Giant Ecosphere

[davrx]

Originally Posted by GMYukonon24s

That's a nice looking bowl/sphere

Thanks

[davrx]

Originally Posted by MABJ

I understand. It doesn't feel right, but it they breed for you and are happy then I can't gripe much


MABJ's iDevice used for this message :p

They certainly look happy to me, they are nearly constantly in motion and swimming all over the bowl.

[Koi Kameon]

I have been keeping these shrimp for 4 years now. The are amazing. Active without being frenetic. Able to thrive in various brackish water salinities. I have a small group of 9 and enjoy them that way--I can identify the individuals more easily. I, personally, do a 10-20% water change about every month. I don't understand the advice about not keeping other plants with them as I have successfully kept Japanese moss balls and willow moss with them at around 1.008 and am now keeping them with frog bit, a nana petite, and willow moss at 1.005. If you search around the forum, you will see that breeding them seems to be hit or miss. With some people keeping them in a 5 gallon set up with filter and tons of layers of rocks to hide in with no result and others in the world wide web being able to cram 30 of them in 60 oz. and have them breed like crazy. So, i put my stock in them being happy with are they molting a lot? Also, mine can not stand any aeration of any kind. These are VERY laid-back shrimp and will usually not freak about anything but when i introduced an aeration stone, they were still stressed and pale and overly active the next day so I don't aerate or filterate.

[davrx]

Originally Posted by Koi Kameon

I have been keeping these shrimp for 4 years now. The are amazing. Active without being frenetic. Able to thrive in various brackish water salinities. I have a small group of 9 and enjoy them that way--I can identify the individuals more easily. I, personally, do a 10-20% water change about every month. I don't understand the advice about not keeping other plants with them as I have successfully kept Japanese moss balls and willow moss with them at around 1.008 and am now keeping them with frog bit, a nana petite, and willow moss at 1.005. If you search around the forum, you will see that breeding them seems to be hit or miss. With some people keeping them in a 5 gallon set up with filter and tons of layers of rocks to hide in with no result and others in the world wide web being able to cram 30 of them in 60 oz. and have them breed like crazy. So, i put my stock in them being happy with are they molting a lot? Also, mine can not stand any aeration of any kind. These are VERY laid-back shrimp and will usually not freak about anything but when i introduced an aeration stone, they were still stressed and pale and overly active the next day so I don't aerate or filterate.

Your salinity is lower than mine. The plants you mentioned will die at my higher salinity. The reason I believe the shrimp don't reproduce is that the salinity isn't high enough. I want mine to breed and the moderator of the above mentioned site has huge numbers of these shrimp reproducing so I set mine up as close as possible to his. He has tanks that have not had a water change in 5 years, only topping off with R/O water. I think his success in keeping these speaks for itself.

[Koi Kameon]

To me, it sounded like NO plants could live with them at all and I wanted to correct that. I have also kept them at higher salinities--all the way up to pure seawater. What is your spec. gravity??

I mention the hit or miss part bc Jason Patterson, whom I highly respect on his background research, etc., is really into them and seems to do everything right as suggested by the handful of seeming HRS "experts" and struggles, the guy I bought mine from had no place to hide for them and had about 30 in a 60 oz. bowl with temps in the 50's at night in the winter--outside the recommended parameters. That's the point I was trying to make. I have no interest in breeding them and actually kept them in the suggested range for that and nothing.
I personally have no opinion on the topping off the water or water change thing.
I sincerely hope you wind up enjoying them as much as I have. They are amazing creatures.

One question for you--where did you get your amazing "mountiain" looking rocks? I would love one as a focal point in my container. Thanks.

[sapphoqueen]

a very very nice bowl ! just beware of direct sun light :P the rays are focusing in the bowl ...once i get my cabinet lack all around the bowl burned )) lol just sented the smoke and i seen the thin line of smoke and the burn marks :P keep us updated !

[davrx]

Originally Posted by Koi Kameon

To me, it sounded like NO plants could live with them at all and I wanted to correct that. I have also kept them at higher salinities--all the way up to pure seawater. What is your spec. gravity??

I mention the hit or miss part bc Jason Patterson, whom I highly respect on his background research, etc., is really into them and seems to do everything right as suggested by the handful of seeming HRS "experts" and struggles, the guy I bought mine from had no place to hide for them and had about 30 in a 60 oz. bowl with temps in the 50's at night in the winter--outside the recommended parameters. That's the point I was trying to make. I have no interest in breeding them and actually kept them in the suggested range for that and nothing.
I personally have no opinion on the topping off the water or water change thing.
I sincerely hope you wind up enjoying them as much as I have. They are amazing creatures.

One question for you--where did you get your amazing "mountiain" looking rocks? I would love one as a focal point in my container. Thanks.

Thanks for your comments, I hope mine breed but if not, they have such a long lifespan it shouldn't be an issue if they don't.
I bought the Seiryu stone in this bowl from PC1 or were you referring to the large Seiryu stones in my Jewel tank? Those two came from flowerfishs. Flowerfishs has some nice large ones available right now. I bought a lot of nice smaller stones from PC1.

[davrx]

Originally Posted by sapphoqueen

a very very nice bowl ! just beware of direct sun light :P the rays are focusing in the bowl ...once i get my cabinet lack all around the bowl burned )) lol just sented the smoke and i seen the thin line of smoke and the burn marks :P keep us updated !

Thanks, yes the bowl is just like a big magnifying glass but I don't believe I have anything within its focal length so shouldn't be a problem. Glad you didn't have a serious fire from your incident, sorry it damaged your cabinet.

[jasonpatterson]

Thanks to Koi Kameon for pointing me toward this thread. I really like your tank davrx, best of luck getting them to breed. As Koi mentioned, they can be awfully finicky about breeding in captivity. I've been keeping mine in a 10 gallon tank at 1.012 sg for a while now and have had very spotty breeding. I've got one berried shrimp out of 100 or so going at the moment. These shrimp seem to be able to breed in a fairly wide range of conditions, based on the number of people who post about them thriving on neglect, but they'll also simply refuse to breed for people who have set up what seem to be perfect tanks. I'm sure we (the opae ula keepers of the world) are missing something but I just don't know what it is.

I don't do water changes often (every few months) and I've got a very low flow air powered filter that is probably not doing anything worthwhile beyond keeping the water moving very slowly. I feed them a little bit of spirulina occasionally, and I've tried other foods previously with little interest.

[Koi Kameon]

Originally Posted by davrx

Thanks for your comments, I hope mine breed but if not, they have such a long lifespan it shouldn't be an issue if they don't.
I bought the Seiryu stone in this bowl from PC1 or were you referring to the large Seiryu stones in my Jewel tank? Those two came from flowerfishs. Flowerfishs has some nice large ones available right now. I bought a lot of nice smaller stones from PC1.

I am completely ignorant on this subject. Just love the "mountain" look of them and think they go so well witht the spartan look that it seems most Americans keep with their HRS. I was speaking of the one in your HRS bowl. Thanks for any addit. info.

[Rob in Puyallup]

I received my first 50 (or so) opae ula today. They are making the slow and gradual adjustment to my tank water as I type this...

Their new home will be a Petco Bookshelf tank. I have "live" aragonite sand as the substrate, some cultured "live" rocks and a generous two handfulls of rock sent to me with the shrimp from the vendor.

I do have an airstone in the tank (which I will remove if the shrimp are freaked by it) and a heater.

I do hope they breed. I've had some success with freshwater shrimp so decided to try these. Maybe some Sulawesi shrimp in the future or some marine "Sexy" shrimp one day!

[wicca27]

where the heck did you get that bowl i would love to find one like it

[davrx]

Originally Posted by wicca27

where the heck did you get that bowl i would love to find one like it

Your wish is my command.

http://www.westelm.com/products/shan...src=AutoSchRel

[davrx]

Here's some photos I just took with the sun shining in on them. They're very active today as I just fed them, something I only do about once a week since there's the risk of an ammonia spike which would wipe them all out. Still no breeding but I am hopeful. It took my Cardinals months before I saw babies. The chaetomorpha has floated to the top due to the oxygen bubbles it seems to be producing but it doesn't sink at night. I like this look better as I can see the rocks and shrimp better now.

[Rob in Puyallup]

Looking very cool! Love the scifi mountain landscape sort of thing going on!

Cardinals are my next adventure. A store not far from me sells them, not cheap, though, at $12.00 each.