Newbie Opae Ula owner in Singapore

**melvinchia** · 20th Jan 2012, 05:53 AM

Hi guys,
I just bought myself a glass vase (not-sealed) with 8 cute and pretty Opae Ula. I'm not opening myself up for flak here, but trying to find ways to make their lives less miserable. Does anyone have suggestions?

I'm rearing them on my office desk. Should I buy a small tank with/without filter, airstone, light, etc? I do feed them pellet supplement provided by the seller once every third day (1 day feed, 2 days off) so as not to "starve" them, but am still trying to locate spirulina powder to surface-feed them. Does anyone know where I can buy good lower-cost spirulina powder other than from expen$ive organic stores?

**madness** · 20th Jan 2012, 06:37 AM

People object to keeping them in a closed system (those sealed vases or containers) for obvious reasons but they are apparently very hardy. Just having an open container (where you can add food and get some oxygen exchange and occasionally change a bit of water) seems to help them a lot.

There is a guy named Erno Pena who has posted some great journals on several enthusiast forums detailing the tank that he previously had set-up where he not only kept them healthy but had them breeding well. You might try a search for "Erno Pena Opae Ula" and you should find links to some of his threads on various shrimp related message boards. Probably the best English language hobbyist source that I have found so far for them.

**madness** · 20th Jan 2012, 06:39 AM

The best way to keep them seems to be to get a ton of algae going and then feed infrequently but getting algae (especially useful kinds) to grow in brackish water apparently isn't as easy as you would think.

**melvinchia** · 20th Jan 2012, 06:42 AM

so my setup is one of the more "humane" ones.. it's in a vase, with a lid with a hole in it, and the lid can be removed to top up water, change water, or feeding.

update: i found that GNC sells spirulina powder, going to check it out soon.. =D

**silane** · 20th Jan 2012, 12:48 PM

These are mine:

I prefer to give them more comfort, giving them filters.

**Drakarian** · 20th Jan 2012, 01:03 PM

Originally Posted by melvinchia

so my setup is one of the more "humane" ones.. it's in a vase, with a lid with a hole in it, and the lid can be removed to top up water, change water, or feeding.

update: i found that GNC sells spirulina powder, going to check it out soon.. =D

hey, I have about a 100 grams of spirulina powder, genuine animal food grade, that is suitable for opae ula, to give away, but that'll be after CNY. Are you interested? It's almost impossible to use the whole bottle -.- I only have 22 opae ula and I only feed once a week. However you'll need to get your own airtight bottle.

**melvinchia** · 20th Jan 2012, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by silane

These are mine:

I prefer to give them more comfort, giving them filters.

Wow looks like there's a LOT of them in the tank!

**melvinchia** · 20th Jan 2012, 02:23 PM

Originally Posted by Drakarian

hey, I have about a 100 grams of spirulina powder, genuine animal food grade, that is suitable for opae ula, to give away, but that'll be after CNY. Are you interested? It's almost impossible to use the whole bottle -.- I only have 22 opae ula and I only feed once a week. However you'll need to get your own airtight bottle.

Aiyah! Too late! I went to GNC and bought a bottle of Organic Spirulina powder. And it's a biiig 150g bottle at that! Dunno how I'll ever finish it if I feed them one toothpick only once a week.. And I only have 8 opae ula!

Is my Spirulina the correct type to feed them? Or should I eat it myself? Hahahah..

**Drakarian** · 20th Jan 2012, 02:56 PM

haha that's e problem with this stuff, big bottles... If its organic and harbours no preservatives it shouldn't be a problem, mine's fine so far. Need other shifu to comment though

**melvinchia** · 20th Jan 2012, 03:23 PM

Read the bottle label, doesn't seem to have any preservatives, just 100% pure organic spirulina. Fed my shrimp this week with pellets supplement that the dealer gave me for free. Will let them clean up the vase over the weekend, and over the CNY holidays, and will try feeding them the spirulina when I get back to the office on Wednesday after CNY! =D