Opae Ula!

A 19-year-old college kid on an unexpected journey of caring for shrimp!

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I love the tiny tiny claws!!

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Another secret meeting!

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Clear little guy sitting on a lava rock.

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Climbing on a beautiful rock I found at the beach in Maine.

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Two lovely shrimp near the front of the tank!

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A secret nighttime meeting between two friends.

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Hello! I’m Alex, a college student who was gifted an Ecosphere a few weeks ago by my mom. I love little creatures, and I appreciate the thought of the gift, but as soon as I saw the orb I knew I had to get them out of there. So I set up a 1-gallon tank, broke open the orb, and let the 5 opae ula shrimp into their new home on November 25th! I was completely not expecting to have this responsibility, but thankfully opae ula are easy to take care of and I do have experience with freshwater and saltwater aquariums, so I wasn’t starting from scratch.

However, I received them over Thanksgiving break, so I had to be extremely fast in the moving process so I would be able to take them back to school with me in their tank. After discussing it with my local fish store, I decided to skip cycling and move them into the tank just after acclimation. Of course, this was only successful because opae ula are so hardy, and was far from ideal.

But, they have been doing great in the 2+ weeks since the move, and I am so happy! This blog will be dedicated to the progress of the tank and just for cute pictures of the shrimp. I am planning to add more shrimp once I get back for winter break, and hopefully establish a great little community.