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Opae Ula, Hawaiian Red Shrimp, SuperShrimp, whatever...

178K views 765 replies 78 participants last post by  Laika 
#1 ·
For months I've been reading about these very cool shrimp. Finally I gave in to them and after further research decided to take the leap.

I did things in a sort of backward kind of way, as well. I got in contact with a vendor in Hawaii who, through numerous emails, convinced me that with the live rock that I would get with her shrimp a new tank would cycle without a problem, after the introduction of the shrimp and live rocks, that is.

Not sure that I really believed her I ordered some anyway. Fifty shrimp, with live rock, "live" water, food and instruction manual. All for $50.00 plus shipping.

So... right after placing that order I ran out to the LFS. I have a Petco Bookshelf tank set up with red and black crystal shrimp along with some Java moss and some accidentally introduced Celestial Pearl Danio (or whatever they're being called these days) fry. Long story short, they hatched from eggs that had been laid in the moss. (I will remove them before they get big enough to harass the shrimp.)

Anyway, I love the look of the Bookshelf tank (just wish it was made of glass!), so decided some Opae Ula would look really cool in one, too, so bought one for em.

Grabbed some white Live (bacteria infested) Aragonite sand, a little over a pound or two of cultured live rock (man made out of red lava rock instead of collected off a coral reef somewhere), a 2.2 gallon jug of Live Sea water (sea water infested with bacteria!), a hydrometer (measures the salt in water, kind of looks like a thermometer with a long narrow glass stick for an end) and ran home where I already had jugs of RO water...

I set the tank up last Sunday, October 27. I tend to be a bit dense at times so it took me a lot of work to dilute the Live Salt water from 1.025 to 1.016. Ended up using just over 2 gallons of the salt water and 2 gallons of RO.

Dumped in the live sand, tossed in the live rocks, big ones on the ends, live "rubble" in the middle, then live water over all of it... I placed an airstone and dosed the water with Cycle (yes, the bottle says that it's for both fresh and marine aquaria) and crossed my fingers.

All that bacteria, from so many sources may seem redundant, but that may be a good thing!

Here's a pic of the tank a couple days after setup after I decided to get brave and threw in a sprig of Java Moss.
 

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#455 ·
I wish I had purchased some of the white opae ula. I'd keep them happily now! The vendor advertised them as seahorse food. I sent him a text a few minutes ago, will let you know if I can hear back from him.

I positively love the red macro algae looking thing. It's still at half an inch tall so far. Funny, isn't it, how the stuff we don't want takes over, while that we do barely grows? I'll continue posting pics of it, as it's one of my favorite things about this tank apart from the opae ula, of course!

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#457 ·
Hi Howard!

They are all doing wonderfully! They mergered so well in the population that I can't find them.

Home sweet home!

Thanks again, bud!

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#460 ·
Is what I was thinking. Measures about an eighth of an inch. A Malaysian Trumpet Snail was sitting close by, was wondering if it might be an unhatched egg case or something.

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#462 ·
Yup they do. Perhaps the egg that the snailet hatches from inside mom didn't hatch inside mom this time? Lol

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#465 ·
Thanks Ken. I was bored last night. :)

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#467 ·
Don't know , Doug. It disappeared over night. Only way in the tank is the small slit where the airline and heater cable fit through the lid. My parrot and her cage are only about two feet away. I suppose she could've gotten lucky while tossing her dinner. Lol!

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#469 ·
It's happening again, right this moment!

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#472 ·
#479 ·
No, I haven't found any. Hoping it's because there's too many places for them to hide!

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