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I just received my opae ula and acclimated them into their planted tank. I provided them with several hiding places as they were sent to me at a breeding age. Anywho, I was wondering about how active they are supposed to be during the day and night?

I've seen videos of them swimming around and being quite active; however mine seem to like to hide and rarely pop up only to eat or find a new hiding place. The first day I got them they were all over the place exploring, now day three of being in there new tank I only see 3-4 of them sporadically pop out from somewhere and then hide again.

I'm wondering if that's normal given I've provided them with nooks and crannies to hide in or does this mean something is wrong in the tank and I should start looking for deceased opae ula?

Thanks in advance and sorry if I missed a thread talking about this subject. I'm new to forums.


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Welcome to the forum brutalhoney! The way you are describing the starting out of your shrimp tank sounds very normal to me. Tell us a bit more about your tank and that will help us see if they are hiding for a reason.

How old is your tank setup? How big is the tank and how many shrimp do you have?

The reason I ask is if you have too few shrimp they tend to hide more, they will also hide if their water isn't very mature or the salt quantitys are very different from which they came and are not used to it yet.

If you have algae growing in the nooks where they hide they will also just stay hidden as they wont have to go out looking for food. The first few days you add Opae ula to the tank they will race around like headless chickens before settling down, they will also do this if they become disturbed or stressed out.

I wouldn't be worried at the moment and don't be tempted to start moving things in the tank to look for any dead shrimp, they should come out more as they get a bit more confident or any water issues you may have clear up. I hope this helps! If you have any more questions please ask away! We don't mind repeating information

The tank has been up and cycling for about a month. It's on the lowest filter setting right now. I checked the salinity and ph every week to make sure they were to the breeders specifications.

I have a 2.7 gallon tank and I have about 12 shrimp in there plus two pipipi snails who are active as can be!

The tank has some marimo, some macroalgae and Java moss, cholla wood and a piece of driftwood in there which they love hiding in.

I have an led light on 12 hours, and off 12 hours for algae growth and I was instructed to only feed them spirulina two days after I got them in the tank and then once every few weeks or once a month depending on my algae growth in the tank.

Any sort of suggestions or observations would be much helpful as I'm new to shrimp and just want to make sure they comfortable and not hiding because of something I overlooked or did wrong (which I wouldn't be surprised if I did since I'm new to having shrimp).

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It sounds like you have a nice setup there and the shrimps will love it when it all comes together, with regards the PH level of your water it will constantly want to lower its self naturally and this isn't healthy for the snails shells (will start to get holes in them) and the shrimp over all health. To keep the PH up nice and high (8.2 - 8.4) you will need something to buffer (prevent) the water becoming to acidic, This can be crushed coral substrate, a block of calcium carbonate (fish tank grade), ocean rock (Texas holey rock - which is limestone) or a coral skeleton.

Your PH may be perfect now but it will creep down slowly, unfortunately woods in you tank will pull the PH down quicker as this is one of the side effects of it. If you do add a PH buffer to your tank to combat this you wont have to remove the wood or worry about PH tank crashes and the health issues that come with them. A tank crash may kill everything in your tank as your healthy bacteria will die off quickly and the chain reaction will lead to snails and shrimps being affected by their own waste (Ammonia). You could also add bottled PH booster if you don't want to change/add to your tanks layout (i understand that once you have it setup perfect adding more can make it look unsightly )

Your lights are perfect for growing the algae as a food source and feeding should be once a fortnight or less with the quantity of shrimp you currently have, these guys can go a month with ZERO food if they 'have' to. I would ditch the pump/filter as you wont need it at all! i know its strange and i thought it was too (i keep other fresh water shrimp that need a filter) but this is pretty much the reason the shrimps are hiding if your water is fine quality wise.

What salinity and PH were you told to use? I've been told before to use much higher salinity's then required (when i first started out) and it reduced the chances of breeding. Are your shrimps all pale or anything? its not always a sign of problems but its interesting to know

I hope that helps! If you have the cash id invest in an salt water API master test kit (the liquid type) as you can test for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates and PH when ever you wish. Its not necessary but its always handy to eliminate any issues that you 'may' be experiencing.

Good luck

odin wrote:It sounds like you have a nice setup there and the shrimps will love it when it all comes together, with regards the PH level of your water it will constantly want to lower its self naturally and this isn't healthy for the snails shells (will start to get holes in them) and the shrimp over all health. To keep the PH up nice and high (8.2 - 8.4) you will need something to buffer (prevent) the water becoming to acidic, This can be crushed coral substrate, a block of calcium carbonate (fish tank grade), ocean rock (Texas holey rock - which is limestone) or a coral skeleton.

Your PH may be perfect now but it will creep down slowly, unfortunately woods in you tank will pull the PH down quicker as this is one of the side effects of it. If you do add a PH buffer to your tank to combat this you wont have to remove the wood or worry about PH tank crashes and the health issues that come with them. A tank crash may kill everything in your tank as your healthy bacteria will die off quickly and the chain reaction will lead to snails and shrimps being affected by their own waste (Ammonia). You could also add bottled PH booster if you don't want to change/add to your tanks layout (i understand that once you have it setup perfect adding more can make it look unsightly )

Your lights are perfect for growing the algae as a food source and feeding should be once a fortnight or less with the quantity of shrimp you currently have, these guys can go a month with ZERO food if they 'have' to. I would ditch the pump/filter as you wont need it at all! i know its strange and i thought it was too (i keep other fresh water shrimp that need a filter) but this is pretty much the reason the shrimps are hiding if your water is fine quality wise.

What salinity and PH were you told to use? I've been told before to use much higher salinity's then required (when i first started out) and it reduced the chances of breeding. Are your shrimps all pale or anything? its not always a sign of problems but its interesting to know

I hope that helps! If you have the cash id invest in an salt water API master test kit (the liquid type) as you can test for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates and PH when ever you wish. Its not necessary but its always handy to eliminate any issues that you 'may' be experiencing.

Good luck

Thanks Odin! I really appreciate your advice! I have some coral substrate I ordered a while back I can add to the tank. If I add that, can I take out the driftwood or should I leave it in? I honestly don't mind taking it out if it's going to be a problem and honestly it takes up quite a bit of space right now and I have been thinking of taking it out. In other words, can I take out the driftwood and add the coral substrate? Will that mess with the pH? Or should I just take out the driftwood and that's it?

The breeder I got the shrimp from said to keep the salinity between 1.0114-1.0122. PH to 8.2-8.4.

Some of the shrimp are clear and the others are bright red, there are no shrimp that are in between.


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If you remove the driftwood and add some crushed coral substrate it will keep your PH levels perfect and stable for aslong as you have the substrate in the tank. You will need to thoroughly rinse the substrate before adding it as this can sometimes cloud up the water from dusty particles in the gravel. You can't really 'over do it' on the PH scale so having it up nice and high is perfect.

You could get away with leaving in the wood but I would remove it personally. The Salinity can be from 1.010 up to around 1.015 for maximum happiness in the shrimp tank any more or less is tolerable to them but they may not breed.

Odin,
You rock! Thanks again for your advice! I will be removing the driftwood and adding the substrate. I will be sure to thoroughly rinse it before adding it.

*high five*


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No problem, I forgot to ask, what sort of water source did you use and intend to wash the gravel in? Avoid tap water if you can.

odin wrote:No problem, I forgot to ask, what sort of water source did you use and intend to wash the gravel in? Avoid tap water if you can.

I used/will use nursery water as we have much of it in the house for my baby.


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Ahh ok i wasnt aware of this product... i may look into it and add it to one of my guides as a source of water to use thanks for that. We would love to see some photos of your tank if you get a spare minute! I wish we could get pipipi snails over here in the UK and im tempted to import some from shrimpmart.net.