Opaeula.co.uk

A dedicated forum and online store for the Opae ula shrimp! 

This section is to discuss anything Opae ula shrimp and brackish water related. e.g Nerite snails, algae etc..
 #10332  by Kuhli new to opae
 
Hello from Thailand. I am a newbie in opae ula keeping as well as this forum!
I bought 2 opae ula yesterday. I could only buy 2 because of financial limitations. The tank has been cycled for a whole year with Malaysian trumpet snails without any food(as I remember) except freshwater algae that somehow acclimated themselves to brackish conditions (I assume because I acclimated it with the trumpet snail. Anyway, I would like to ask some questions.
1. What is the blue things in the deeper layer of the substrate, are that blue-green algae?
2. Snail multiples a lot, although the rate is dramatically reduced after being unfed for a while, there are still lots of them, is my tank really brackish? (I used the refractometer and the salinity is ideal, but I'm confusing as some sources said MTS don't breed that much in brackish water)
3.I cannot find any algae other than that except some dark brown-looking thing on the lava rock and the snail algae which I removed yesterday, will there be enough food for the shrimp to eat?
4. When I set up the tank one years ago, I accidentally drop some aquatic earth for freshwater in it, does it will affect the shrimp. (I didn't drop that much but they are all over the place as you might see in the photo.)
5. Is 2 shrimp enough? Will they feel lonely


Tank(bowl) conditions
Size-No more than 20 liters
Animals: some Malaysian trumpet snails, 2 opae ula
Decorations: Lavarock, white sand
Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate: Never tested, but I assumed they are low as snail survive and reproduce.
Ph GH TDS: Never tested
Salinity: 1.013-1.015 (The only thing I measured so far LOL)


About test kits, I'm not sure that I can buy them or not. But If you guys think I should I will (I'm from an Asian family with a mindset that "Study first", which means any items I buys are NOT my own money. And as I have been keeping fish without using the test kit for 2 years, with only 2-3 incidents from new tank syndrome so far (this is pretty common in my country, look at how we keep the betta fish for example), I'm sure that my parents might not allow me to buy it.)

Sorry If I break any rules (I'm new to the forum and really rush to post it for the fastest procedure if it require any.)
They still doing fine after 24 hours but who knows. I need to be sure as they are quite rare in my country.
Attachments:
One of my 2 opae ula
One of my 2 opae ula
IMG-3298.jpg (655.15 KiB) Viewed 26989 times
Green thing
Green thing
IMG-3304.jpg (1.22 MiB) Viewed 26989 times
Overall tanks
Overall tanks
IMG-3302.jpg (1.27 MiB) Viewed 26989 times
 #10333  by odin
 
Welcome to the forum! In short all should be ok and fine, the green algae looks like just that in the sand.. algae and yes the snails will reproduce like crazy in fresh and brackish water. :wink:

I wouldn’t worry too much about testing your water strait away, the fact that you are not over run with algae in the tank shows that there isn’t large amounts of excess nutrients.

I’d observe them for a week and go from there, if they start swimming around constantly and don’t stop maybe something isn’t quite right with the tank. Thank you for the photos! :happy: :happy:
 #10334  by Kuhli new to opae
 
odin wrote: 13 Jun 2022 14:14 Welcome to the forum! In short all should be ok and fine, the green algae looks like just that in the sand.. algae and yes the snails will reproduce like crazy in fresh and brackish water. :wink:

I wouldn’t worry too much about testing your water strait away, the fact that you are not over run with algae in the tank shows that there isn’t large amounts of excess nutrients.

I’d observe them for a week and go from there, if they start swimming around constantly and don’t stop maybe something isn’t quite right with the tank. Thank you for the photos! :happy: :happy:
THX
 #10335  by opaeforever
 
cycle for 1 yrs, that a long period. salinity 1.008-1.018 is ideal for them.
I dont cycle all my opae tanks and all are doing just fine, so don't worry about that.
These brown algae, you can put 1 or 2 nerite snails as clean up crew.
2 opae, are they in pair's? cos you just show 1 opae. 20L tank can start with 20-30 opae shrimp for faster establishment of colony.
 #10336  by Kuhli new to opae
 
opaeforever wrote: 13 Jun 2022 17:57 cycle for 1 yrs, that a long period. salinity 1.008-1.018 is ideal for them.
I dont cycle all my opae tanks and all are doing just fine, so don't worry about that.
These brown algae, you can put 1 or 2 nerite snails as clean up crew.
2 opae, are they in pair's? cos you just show 1 opae. 20L tank can start with 20-30 opae shrimp for faster establishment of colony.
I cannot buy more than 2, I am a college student who have no part time job :upset2:. I am looking forward to buy more though. They didn’t paring up until yesterday day that they stay together more. Thank you for recommendations. :smile: