
Aren't cherry shrimp easier?
Cherry shrimp are definitely pretty easy too, but I would say that cherry shrimp do better with regular partial water changes and seem to need a little more food.
+Neon Tetra Aquarist I've bred all variations of CRS and related species and to answer your question, it's not so much that CRS are easier as they are just freshwater only in comparison to the Opae that thrive in fresh to saltwater however do best in low salinity brackish water around 1.001 ppm. I find CRS and others like cherries, king kongs, electric blues, etc far more colorful however they only survive for about a year or two compared to the Opae that live 20 plus years!!! That coupled with the fact that they are the most forgiving shrimp you could possibly keep literally needing no filtration, nearly no food supply (they can live on small hair algae that naturally grows in the tank alone) and survive a crazy variation of water temperatures is what makes the Opae more forgiving of a hobbyists lack of shrimp husbandry but also quite a curious animal to study. That's why it was picked by NASA to be the species to study in space and how it would be used in ecosystems.
Michael Baker Sounds very cool! Mow I want to get some!!!!!!!!!!!
Neon Tetra Aquarist thank you.
how hard are they to obtain in massachussets and how fast do they breed was thinking about breeding them for live feeders for my sw aquarium
what water do you use in the tank ?
SS TING I use a brackish concentration of 50% ocean salinity water, 50% fresh in the tanks I set up most recently, and they seem to breed very well at that level. I have kept them at lower salinities, down to 8 parts fresh, 1 part salt, and they do ok at that level as well.
Hi, I recently got into shrimps and want to create a tank from scratch but i'm uncertain on how to create the brackish water part. I want to make sure that my ph levels are good and I don't over put salt. I bought Instant Ocean® Aquarium Sea Salt and a Top Fin® 3.5 Gallon Enchant Aquarium. Also, about how long will it take to go through the cycle of it being ready?
Make the salinity in your tank 1/2 of what the ocean is. It is suggested to introduce shrimp after a month of cycling your tank. However, I did not wait that long. These are really tough little shrimp. My tank was fully cycled when I put shrimp in. I just checked the water every day and. would adjust things manually until it was fully cycled. There are also additives you can get to make your tank cycle faster, I fed them during this time and then when algae appeared I slowly eliminated food. I didn't lose one shrimp.
Do they survive in pure freshwater?
DReis 7 Good question! Unfortunately they don’t survive long in freshwater, although very dilute brackish water is possible.
How fast do the Opae Ula grow? What is your salinity?
+wcdeich4 Usually 1.001 ppm for Opae although they are very tolerant of much higher or lower levels.
Can they be in freshwater
Ashreeti Sharma they can be in very low-salinity brackish conditions, but don’t seem to survive in freshwater long.
hi how do you get algae to grow? I want to provide them with an ample amount. also can I use a filter while cycling because I don't want the water to go stagnant?
Algae spores are all over the place, so chances are algae will grow on its own if given enough time and light (12 hours a day is recommended). You can speed it up by putting in water form an existing opae ula tank, and this can be done by ordering shrimp or macroalgae from a breeder like the supershrimp store.
Opae ula prefer still water so a filter is best not used, but if you want to use a small filter to clear cloudy water (like how it may look after adding the sand) then that's fine, but once the water is clear you shouldn't need a filter for cycling. The water won't get stinky or anything provided you don't overfeed the tank.
Can they live in freshwater?
From what I have been able to find out, they can't survive long in freshwater, but do fine in fairly weak brackish water.
+Aquarimax I have a 100 gallon aquarium with one fish in it my black bullhead catfish could I put another black bullhead in it or is my aquarium to small?
+squanchy I've never kept bullheads, but they are large fish with big appetites. I would probably stay on the safe side and stick with one. 😀
+Aquarimax the black bull heads only get 8inches
Thks!
bobbymalta73 you’re welcome! Thanks for watching!
Can you use nestle pure life water?
Chocotato I am not sure what the treatment process for that toe is, but if it is carbon filtered and/or treated via reverse osmosis, then yes. If additional minerals are added for taste, I would be a little suspicious of it.
Aquarimax There are added minerals for taste so I don't know ,do u think it would be safe?
Chocotato I would avoid it then...distilled water works great and is probably considerably cheaper. 👍
Aquarimax It says on the jug it is either distilled or RO I live in Oahu so where can I find this kind of water? 🤔
Chocotato If the stores on the island are still mostly the same as they were when I lived on Oahu from 2004-2007, you should be able to find plain, pure distilled water at Foodland, Safeway, Star Market, or Walmart. Here on the mainland it usually costs less than a dollar per gallon, hopefully it isn't too much more expensive there...
I learned something new!
sevenmile 😁👍. I have been keeping them for about twelve years and they still amaze me!
Very cool
Triopster Thanks! 😊👍
luv your videos 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗
Thank you! I am glad!
This honestly makes them seem like some of the easiest pets in the world and even tho i made up my mind to never have fully aquatic pets that need a larger than 20 gallon tank i now have an easy and adorable option. But what about heating and filtration.
Andrew's Animals You’re in luck. They do not need heating, room temperature is fine, not do they require filtration equipment. 👍
Aquarimax omg really. So ten gallon or smaller. No heating filtration or water changes. Small amounts of feeding. Super adorable
Andrew's Animals They really may be the easiest pet ever! 😊👍
I hear the Opae ula do really well with a certain type of algae ball seen here ruclips.net/video/ZmYQUsDmVlQ/видео.html . Do you know what kind of algae this might be???
I actually purchased one of these algae balls from Petshrimp.com about 2.5 years ago. It has just started to reproduce! I have about 4 tiny algae balls in the tank, in addition to the "parent" ball. Unfortunately, is have no idea what the species might be, but i can confirm that it does indeed grow very, very slowly.
+Aquarimax Thanks for the reply. It makes it all the more interesting to consider an algae species that actually grows that slowly. I've only seen BBC Algae to reproduce in ball like form as well but I've got to check into this. Hope others chime in on what it may be. Thanks!
Michael Baker I (and others) have wondered whether the shrimp have an influence on the shape of the algae with their constant grazing..much as water movement in their native lakes causes Marino moss balls to form ball shapes.. As you do, I find it interesting that this species grows so incredibly slowly. There is a thread on the Supershrimp forum discussing the ID of this species, but I last I checked it had not been identified conclusively. When ai get enough of them, if it hasn't been done yet, in may send a specimen to a lab with an algae specialist to see what can be determined.
+Aquarimax I was planning on doing the same (buying one and inspecting it for identification). It would suck if it was just hair algae with some guys in the back rolling them up into balls....lol
What's the link to the discussion you are on? I'd like to possibly chime in with you guys. I think your idea of the shrimp being the cause of the ball is certainly a plausible idea. I know some species do naturally grow this way but I'd think it would be more well known and not really a new discovery. In your tank(s) did you have shrimp in the tank where you saw the algae spore out into new balls of algae or did they do that on their own with nothing in the tank?
Michael Baker It would indeed be sad if it were just hair algae, but I think it is something else...if only because it grows so slowly, and there are plenty of other algae a that the shrimp don't roll into balls. Hard to know though...if you do get one tested, I'd be very interested in hearing about the results. Here is a link to the discussion:www.petshrimp.com/discussions/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=5206&start=45
Do you still have them???
+Dinosaurs terroir World Yes I do, and in my larger tank they constantly breed, so I have hundreds now!
very cool video :)
+Mark Cowen Thanks! I've really enjoyed keeping these low-maintenance shrimp, and I figured it was time to spread the word.
They can live for 20 years.. 70+ in a ten gallon? How are you suppose to sell them?? Can I just sell them to my teachers and friends?
Kenneth Reyes You can actually have hundreds in a 10-gallon tank, no problem. They are unlikely to overpopulate the tank, so while you could sell some, you wouldn’t need to.
Kenneth Reyes yum shrimps cocktail xD dude invite me when they are big enough!
WTHbro x)
with no filter and no water flow how do u cycle the tank ,wont the snail waste produce ammonia
joemanta7 A very valid question. The snails do produce ammonia, and without a filter, oxygen levels will be lower, so this will affect the ability of the beneficial bacteria to colonize the tank. However, opae'ula are a very low bioload, so the smaller bacterial colonies are still enough to handle the very small amounts of ammonia produced.
Thx for the quick reply ,i have a 2 1/2 gallon tank so does that mean i can just add these to that tank right away with no filter and no heater and are snails necessary .I do have a a 40 gallon saltwater tank so i do have the correct salt for the shrimp water.
joemanta7 The snails help a lot, but they are not absolutely necessary. No heater is needed (unless the room gets below about 40 F,) and no filter is needed either. I suggest setting up a tank and letting it sit for about 2 months, or at least until you see algae growth before adding the shrimp. It is risky to add the shrimp too early. Once you add the shrimp, you won't need to feed them for at least a month or two. When I set up this tank in the video, I didn't feed them for six months after I introduced them...they find algae and biofilm to eat and do just fine.
I will buy some like u said after the tank matures ,ill upload a video when i do ,thanks for your help.
joemanta7 You!re welcome, let me know when you upload the video. 👍
How is this that easy
Robb Valentine good question- Well, the setup itself takes a little effort, but since I set up the tank in the video over 3 years ago, I have never had to do a water chsnge. I only feed them once a week or less. I top off the water once every couple of months, and that is it.
hi how do you get algae to grow? I want to provide them with an ample amount. also can I use a filter while cycling because I don't want the water to go stagnant?
If you use a fluorescent light fixture, you should get plenty of algal growth. What size is your aquarium? You could use a filter to cycle the tank, but then you'd need to keep using it or the bacteria would decline once the additional oxygen provided by the filter is gone. The easiest thing to do is skip the filter entirely....the shrimp will not be harmed at all by the still water, and you avoid the salt crust that a filter causes.
If you use a fluorescent light fixture, you should get plenty of algal growth. What size is your aquarium? You could use a filter to cycle the tank, but then you'd need to keep using it or the bacteria would decline once the additional oxygen provided by the filter is gone. The easiest thing to do is skip the filter entirely....the shrimp will not be harmed at all by the still water, and you avoid the salt crust that a filter causes.
+Aquarimax ten gallons and I guess I'll skip the filter I just hope it cycles. would one t5 daylight bulb suffice or should I go with something less bright?
+Damien G if you already have the t5 fixture you can use it, but I might suggest something a little less bright. Cycling for these shrimp seems to work just fine without a filter, though I am sure the dynamics of the system are different. Adding a few trumpet snails will help get the cycle rolling...normally I do not suggest cycling with live organisms, but with an opae'ula tank the bioload is quite low and many factors are different.
So maybe like 3000k or something.