Marimo and Volcanic Shrimp

[kimkeat]

Hi

I had kept those shrimps for a while ..... Marimo ball will survive ... the problem with keeping these shrimps are
1) if you overload the tank with shrimps, algae will start growing and it wont be a nice experience to clean them
2) dont think is wise to put a filter because they prefer stagnate water and easily die if there are constant disturbance in the water
3) Their waste have to be constantly clean or the tank will look very dirty
4) They need alot of hiding places and usually dont come out, unless there are disturbance or food

I used to have a tank of 150 shrimps in a 1 x1 feet tank and barely can see any .... Everything was nice until many months later when the algae and the amount of waste made my tank very messy ... So i end up de-com the tank ...

1. I thought they eat the algae, so more shrimps -> less algae. No? Maybe their waste promotes the algae growth? My tank is still new, so I don't see much algae growth yet. I will release brackish water snails if that happens.

2. See the video I just posted. Anyway, I still have the sponge at the filter outlet, so there is very minimum water flow in my tank.

3. But most said no need for water change??? My tank water is quite clean so far. Maybe there are no many of them in my tank? Maybe the water filter is helping to keep it clean?

4. Mine are still happily swimming around most of the time so far.

Thanks for your sharing. For the past few weeks, I have been reading (google, youtube, forums etc) about these little guys whenever I am free. It seems that it is really not that easy to breed them.

[chansl]

algae will outgrow the amount required by these shrimps ... Unless u dont feed it .... They will remain small... Mine grew quite big - half the size of a Fire red ? Snails shit alot ... It makes your tank even more dirty .. haha

[stormhawk]

This fantastic video shows the opae ula in their natural habitat in Hawaii:



As you can see, they need algae to survive, so grow a lot of it in your tank. With good light and a lot of nutrient rich food, you can have an established algae bed, enough for the shrimps to survive on for a long time without any feeding on your part. Fastest way is to set up a tank and place some salt-tolerant fish like platies or mollies in there and feed them. Soon the tank will be carpeted in algae and then you can remove the fish and add the shrimp.

[Igtenos]

Hmm my sponge filter creates quite a fair bit of water movements and I do realise the shrimps often swim to the bubbles and have fun being "skyrocketing to the water surface".

Have a couple of volcanic rocks for hiding and marimo balls for them to graze on. Salinity ard 1.010. All seems fine. One that was almost transparent in the container turn bright red after i switched them to a nano tank.

[kimkeat]

algae will outgrow the amount required by these shrimps ... Unless u dont feed it .... They will remain small... Mine grew quite big - half the size of a Fire red ? Snails shit alot ... It makes your tank even more dirty .. haha

Yeah, you are right, the snails shit a lot. Forgot about that. Haha.

[kimkeat]

This fantastic video shows the opae ula in their natural habitat in Hawaii:



As you can see, they need algae to survive, so grow a lot of it in your tank. With good light and a lot of nutrient rich food, you can have an established algae bed, enough for the shrimps to survive on for a long time without any feeding on your part. Fastest way is to set up a tank and place some salt-tolerant fish like platies or mollies in there and feed them. Soon the tank will be carpeted in algae and then you can remove the fish and add the shrimp.

Yes, I have seen the video. How nice if there are so many of them in my tank!

Could explain why having fish in the tank will promote algae growth? Is it due to their poop? If so, would transfer some poop from the fish tank achieve the same results? (Place the poop in a small container so it won't dirty the water.)

[kimkeat]

Hmm my sponge filter creates quite a fair bit of water movements and I do realise the shrimps often swim to the bubbles and have fun being "skyrocketing to the water surface".

Have a couple of volcanic rocks for hiding and marimo balls for them to graze on. Salinity ard 1.010. All seems fine. One that was almost transparent in the container turn bright red after i switched them to a nano tank.

May I know how long you have been keeping them? Any luck in breeding so far?

[Urban Aquaria]

The video shows such nice algae carpets, almost like an aquascape... that's really ideal shrimp environment at its best!

[kimkeat]

It is nice to have algae bed in the tank. However, is it possible to have it on the three sides only but not the front glass so that we could still view the shrimps etc. clearly? E.g. special glass or special treatment to the glass instead of removing it manually.

My tank is still new so there isn't much algae but will it be a headache when there is too much of it?

[Urban Aquaria]

Currently what most people do is just just scrape away algae from the front glass during regular maintainence, but leave the sides and back glass still covered in algae for shrimps to graze on.

I think if there were special glass or treatments that can prevent algae, alot of people here would be very keen on them too.

[kimkeat]

Currently what most people do is just just scrape away algae from the front glass during regular maintainence, but leave the sides and back glass still covered in algae for shrimps to graze on.

I think if there were special glass or treatments that can prevent algae, alot of people here would be very keen on them too.

I think it is technologically possible but it may not be commercially viable due to the cost, market size etc.

[chansl]

Watching the video made me feel like keeping them again .... hahaha ... The simplest aquatic creatures i have ever kept .... The only problem is - they hide alot !!!!!! I overstock my tank but always only see like 5 to 10 despite my tank stocked with 150 of them ...

[kimkeat]

Watching the video made me feel like keeping them again .... hahaha ... The simplest aquatic creatures i have ever kept .... The only problem is - they hide alot !!!!!! I overstock my tank but always only see like 5 to 10 despite my tank stocked with 150 of them ...

150 should have cost you a bomb if you purchased them locally! I would like to have more but the high price deters me from buying more.

With 150, couldn't you feed them a tiny piece of food daily? Most would have come out of hiding and the food would be finished in minutes.

[chansl]

hahaha .. that's why i dont purchase them locally, too overprice for that small shrimp ...

Ya i feed them daily but as more algae grows around my tank, they dont bother to leave their hiding area. Always hiding there and it was really frustrating not to see most of the shrimps.... And hence i decided to de-comm it

[kimkeat]

hahaha .. that's why i dont purchase them locally, too overprice for that small shrimp ...

Ya i feed them daily but as more algae grows around my tank, they dont bother to leave their hiding area. Always hiding there and it was really frustrating not to see most of the shrimps.... And hence i decided to de-comm it

Is it okay for you to share where or how you purchased them? My email is [email protected]. It is okay if it is not convenient to tell. No problem at all. Those overseas sellers I came across so far deliver within USA only.

My tank is still pretty new, hence there isn't much algae. The shrimps have to work harder to find food. Once the tank is more mature, I guess I will face the same problem too. They are really good at squeezing through the crevices among the coral sticks.

[kimkeat]

The following tank, no feeding, no filter, hiding places at one corner only, a lot of open space, breed like rabbit, easy to view the shrimps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QA4Sxd8opY

The following tank by the same guy above.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_IYcdNzAjQ

The following tank, regular feeding, with filter, no hiding places.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_arDfD3zDs

The following tank, the shrimps were swimming around actively too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR0cYGH8SoM

chansl, maybe you need more than 150? 500 seems to be a good number. haha.

[kimkeat]

Woohoo! After more than 6 months, I finally saw a berried mama! I tried to take a photo of her but she went into hiding after a short while. Hope to see some larvae floating in my tank soon.

[kimkeat]

She was carrying about 10 eggs when I first saw her. Last night, there was only 1 egg left. Sad.....

[Starlett]

Just curious, you are keeping them in brackish water right?

[kimkeat]

Just curious, you are keeping them in brackish water right?

Yes, brackish water.