# Shrimp in hawaii



## hir0 (Nov 3, 2005)

You have to get a permit from Hawaii State Agriculture. There's all sorts of questions there regarding what kind of shrimp, potential harm to the ecosystem, persons responsible, date of import, reasons for importing, addresses of persons who have custodial responsibility... etc. I've been doing a little research in my spare time. I've heard some people mention some were restricted, others prohibited in Hawaii. I've dug into the lists of what is restricted / prohibited here and so far i haven't found any invertabrates prohibited. I haven't found any that are allowed either :icon_roll But still you have to go through the hassles with agriculture. You then have to send the form if approved to the place you want to purchase the shrimp from and a copy needs to return with the shipment. It's then subject to search by Agriculture. Also, any inadvertant introductions into the local habitat, quarantine, testing, costs and other responsibilities would be on the person who wanted to import them. It's kind of a process, but I'm looking into it for after the holidays when shipping would be favorable. I don't know how stressful shipping is on shrimp, but I'd rather not take the chances during the holidays. An extra day or two could equal more casualties I would think.

here is the lists

here is the application (pdf format)

If anyone has successfully completed this before please chime in. I'm curious to know how much work it really is.


this needs to be done correctly though. here is a quote from Agriculture website.
"Any person convicted of owning, transporting, or possessing any snake or restricted (without a permit) or prohibited plant, animal, or microorganism may be:

fined up to $200,000; 
imprisoned not more than three years; and 
pay for all costs relating to the capture or eradication of the pest."


----------



## hir0 (Nov 3, 2005)

Another thing. I'm not 100% certain a permit is required for shrimp since I cannot find it on the restricted or prohibited list for Hawaii. But I am definitely looking into it. Let me know if you find out some info, and I'll do the same


----------



## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

you should ask greenmiddlefinger about this issue he is from hawii and has a bunch of shrimp... he also always talks about the native cherries... so drop him a pm he can probly help you out he seems like a nice guy  :icon_bigg 

Fn


----------



## Zach987 (Mar 4, 2004)

I think he is on the mainland right now.....no hookup  

I am going to call the DON tomorrow to find out how to set up an import

The native shrimp he talks about as far as I know are from akaline ponds or brackish water and are tiny. They wouldn't do the job I am wanting them to do in my tank.


----------



## Veneer (Jan 18, 2005)

Zach987 said:


> The native shrimp he talks about as far as I know are from akaline ponds or brackish water and are tiny. They wouldn't do the job I am wanting them to do in my tank.


Well, to address the preceding poster's comment, said shrimp, while indeed a color morph of cherry shrimp (_N. denticulata sinensis_), are far from "native." Furthermore, they are not restricted to alkaline or brackish conditions. In aquaria, they do as fine a job as normal cherries.

You may have the anchialine _Halocaridina rubra_ in mind.


----------



## hir0 (Nov 3, 2005)

I've heard there are cherry shrimp introduced here in Hawaii somewhere, but I have no idea where. Yes i believe he is talking about the opae ula, which is a very small red brackish shrimp.


----------



## Zach987 (Mar 4, 2004)

They are for sale at the LFS behind the wal-mart near ala-moana.


----------



## rcx_sk (Feb 2, 2004)

what petstore is that? the pets discount store on kapiolani by ala moana? or is there another pet store near walmart?


----------



## kala201 (Dec 11, 2005)

Zach what kind of shrimp are you looking for? I have been lucky enough to find a supply of FREE :thumbsup: shrimp here in Hawaii. I assume they are from the same family as the ghost shrimp. They are hardy and fairly easy to raise and breed. Sometimes I am even lucky enough to get some opae lolo also.


----------



## hir0 (Nov 3, 2005)

rcx_sk said:


> what petstore is that? the pets discount store on kapiolani by ala moana? or is there another pet store near walmart?


there is one by wallmart called modern petstore. not sure the road, but if you are coming down keamoku (sp?) towards ala's it's the right turn just before kapiolani. it's down on the left side just before the last stopsign. they have opae ula for $1 each. they also have some nice australian killifish atm.


----------



## hir0 (Nov 3, 2005)

kala201 said:


> Zach what kind of shrimp are you looking for? I have been lucky enough to find a supply of FREE :thumbsup: shrimp here in Hawaii. I assume they are from the same family as the ghost shrimp. They are hardy and fairly easy to raise and breed. Sometimes I am even lucky enough to get some opae lolo also.


wouldn't happen to be cherry red's would they? i know they have been intoduced a while back in some freshwater streams and have propagated and are thriving, just not sure where.


----------



## Zach987 (Mar 4, 2004)

kala201 I am looking for something freshwater only, doesn't get too large, and won't eat my other fish. Thats my only parameters. What did you find? If they are cherry reds I am definately interested.

As for the LFS I was talking about I don't know the name but hiro's directions are spot on. If you come down the ramp from sam's you will be looking right at it.


Oh and welcome to the board


----------



## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

Zach987 said:


> I think he is on the mainland right now.....no hookup
> 
> I am going to call the DON tomorrow to find out how to set up an import
> 
> The native shrimp he talks about as far as I know are from akaline ponds or brackish water and are tiny. They wouldn't do the job I am wanting them to do in my tank.


i would still drop him a pm he always talks about having the person looking after the tanks able to send stuff... seems like a really nice guy so i would ask him about this he is probably one of the people on the board who knows the most.:icon_eek: 

fn


----------



## StLouisGuy (Nov 12, 2004)

When I had tiger shrimp for sale I had a request to send some to Hawaii. After several nice conversations with various goverment types I finally found someone who could answer my questions with authority. For whatever reason it seems ghost shrimp are ok but anything else requires a permit. I was asked to ship anyway but I did not.


----------



## kala201 (Dec 11, 2005)

*Pic*

Here is a pic of the shrimp I am talking about. They are native to Hawaii and are called opae kala`ole. I will be on the look out for the cherry reds that everyone is looking for. I have not seen any in all my years of hiking.


----------



## kala201 (Dec 11, 2005)

*One more thing*

Here is the scientific name for this species... Atyoida bisculcata.


----------



## kala201 (Dec 11, 2005)

*Opae Ula*

Sorry to disappoint you guys... but the opae ula at Modern Pets down near Ala Moana comes from a SALT WATER source :icon_cry: . I talked to the people working there. They are very friendly and nice people. They told me that if I bought them they would give me enough water to fill my tank if I needed. I guess you could try and acclomate them to purely freshwater. It has been done with known brackish water fishes and shrimps. I don't know what the success rate would be but you could try.


----------



## Zach987 (Mar 4, 2004)

yeah I was told the same thing about them. Didn't find them too friendly though, I asked about PC light bulbs and they tried to presure me into buying a lot of stuff I didn't need.


----------



## hir0 (Nov 3, 2005)

kala201 said:


> Sorry to disappoint you guys... but the opae ula at Modern Pets down near Ala Moana comes from a SALT WATER source :icon_cry:





hir0 said:


> opae ula, which is a very small red brackish shrimp.


not disappointed at all. they live in brackish ponds etc. from what i understand.


----------



## bharada (Mar 5, 2004)

From all that I've read, the Opae kala does require a marine environment for the larvae to develop, just like Amanos do. back in the mid-70s those were the only kind of shrimp we'd catch in any of the local streams.

Doing some online reading it appears that the opae kala has been pushed to mainly the higher streams by the introduced Neocardina sp. And yes, my brother (who lives in Kaneohe) warned me not to go wading in any of the local streams for fear of parasitic infections. Just another childhood experience that I won't be able to share with my own kids.


----------



## Steven_Chong (Sep 14, 2004)

Ah, yeah it's a real tragedy. Paoa's streams, and many others, are completely invaded by bristlenose plecs. Talapia dominate so many of the water bodies. Crayfish (though as a kid I caught crayfish and neocaridina sp. :icon_roll ) rule the places that opa'e kala probably once lived. Though I didn't know kalas used to live lower stream, for some reason I thought they needed the water falls to filter-feed. Ah well, my miss-conception. Yeah, the leptospirosis contamination is truly unfortunate. :icon_cry:


----------



## kala201 (Dec 11, 2005)

*Opae Kala*

Thanks for the info Green. Yes Opae kala`ole do need to spend part of their larval cycle in marine waters. With that said I think my tanks have had a mixture of opae and regular grass shrimp. That would explain why over the school year I would notice the change in coloration of the shrimp in the tank and why only the more transparent grass shrimp would dominate by the end of the school year. Sorry to mislead you guys that what my past tanks had were purely opae kala`ole. As for lepto I still go prancing through and swimming in freshwater. One just has to be very careful. No stagnant or standing water. I always swim in flowing water. As for my source of opae and grass shrimp one does not even need to get in the water. You can very easily scoop them from dry land. Also I have never had any problems with parasites. I went to catch crayfish this past weekend for my gf's classroom and the shrimp are still there. So if you need a shrimp fix and are willing to run the risk of parasites PM me.


----------



## Steven_Chong (Sep 14, 2004)

Kala, that's weird. I go hiking/stream investigating regularly, and to shops and I have never seen any glass/grass shrimp. All wild shrimp I run into are neocaridina, wild cherries.


----------



## Veneer (Jan 18, 2005)

greenmiddlefinger said:


> Kala, that's weird. I go hiking/stream investigating regularly, and to shops and I have never seen any glass/grass shrimp. All wild shrimp I run into are neocaridina, wild cherries.


Perhaps he is not referring to _Palaemonetes_ spp. (which are not native to Hawaii).


----------



## Steven_Chong (Sep 14, 2004)

yeah, as far as I know though neocaridina sp. aren't native either.

I have heard of Palaemonetes invasions in Hawai'i, but I think it was a case of miss-identification by Hawaiian surveyors, who might have mistaken our the asian neocaridinas for north american Palaemonetes.

Still, refering to wild cherries as grass shrimp would cause too much confusion! As if there isn't enough alreay.


----------



## kala201 (Dec 11, 2005)

*My shrimp*

I will try and post pics sometime this week and perhaps you guys can postively ID these shrimp for me. I have what looks like 2 or 3 different types of shrimp. I am basing this guess on the different markings and coloration of my shrimp. Any input you guys are able to give me on them is greatly appreciated.


----------

