"Micro-lobster" available in Singapore?

[cyberkid2]

sighs...bro,cherry and mini lobster can tell that there is a different by a look??=.="anyway i did saw them at pet mart kept in glass jarred

YES...If you look closely, it is possible to spot the difference of the cherry shrimp and the Opae Ula...hmm, there could be a slight possibility that they could be Opae Ula as they are quite often kept in glass jars. I've tried keeping cherries in glass jars before, and they did not survive long. where is this aquarium anyway?

Also, I've spoken to that guy on youtube before. He said he ordered them, and the costs were sky high. I dont think he hand carried them out of anywhere himself.

[Fuzzy]

YES...If you look closely, it is possible to spot the difference of the cherry shrimp and the Opae Ula...hmm, there could be a slight possibility that they could be Opae Ula as they are quite often kept in glass jars. I've tried keeping cherries in glass jars before, and they did not survive long. where is this aquarium anyway?

Also, I've spoken to that guy on youtube before. He said he ordered them, and the costs were sky high. I dont think he hand carried them out of anywhere himself.

Hmm ok must be a different guy then, the video I watched he actually replied in comments that he hand carried, and will not sell any.

And yes if anyone sights these cute critters in any LFS, please let us know!

[kian]

Hmm ok must be a different guy then, the video I watched he actually replied in comments that he hand carried, and will not sell any.

And yes if anyone sights these cute critters in any LFS, please let us know!

Sigh,bro didn`t i mention it was seen once at Pet Mart located at serangoon north.not too sure if they are still around but you can give it a try since they were once seem there..

[Savant]

I did remember seeing them at pet mart indeed. As I have seen these shrimps sold in biospheres in the UK, I am fairly certain that they are the same shrimp...

If you like them so much, would do good to make a trip down, just make sure u know what you are looking for in case I mis-ided.

[gemo82]

Wow interesting shrimp!! Been reading up about them for hours since I saw this thread. A pity they prefer higher pH and that they are not readily available in the market. Most of our planted tanks are slightly lower pH I suppose, and thus not really suitable, even thou they can withstand a wide range of water parameters. It will be worth the anticipation for such shrimps to be more popular and readily available for hobbyist.

After reading up about eco-sphere etc, been contemplating about doing up a near-zero maintenance small system as a gift for friends who are not ready to set up a real aquarium. Am wondering if other shrimps easily available like cherry etc are hardy enough to be placed in an almost closed system of say 5-6 liters? Will be trying to stimulate the Micro-Lobster system, thou fresh water, and different kind of shrimp...With minimal feeding....

Anyway think I'll start another thread to dicuss about that.

Cheers to Super Shrimp Opae Ula for their enduring spirit!!

[silane]

My shrimps, make you guys drool
YouTube - Halocaridina rubra, Hawaiian red shrimp, ??pae?ula, opae ula, micro lobster

Say NO to ecosphere !

[Savant]

The "ecosphere" sold overseas in fact does not work as it is in fact very difficult to strike a balance between plant matter/algae growth and the shrimp's living requirements....

There has been many articles on this. From what I understand, this particular species of shrimps are very very hardy... In the harsh ecosphere conditions, they waste away very slowly, giving the impression that the ecosphere works...

[gemo82]

You actually own them?!! Where did you get them from?

And it seems that you created the habitat instead of just buying it off the shelf. What are the water parameters like? Is that some kind of moss you are using?

I bet many bros here will be grateful to you for sharing the information!!

[cyberkid2]

Wow interesting shrimp!! Been reading up about them for hours since I saw this thread. A pity they prefer higher pH and that they are not readily available in the market. Most of our planted tanks are slightly lower pH I suppose, and thus not really suitable, even thou they can withstand a wide range of water parameters. It will be worth the anticipation for such shrimps to be more popular and readily available for hobbyist.

After reading up about eco-sphere etc, been contemplating about doing up a near-zero maintenance small system as a gift for friends who are not ready to set up a real aquarium. Am wondering if other shrimps easily available like cherry etc are hardy enough to be placed in an almost closed system of say 5-6 liters? Will be trying to stimulate the Micro-Lobster system, thou fresh water, and different kind of shrimp...With minimal feeding....

Anyway think I'll start another thread to dicuss about that.

Cheers to Super Shrimp Opae Ula for their enduring spirit!!

YES! Exactly! I've been doing the same! Finally someone other than I sees how mighty this shrimp is...haha, if u read the comments carefully on YouTube, the guy said it CAN be hand carried out from overseas, but he didnt say that was what he exactly did. Anyway, he was the one I tried to persuade to sell me some Opau Ula.

I've experimented with cherry shrimps in enclosed systems, and sad to say that this resulted in many deaths

So far, among the shrimps i've tried to use in enclosed systems with NO feeding at all, the Sulawesi shrimp survived the longest, with a period of about 9 months. I apologise for all the shrimp deaths I've caused for the duration of this experiment. Now I have come to the conclusion that the mighty Opau Ula CANNOT be REPLACED by any other shrimp. That's what makes this shrimp so special to me. NO other shrimp is as hardy as the Opae Ula. I've finally given up trying to find a shrimp to satisfy my cravings to keep the Opae Ula as a pet and instead concentrate my time and effort on spending time here to discuss about this shrimp with u guys...

[dkk08]

I've seen this shrimps at Pet Mart at the counter last month, I think they were going for almost 2 or 4 blue notes can't really rem

[cyberkid2]

I've seen this shrimps at Pet Mart at the counter last month, I think they were going for almost 2 or 4 blue notes can't really rem

blue notes? as in 50 dollar notes?

[silane]

The "ecosphere" sold overseas in fact does not work as it is in fact very difficult to strike a balance between plant matter/algae growth and the shrimp's living requirements....

There has been many articles on this. From what I understand, this particular species of shrimps are very very hardy... In the harsh ecosphere conditions, they waste away very slowly, giving the impression that the ecosphere works...

Certainly agree with you. Mother nature took millions of years to evolve shrimps to adapt to their nature habital and man wants to evolve a shrimps within hours to live in a glass sphere.

These shrimps can live up to 20 years with proper care, in glass sphere, their live span is just 1 year or so. This is as good as killing them or like keeping a cherry shrimps in a jar which can last only for 1 month.

You actually own them?!! Where did you get them from?

And it seems that you created the habitat instead of just buying it off the shelf. What are the water parameters like? Is that some kind of moss you are using?

I bet many bros here will be grateful to you for sharing the information!!

I keep them in a 3ft tank, there is no plant for them. 1 part seawater, 1 part freshwater at 26 to 27C aircon.

[gemo82]

Silane: Where did you get them from? Was it really hand carried from Hawaii, or shipped over, or did you rescue them from "torturespheres" ?

cyberki: I am not trying to create a totally closed system, as I believe it is almost impossible to achieve in a small container, especially with no feeding. More like a no-tech (except for lights) pico tank, with minimal feeding of say, once a week, and no water changes when it stabilises. By keeping the bio-load low, I think still achievable.

Seems like quite a lot of sightings of Opae Ula at PetMart. Think I'll go over to take a look when I'm free, thou I live in the West side.

[cyberkid2]

Just to make things clear here...I DO NOT keep my shrimps in totally enclosed systems...at least not anymore.

OK...I admit i did keep one species of each shrimp in a jar a long time ago once, to test the hardiness of the shrimp, but i do not do that anymore. I admit I did this because I was very curious about how shrimps could be kept in a glass sphere and seem to live forever. I was determined to reconstruct a similiar ecosystem.

It all started when I saw the giant glass ecosphere in the Science Centre, which totally amazed me. When I conducted these "experiments" at that time, I was a TOTAL SHRIMP NOOB. I knew nuts about keeping shrimps. After I realised that the shrimps in the ecospheres were Opae Ula and not cherries, which were also not supposed to be kept this way, I stopped keeping shrimps in jars.

That's when I was introduced to this site, where I joined to learn more about aquariums and shrimp keeping. Believe me, I did lots of reading up before starting on my current Sulawesi tank.

Today, I keep my Sulawesi shrimps in a tank where they are thriving, and giving birth quite often.

Everyone makes mistakes and I hope the bros here will forgive me for my past actions.

From your fellow AQ forumer,
Cyberki

[Fuzzy]

OK guys, don't bother going to PetMart to look for Opae Ula, I was just there and the "mini lobsters" in the bags by the tank in the counter are NOT Opae Ula. They have pronouced pincers, and a very large flat tail, also they are quite a lot larger than the maximum size of the shrimp.

And for those curious the price was 6 red and 1 green note for each piece. There was a transparent one what appeared to be the same species as well. And one which had coloration that could have been mistaken for Opae Ula.

Unless they were sold out, I asked the Auntie at the counter, but she wasn't sure said her son was not around. But as of now, Petmart does not have Opae Ula in store at the moment, don't waste a trip down for now.

I believe what I saw were mexican dwarf crayfish.

[gemo82]

Thanks Fuzzy for the information. Saved a trip down to PetMart.

Cyberki, no problem we are not here to point finger but to learn. We are all learning.
Since you did your experiments, would you mind sharing the information? Which shrimp was most hardy?

[cyberkid2]

Hmm..actually I called Petmart before deciding to go down. Over the phone, I asked if they had "Hawaiin shrimps", and they told me yes.

According to them, they sell it at 80 bucks per pair, and there's currently only 1 pair left. However, they told me not to worry because they could order them, and they would take about 2 to 3 days to arrive, if we place an order.

So........

It's either Fuzzy bro saw the wrong shrimp, or Petmart misunderstood me when I was talking to them over the phone. Anyway, Opae Ula or no Opae Ula, I'll definitely find time to go down one day, since I've never been there before.

Oh, and I think Opae Ula are more commonly known as "Micro Lobsters", not "Mini Lobsters".

[gemo82]

Do let us know after you have gone down to take a look. Meanwhile, which other shrimp is most hardy according to your experiments?

[cyberkid2]

hmm....if the correct gravel is used, I'd say Sulawesi shrimps are the hardiest. The survival rate of Sulawesi shrimps seem higher than compared to cherries in my opinion. However, it seems that most of the people here in this forum feel that it's the other way round, that cherries are easier to keep and they find their Sulawesi shrimps dying faster than cherries.

ok...that's all I'll say, cos I dont wanna go off topic here. It's an Opae Ula thread here after all, dedicated to the best shrimp in the world....haha

[silane]

cyberki, which particular Sulawei shrimp species is/are doing well for you? Which gravel are you using?