[opae ula related]

Aloha! I'm Rhiannon and I live in Hawaii. Set up an old 10 gallon aquarium a few years ago then went to the beach. Got some lava rock, coral rock and black sand at the beach. I know, I know.. big no-no, but it gave me some cool stuff in the tank: a couple aplasia, a hermit crab, a tiny mussel, a few snails and a weird worm thing. The snails and the mussel are the only things left from that start-up phase. Spent a week or so slowly adding fresh water to get the specific gravity where I wanted it. Then I went and got my Opae Ula at a local pet store. 20 shrimp for a few dollars. Acquired some chaetomorpha and added it in there. It kinda broke down slowly and now I have some lovely hair algae stuff that the opae absolutely love. Went from 20 shrimp to over 100. They love hiding in their little lava rock crevices. Never see one with berries, but i always see a floating orange hatchling or 10 in the water. I use no filter system at all. I just top up with fresh water when needed. 12 hours of light (blue and white LED). I'll take some pics tomorrow.

Welcome, which island? Yes pics!

[odin]

Welcome to our forum! Yes we would love to see some photos of your setup :)


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[gabriele.simion]

thanks for accepting me
i'm an user from italy, and i am an aquarist: i keep a colony of Aphanius farsicus in an outdoor minipond, a colony of tylos indoor, plus some endler and loaches
tomorrow i'll show what i'm building for the halos

[odin]

Welcome to the forum! If you need any help with anything just ask. :)


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[Johnny Max]

Welcome aquarist from Italy. Looking forward to seeing your pictures.

[SirShrimpsalot]

Hello everyone, I'm a new member who just purchased his first Opae Ula for a 10liter tank I've had set up for a couple of weeks now. I've been keeping different freshwater neocardinia types for a year but wanted to expand my shrimp room with new varieties. I have to say, Opae Ula have me completely fascinated! I cannot wait to watch them swim about or even hide, that's fine too

[HelloJessica]

Hello from Missouri!
I just got my 20 opae ula in today, along with trumpet snails and brackish chaeto. Bought off eBay!

I got into them via researching seahorse food, and deciding not to do a seahorse tank (my 30 gallon saltwater tank is too small anyway)...

I cycled their 5 gallon tank with diluted saltwater from my 30 gallon, sludge from the 30 gallon, and some commercially available bottled bacteria.

I misread about powdered spirulina, and instead put a few drops of liquid phytoplankton in, so I hope that's ok! I'm measuring frequently and so far seems okay... and after 2 hours of drip acclimating, the shrimp are very active and very red, which I hear is good! The water is cloudy though, because of the phytoplankton.

Anyway, hope to learn more, and hopefully these breed so that there's more of them... they're so tiny!

[odin]

Hello from Missouri!
I just got my 20 opae ula in today, along with trumpet snails and brackish chaeto. Bought off eBay!

I got into them via researching seahorse food, and deciding not to do a seahorse tank (my 30 gallon saltwater tank is too small anyway)...

I cycled their 5 gallon tank with diluted saltwater from my 30 gallon, sludge from the 30 gallon, and some commercially available bottled bacteria.

I misread about powdered spirulina, and instead put a few drops of liquid phytoplankton in, so I hope that's ok! I'm measuring frequently and so far seems okay... and after 2 hours of drip acclimating, the shrimp are very active and very red, which I hear is good! The water is cloudy though, because of the phytoplankton.

Anyway, hope to learn more, and hopefully these breed so that there's more of them... they're so tiny!

Welcome to the opae ula forum and thanks for sharing a picture of your setup! These shrimp start to become pretty addictive so be warned

[Vorteil]

@HelloJessica

You should probably received a free vial which contained green freeze dried spirulina for food. If you didn't let me know. If you did just feed a small amount about what equals 1/4 of a grain of salt 1-2x a week to start. I would not feed the phytoplankton. I could be wrong but the Opae Ula won't be feeding on that. Eventually it will die out and pollute the water.

[HelloJessica]

@HelloJessica

You should probably received a free vial which contained green freeze dried spirulina for food. If you didn't let me know. If you did just feed a small amount about what equals 1/4 of a grain of salt 1-2x a week to start. I would not feed the phytoplankton. I could be wrong but the Opae Ula won't be feeding on that. Eventually it will die out and pollute the water.

Thanks for resolving that and reaching out to me earlier! The spirulina wasn't in the box with the shrimp, chaeto and snails - I assumed I'd misread in switching from phone app to laptop.