# opae ula aka Hawaiian Volcano Shrimp sp tank.



## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

I had blueberry shrimp donated from a very generous member on this forum to my classroom tank. I instantly fell in love with shrimp. They have always interested me, but I never really set up a specific tank for them. I tried peppermint shrimp in my saltwater tank. The longest I had one was for about 6 months. The next one lasted a week. I watched as a bristle worm ate a hole right through it. I purchased 7? sexy shrimp and they arrived listless but otherwise ok. They were all gone within 24 hours. 
My mistakes? I believe it to be a combination of Topping off weekly with 1 or 2 gallons of water aka salinity changes and the start of my sw tank going downhill. Im trying to fix that now.

ANYWAY, I started to read up on hawaiian shrimp aka opae ula. These poor shrimp have been the subject of torture, however that same torture is quite interesting. 
I dont like to re-invent the wheel so here is some detailed information about these guys from the guru himself fukubonsai.
The Amazing Creature!

To summarize what is on his site; to properly care for these very tiny shrimp we need:
*1. A cylinder tank. * Why a cylinder? Im not sure really. Some say it is because the ponds have no real corners and are bowl shaped therefore the shrimp get stuck in tank corners and get lost. Some say they breed much better in cylinder tanks. However I did view a couple of opae ula tanks in hawaii (online), one was a hex tank and one was a standard 30 gallon with 500 shrimp! And as always, the larger the tank, the better buffering effect is has. Fukubonsai also places a piece of live rock, live sand, and gravel in the tank at a slant up one side. Not only is this help to create a sense of depth it also apparently creates a convection current.
*2. Brackish Water.* These shrimp can adapt to salinity changes all the way from fresh to pure salt and everything in between. Like any animal, salinity swings are stressful but these guys manage them soooo much better than the average. They can live years in less than ideal conditions. Ideal conditions are brackish, why? The pools are brackish the majority of the time and they readily breed in brackish water. Saltwater rises up and fills the pond, rain water also fill the ponds. Likewise we need to top off with dechlorinated tap water, or distilled, or RO water. Whatever floats yer boat  As far as WC go, there are also two sides to this story. There has been great success with never changing the water, and there has been great success with changing the water. It does not need to be done very often at all. Some do it weekly and some do it yearly and some not at all.
*3. FEED THE SHRIMP!]* I have no idea why some people find this a difficult topic. Yes these shrimp eat algae. However the highly nutrient high like nuisance algae we hate is what they love. We could re-produce those conditions but I personally like to see the shrimp through the glass . 100% Spirulina powder has been found to be equal or more nutrient than the algae in their ponds. Regular feeding allows the shrimp to stay nice and fat (not shrink between molting from starving). Spirulina powder apparently does not dissolve in the water and foul it like regular fish foods. It is also recommended that they are not fed shrimp pellets. These shrimp are herbivores. No meat for these little guys. It is recommended that they are fed only once or twice a week and with a toothpick. Take a toothpick and scoop about 1/4 inch of the powder up the pick and drop it in the tank. The shrimp will swim to the surface and filter feed. Fukubonsai also gives 1 grain of uncooked rice every now and again. If you go on vacation, no worries about not feeding these guys. They will be fine. They can go a month + without feeding, IF there is a film of micro algae in the tank for them to pick on.
*4. Air* There is a bit of a discrepancy here. The pools of water are stagnant... sort of. Saltwater rises up and fills the pond and rainwater fills the ponds as well, but they are completely self contained in that there is no stream going to, or leaving from the ponds. Some people will put an airstone in their tank and some dont. Fukubonsai does not because the shrimp do not require a lot of dissolved air. However he is currently testing a tank with the opae ula and their natural shrimp predator which does require more oxygen. For this he has installed an undergravel filter with an airstone. So really, not a lot of oxygen either. Like any tank/bowl the general rule is the wider the mouth/top the greater the oxygen gas exchange. He has had great success with a wide mouth glass jar... like a big ol pickle jar. His is 15+ years old and full of opae ula. 
*5. Temperature* warm room temp is fine but they can go as high as 82F. Whatever you are going to do, keep it warmish.

Next post: The tank setup.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

The tank.









This is a plastic cylinder tank WITH LID I picked up at our thrift store. About 5 gallons. The lid has a small hole in the top just big enough for airline tubing. There is also another larger hole big enough for someone with normal sized fingers to get their finger stuck in. I have stick fingers and thumbs so no greasing them out risk for me  This will be my feeding hole. The lid is also Domed shaped so any gasses go straight to the top and out the hole. The added bonus of it not being flat means I dont "store" things on top of the tank lol.
I like that the tank has a lid so the water evaporation can be minimal. A lid also helps with keeping some of the heat in. This lid allows for gas exchange.
It came with an LED light that only shines in Red, Blue, Yellow and Green... and any combo of those. If left on long enough it blinks lol. Im not using it. It also came with an undergravel filter, airstone, the smallest air pump I have EVER seen and some marbles... OH and a blue glass octopus. I will not be using these either.

Currently I have water added but not to the top, and I am increasing the salinity to brackish. 1.016 ish which is ideal for breeding these shrimp.

Next post: substrate and environment.


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## Flygirl (Jul 23, 2011)

Interesting looking set up. Any pictures of the shrimp?

Curious to see more


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

I dont have the shrimp yet. I have only just ordered them. I want their tank set up and ready to go when they arrive. If you want to see what they look like do google images opae ula or hawaiian volcano shrimp. They are TEENY and bright red.


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## Flygirl (Jul 23, 2011)

Wow, googled, and they do look scrumptious...










K... sorry, couldn't resist. When I googled the image results there were all these little red looking shrimp and this photo 



skabooya said:


> I dont have the shrimp yet. I have only just ordered them. I want their tank set up and ready to go when they arrive. If you want to see what they look like do google images opae ula or hawaiian volcano shrimp. They are TEENY and bright red.


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

fascinating project. I look forward to following your adventure!


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## Captured Moments (Apr 22, 2010)

Here's my current setup for my volcano shrimps:

2 gal tank (11 in. Length x 5 in. Width x 8 in. Height)
sponge filter
Salinity: half strength sea water at 1.012
Heater: reptile heating pad under the tank (not sure how effective it is in heating up the water)
Temperature: 72 F.
Substrate: crushed coral
Decor: Black Lava Rock, Red Lava Rock
Shrimps: Don't remember how many I have in there.. they hide most of the time among the black lava rocks but I know I lost about 2-3 of them since I bought them at J&L back in beginning of December last year.

I feed a tiny amount of fish flake food once a week. I never tried spirulina powder but I do have some.. guess I can try.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

LMAO flygirl. Yea I saw those too. Lots of recipes for volcano shrimp .
Captured Moments your set up looks really good. How many did you start off with ? Have you noticed any babies/berried females/breeding going on?

For my substrate I am looking for some crushed coral to pile up but I cant seem to find any unless its medium to fine crush. I need some good chunky stuff. I have some inert black gravel in there right now. I will also put in a couple handfuls of live sand from my saltwater tank and a small rock from my saltwater tank too in order to get the beneficial bacteria started and to get some micro algae in there. I also put an order in for "goby rock" at JLA. It supposed to be very porous which the shrimp LOVE!

I am on the hunt for spiriluna powder. I can see a lot of spiriluna based flake food, but there is also carnivore stuff in it. These shrimp are herbivores and need a herbivore diet. Spiriluna has all the protein vitamins and minerals they need. Very nutritious stuff. I NEED TO FIND SOME!! If not then I will just get a small jar of spiriluna based flake or pellet until I find the right stuff.


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## Captured Moments (Apr 22, 2010)

no breeding going on yet.  I understand they don't breed that often unlike cherry shrimps and they don't have that many babies in the hatch.
You can buy pure spirulina powder at some health food stores or you can order it online. I bought mine a few years ago at one of the store in Landsdowne Mall.


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## Flygirl (Jul 23, 2011)

I've been using both HBH super soft spirulina pelltes and ocean nutrition formula 2 with spirulina flakes - they love both... With the pellets, the bigger shrimp get it first and the rest sort of hover around until they're done. The flakes, everyone gets some pretty equally. The flakes seem to get eaten a lot quicker too. Those they get everyday (no algae to speak of in the tank) and for variety, a two to three times a week they get the new spectrum colour pellets with garlic.

They're almost trained to come up to the surface when "the hand" appears


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

I only see mine sporadically. Most have gone deep into the rocks so if I want to see more than a random single shrimp, I have to pick up the rock and shake it in the little hex tank. Added some baby upside down jellyfish (Cassieopia sp.) in that tank so Felicia and I have something to look at.

Looking forward to see yours up and running.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Very cool flygirl. Your shrimp doesnt look like the opae ula pictures I have seen. But yes I do believe I am going to need to pick up some spiriluna based flake food. Easier to crumble for the little guys.
SeaHorse_Fanatic: yup they do tend to hide a lot. Apparently when you don't see them much at all and they are deep in the rocks they are more than likely breeding... at least that is what I have been reading.


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## Flygirl (Jul 23, 2011)

You're right skabooya.. it's not, it sneaked in somehow during the post


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

This is definately an interesting shrimp to keep and I started a journal that ended abruptly after starting it.... I split an order with captured moments when these shrimps came in, Anthony was the first to get these and I got them shortly after. Because they were said hardy and could live in low or high salinity I thought I would start a tank with these shrimps and other little sea inverts.

My current tank is a 2g standard, salinity is 1.024 and I keep macro algae. I used seeded water from my reef tank and fine aragonite. The idea was to add volcano rocks chips to the tank because it fell hand in hand with these shrimps natural environment. I soaked the volcano chips in water for a few weeks scared that it may leach metals...

The tank has been set up for well over 2 months now, I started with 10 shrimps, most of which died within the first few weeks... 2 managed to survive and now live happily amongst the macro algae.

After seeing your infamous planted macro tank I fell in love with algae, although I only keep mostly red algae in there I have added a few bright green kelp looking algae for contrast in colour. I plan on adding my inverts and shrimps to the tank later, they have made a few friends along the way, a boxer crab and bumble bee shrimp.

I love looking at the tank and hope to update my tank journal soon.

Good luck with your new endeavor, and lastly I believe these shrimps fair well under lower salinity!


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Hi tang daddy. Thanks about my macro tank. You should see it now... pretty much tore it down. The grape calupra pretty much took over. Choked most of my macro to death and some of my corals. Ive stopped dosing and have been ripping it out weekly. Its nothing like what it used to be. Makes me very sad really. I loved my macro tank.... stupid green grape (pretty but EVIL). 
So now I ordered a new CUC to help in combating the algae. I want to get a tang to temporarily put in there too but even the 2 small ones they ordered in the LFS are the size of my hand.  too big. So manual removal and praying the CUC eats some of this stuff.

Once things get under control I will be on the lookout for more macro to re-stock my tank. I may even hit you up again for some of your corals if you are still selling and shipping


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Substrate put into the tank. Inert black gravel at an angle towards the back of the tank. A piece of LR infested with nuisance algae and two handfuls of live sand.










That thing floating is my last piece of sargassum. It is infested with cotton candy algae. I am hoping the lower salinity will kill it. I dipped it in vinegar and rinsed it off with cold water. It just wont come off. All tangled.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Shipment is coming in today!! YAY!
More rock, called "goby rock" is coming in. 3lbs of it. This will go into the tank first. The shrimp will be left in their bag for a little while to get to room temp, the same as the water. Its currently at 68F which is at the lower end of opae ula temperatures. That's okay, because its winter and the tank will only get warmer from here on out.  Also, I could just turn the temp up in my office. 
I have siphoned off 10 bristle worms from the tank. I did not bother to replace the water because the water level will increase when I add the goby rock. I will also be adding the water the shrimp came in. I know, I know, BAD. But fukubonsai always adds some water from their habitat into his bowls so that the bacteria in the water help the shrimp out. I know JL is not their natural habitat, but they were doing well in that tank so I will add the water to this tank too.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

booo... delayed until tomorrow evening.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

SHIPMENT CAME IN!!!
The opae ula are very very active little guys. They looked pale in the bag but now they have been in their tank for almost 2 hours and they are colouring up nicely 
Here is a pic and a video. Enjoy


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

looks good cant wait for the tank to progress....


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Me too  Although I dont think it will change much other than getting some algae growth... maybe and hopefully lots of baby shrimp.
This morning all my shrimp were nice and red, from deep dark red to a nice red/pink. All were swimming around without pause. These guys also interact with you. They followed me around their tank. Swarmed the front of the tank when I was looking into it... actually maybe they were swarming the area I was looking into because they secretly wanted to rip pieces off my face. 0_o


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Shrimp pics!
Not the best so sorry ahead of time.


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

I get human quality spirulina tablets from All Natural Pet Care (Surrey). It`s so different from other spirulina products I`ve used. Smells awesome and the shrimp, ottos, corys, plecs love it.


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

I'm having serious issues finding spiriluna anything. The best I found was spiriluna based flake and pellets from the lfs but I want the human grade stuff. No one seems to have it.


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

contact this seller at the CAC Auction. She doesn't have the spirulina tablets listed at the moment, so use the "contact seller" link to send her a message. (it's in the 'seller info' box under the auction listing - sounds complicated but when you see the page it will make sense She produces high quality foods in Surrey under the name All Natural Pet Care - I use her stuff and swear by it.


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## Captured Moments (Apr 22, 2010)

how about ordering online?
see this for example:

Now SPIRULINA 100% PURE (HAWAIIAN) 1 LB. - POWDER - GREENS - National Nutrition


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## skabooya (Jun 15, 2010)

Thank you! I'm going to try 2 more places before ordering online 
On a side note:
My opae ula disappeared this morning and afternoon. I saw them all huddled together behind the big rock. Not climbing on top of eachother or anything but, just hanging out. Well tonight (about 5 minutes ago) I put a flashlight over the tank to admire them. I notice a ... BERRIED FEMALE!!!! OMG!!!! She is carrying what looks to be 6 eggs. It was hard to count because they are teeny and red and she was juggling them around her abdomen like a paid professional (so they wouldn't stick to eachother according to fukubonsai). I am so excited. I had to look again to make sure. Now, I don't know if it one or two females carrying as I may have just been counting the same one. These guys don't stop swimming.
I am going to try and get a pic, but OMG she is so teeny and the eggs are VERY TEENY. Plus the curved plastic tank. UGH! But I will try. ... tomorrow.
YAY SO HAPPY!!!


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## ilam (Apr 28, 2011)

congrats


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