# Breeding halocaridina volcano shrimp



## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

I had some in a pickle jar, but no more.


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## JshineTX84 (Jun 20, 2010)

Are they useful in a freshwater environment? Or just pretty?


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## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

Wow. Where did you get them!? I have been trying to get them Online for a decent price. Thanks.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

They're tiny, and Kiran, do an ebay search for volcano shrimp.


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## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

Cool! Thanks Liam!


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## dhavoc (May 4, 2006)

i have bred them and its pretty simple. they are awsome shrimp and yes very easy to keep. they tolerate water conditions that would kill most anything and keep on going. the minimum tank size for successful breeding for me has been about a 2.5g tank with an airstone/sponge set to very low. i just let the algae grow on everything except the front glass which i clean just so i can see them. mine are kept at 1.012 -1.014 though they can tollerate anything. there was a story of a guy in Hilo that had them in a rain collection barrel, they were in basically pure rain water which has nothing in it. they lived fine though i dont think they bred. i really dont think they would be happy in say a soft water crs tank but i have never tried them. my current tank is a 5g but they dont breed at the moment as i also keep a good size population of metas (carnivourous) shrimp in there as well. they grow larger than ula, and also have small claws, but are the same red color. move extremely fast as well. they eat the ula and their free floating fry in the wild so their pressence pretty much insures no juvi ula. i keep both well fed with spirulina flakes and standard fish pellets, so predation has been very low. as to the OP attempt to breed them in fresh water, i have not heard of anyone doing so, but then again, why not try? aclimating them to fw is pretty easy anyway.

on a side note, there is talk of adding these to the threatened/endangerd species watch list by the state and feds so they may not be commercially available if that happens in the future.


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Any updates to this? Did they breed in the freshwater tank?


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

xenxes, I don't think they can breed in freshwater


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## ch3fb0yrdee (Oct 2, 2008)

I've seen these at a local SF fish store but never thought much of them since they're brackish, but they look really cool in the up close picture.


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## Dave10910 (Nov 8, 2011)

Let us know how it goes. These shrimp are amazing from what I've heard. They are survival machines. Arn't these the ones that can go a year without food, withstand extreme temp changes and go quickly from salt to fresh water?


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## DesmondTheMoonBear (Dec 19, 2011)

These shrimp interest me. Too bad this post seems a bit old though, wonder how it went.


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Dave10910 said:


> Let us know how it goes. These shrimp are amazing from what I've heard. They are survival machines. Arn't these the ones that can go a year without food, withstand extreme temp changes and go quickly from salt to fresh water?


Yeah they live up to 20, but starve in these tiny spheres and still last 1-2 years, I was asking about them earlier: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/planted-nano-tanks/160542-ecospheres.html


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## Dave10910 (Nov 8, 2011)

Yeah I don't agree with putting them in those things. I was just observing that they are interesting on an evolutionary basis.


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## Monster Fish (Mar 15, 2011)

I have a 2.5 gallon set up with these guys. It's a brackish water setup that's pretty much covered in green algae. I've had them for about 2 months now and Im sure I have some mature ones, but I have yet to see any shrimplets. They just seem content munching on the endless green algae and pooping.


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## Dave10910 (Nov 8, 2011)

Anyone know of someone selling these shrimp? What's a typical price?


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## Monster Fish (Mar 15, 2011)

Dave10910 said:


> Anyone know of someone selling these shrimp? What's a typical price?


I got mine from Ebay. Just search for 'Opae Ula'. Almost all of these shrimp come from Hawaii so you're gonna have to pay for express or two day shipping.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

I've got 40 or so in a 10g high brackish tank. They have yet to breed, and I recently had a mysterious dieoff of about 1/3rd of my population. That appears to have stopped since my recent rescape, but I don't know why. Lots of people who keep them report that they don't breed for years on end then suddenly begin. I was considering trying something like Eros on them to get things going, but who knows whether that would do more harm than good. I'd pay good money for a berried female at this point, that always seems to get things going.


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## madness (Jul 31, 2011)

There is someone on that one auction site that usually sells them for around $1 per shrimp I think.

Fascinating shrimp.

I keep waiting on Jason or someone stateside to have success breeding them so that I can just copy whatever they did right.


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

They're fairly expensive from most places ($2 shipped+; and most places ship with containers which cost more), best deal I saw was $1 a shrimp, but minimum order 50. Forget where it was, just Google volcano shrimp.


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

jasonpatterson said:


> I've got 40 or so in a 10g high brackish tank. They have yet to breed, and I recently had a mysterious dieoff of about 1/3rd of my population. That appears to have stopped since my recent rescape, but I don't know why. Lots of people who keep them report that they don't breed for years on end then suddenly begin. I was considering trying something like Eros on them to get things going, but who knows whether that would do more harm than good. I'd pay good money for a berried female at this point, that always seems to get things going.


From what I've read so far, there's 3 common requirements:

(1) gravity of 1.008 to 1.016; 
(2) a lot of dark caves to breed in, i.e. porous volcanic rock, but I'm sure charcoal tubes will also do; and
(3) good indirect light to keep up a constant algae food supply

Temperature does not seem to matter, they tolerate 68F-84F, but some say steady temperature at 70-78 is more conducive to breeding.

Also water changes doesn't seem necessary, some go years without a water change.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

xenxes said:


> They're fairly expensive from most places ($2 shipped+; and most places ship with containers which cost more), best deal I saw was $1 a shrimp, but minimum order 50. Forget where it was, just Google volcano shrimp.


The one on eBay who always has them listed appears to have improved his/her act a bit. I was wary of buying anything from that seller due to numerous feedback comments of "Makes things right!" In my opinion that's a good thing to do as a seller, but I don't want to order from someone who had the range of shipping problems that were described. There haven't been any of those for several months though, so it appears they've learned their lesson re: how to ship shrimp. 

I bought some from another eBayer a while back that included both white and red morphs and have been looking for another similar package. The sources I've tried sell the red morph exclusively, and I really like the mix of the two.

I bought shrimp from http://www.hawaii-opaeula.com/ for $1 per shrimp and was happy with the transaction. I received red juveniles. They also include a few lava rocks seeded with appropriate algae, which can be a bit of a chore to get started in the Midwest. Check their aquahomes page for shrimp prices, it's basically $1 each though, minimum order 50.


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## ernopena (Jan 6, 2011)

*any progress?*

I'm betting you're not going to get them to breed in freshwater. That's been my experience.

I had a 2.5gal tank with almost 100 Opae Ula from 2007-2008 and I only got them to breed after 1. providing plenty of dark interior space for them to hide and 2. doing regular water changes.

Here's a few pics of the babies:


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