# Opae Ula Journal



## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

*DAY 1*

So I got 8 of these little guys from Randy, and will be experimenting on acclimating them to full saltwater. I will be documenting the process in this thread.

First, my impressions. I don't know if the shrimps Randy gave me are juvies or not, but they're TINY! They're about half the size of a mature female cherry shrimp, but they all have a bright red color! They also happen to be extremely active, at least in the few hours I've observed them in their new tank. They are constantly swimming about.

I am currently keeping these shrimps in my Dymax IQ3, which I hastily converted to brackish. I'm a bit worried that this is not a fully cycled tank, but I don't have any other choice. The pump has been dialed down to the minimum output. Their current water salinity is 12 ppt, or ~ 1.009.

I will be using ppt to describe salinity in this thread, as it is easier to calculate saltwater concentration with ppt.

A few key figures:

Base salinity: 12 ppt = 1.009
Full SW: 35ppt = 1.026

I plan to pick a "volunteer" and acclimate him to full SW over 7 days. If this is successful, I plan to test a faster acclimation (over 3 days) with a second "volunteer".

Here are some pics of the little dudes:


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Oh, and as you can see, malaysian trumpet snails are completely unfazed by the brackish water. I didn't have to acclimate them or anything, just dumped about 30% full strength saltwater right into the tank, and they were just fine.

They can't survive in full saltwater though, as attested by a few I threw directly into my SW tank.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

Thanks for the journal. I thought I netted 10 for you, not sure what happened.

They all came in at that size and colour, I didn't select any particular ones for you.

The full grown size is 1.2 - 1.5cm from my own reading, so these guys should grow a bit more. However, they won't grow as big as cherry.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

*DAY 2*

I have isolated one specimen and put it into a cup with one liter of water. The salinity of the specimen container is 15 ppt.

From here on, I will be doing a 50% water change to that container every day and increase its salinity by approximately 3ppt each day.

The specimen is very active, constantly swimming in circles along the edge of the container. I have read online accounts of opae ula being kept at a salinity of up to 1.017, so I do not foresee any issues for now.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

*DAY 3*

Salinity is now 18 ppt, specimen is still doing fine. I've added a few strands of chaeto just to give him something to hold on to.


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## lovevc (Nov 24, 2010)

cool shrimp! That leaf stuck on moss looks like a prey mantis to me lol


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

I bought six on Monday and put them into a 50 gallon tank on their own. I am unable to find them now so I may need to try again with a smaller tank. There was no chance they got sucked up either as I am using a sponge filter.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

darkangel66n said:


> I bought six on Monday and put them into a 50 gallon tank on their own. I am unable to find them now so I may need to try again with a smaller tank. There was no chance they got sucked up either as I am using a sponge filter.


50 gallons is huge for 6 of these shrimps, lol.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

*DAY 5*

Water salinity is now 20ppt.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

solarz said:


> 50 gallons is huge for 6 of these shrimps, lol.


Totally true.... I put hundreds in my 20G ;-)


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

Yep I will head back out and buy 24 and see what happens.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Where do you get these guys ?


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## zzz (Sep 18, 2013)

Fishfur said:


> Where do you get these guys ?


I believe at shrimpwiki.com


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

*DAY 8*

The water is now at 28 ppt. I've gone slower than I planned, but the shrimp seems to be doing well so far.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Bad news. I put the volunteer shrimp into my saltwater tank two days ago in a breeder net. Now I can't find it anymore. There is a small hole in the net, the shrimp must have escaped from it. I have not been able to spot it in my tank since.

Looks like I'll have to start all over again, only now I have to think of a more secure way to keep the shrimp.

In the mean time, the other 7 shrimps are doing well. I have upped the salinity of their tank to approx 18ppt. I've added some chaeto strands for them to cling to and hopefully munch on.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

Thanks again for the detailed report.... they seem to be doing well in your tank, the colour is showing nicely.


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## zzz (Sep 18, 2013)

solarz said:


> Bad news. I put the volunteer shrimp into my saltwater tank two days ago in a breeder net. Now I can't find it anymore. There is a small hole in the net, the shrimp must have escaped from it. I have not been able to spot it in my tank since.
> 
> Looks like I'll have to start all over again, only now I have to think of a more secure way to keep the shrimp.
> 
> In the mean time, the other 7 shrimps are doing well. I have upped the salinity of their tank to approx 18ppt. I've added some chaeto strands for them to cling to and hopefully munch on.


Is the guy lost for good?
Any plans to continue with experiment in some way? (e.g. another volunteer?)


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

zzz said:


> Is the guy lost for good?
> Any plans to continue with experiment in some way? (e.g. another volunteer?)


I haven't seen the shrimp so far, even though I keep looking for him. My SW tank is 79-gallons with a decent amount of live rock, so it's easy for a small shrimp to disappear into.

I plan to try with another volunteer, but I need to figure out a way to keep him in the SW tank. I have a few ideas, but some details still need to be worked out.


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

Fishfur said:


> Where do you get these guys ?


I bought them at K&F Aquatics in the mall across from Pacific Mall.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

I got the main tank of shrimps to 30ppt. I think I've lost one as I now count only 6 left.

I took one out and put it into my saltwater tank, in a plastic container with small holes.

We'll now see if the shrimp does well in full saltwater.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## zzz (Sep 18, 2013)

I've almost forgotten about this project...
If they survive it would be interesting to observe whether they'll reproduce in such high salinity. My bet is no, but who knows?


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Well the lone shrimp in the SW tank is still alive. Not sure if he's happy or not. 

The container is flawed in that it doesn't allow for much water flow. I'm now wondering if I should put more shrimps in it.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

When I was researching for this shrimp I saw one post saying that his family kept a jar of this shrimps for 17(?) years and eventually they died because they completed forgot about it and the jar went dry. I left some of these shrimps in a jar in my friend's place, I will check how they are doing after what I think has been 3 weeks or so.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

The lone shrimp is still there, but the container water looks stagnant. I'm going to try punching more holes in it and see if it helps.

On a side note, I've never seen these shrimps eat anything that I feed them. They're not interested in either pellets or algae tabs.


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