5 gallon opae ulas journal

[Ca Nguyen]

i've decided to start a journal for this tank because i don't think there are enough opae ulas keepers anywhere.


i started with this 5 gallons tank housing my 4+ years old betta.


for substrate, i decided to go with aragonite to buffer the pH a bit.


for scape, i used 1/3 of a bag of red lava rock picked up from home depot for 4 dollars.


filtration is a small, double intake, air driven sponge filter, driven by one of the two output on tetra 60 air pump. i had the sponges sitting inside a aquaclear 70 between the aquaclear sponge and ceramic medias for many months just incase i needed an emergency tank.


tank is kept at 79 degree using a 100 watt tetra heater (would've use 50 watt for smaller efficient heating, but though it look better in tanknoob's cube garden).


there is an actual 4.5 actual gallons of water in the tank. i mixed enough instant ocean salt until salinity came out at 1.008.


lighting is provided by one 14 watt reptile glow compact fluorescent bulb for 5 hours a day, 5 days a week.

i've heard many people had successfully breed them in 2.5 gallons tank, so i'm hoping by doubling my water volume, i would better my odds.

tank have been up and running for 2 days as i'm making this post.


if anyone wonder what happened to my betta, he's in a 2.5 gallon tub until i can set up a proper home for him. i doubt anyone would want an old betta that only response to food. don't worry, i swap out one gallon of water every other day.




here's the final product. i didn't put much thought into how i wanted it to look. i just thought what would be best for them to hide and breed so i can sooner share my opae with anyone interested.

please don't mind my lack of grammar, correct punctuation, or capitolization. i'm vietnamese from vietnam. stay tuned for the actual opae ulas!

[R_sustaita]

This looks intreting

[eklikewhoa]

Good stuff!

I would recommend putting some money into a refractometer to measure your water.

[electricblue]

I just wouldn't trust that heater I had one cook everything in a 5 gallon.

[Ca Nguyen]

i will pick up a refractometer from marshreef when the oportunity arrise.

do you know why you heater failed? this heater been trouble free for years.

[eklikewhoa]

Look on ebay for the refractometer, its cheap.

[Ca Nguyen]

Look on ebay for the refractometer, its cheap.

woah, you are right, they are dirt cheap. i was expecting them to be in the 50s+. anyways, that light i bought from you, do you know where i can replace the bulb for cheap? i'm looking for 6700k

[eklikewhoa]

Petsmart/petco either that or just hit up home depot.

[Totenkampf]

that lava rock from HD is great biomedia, i used it for years. nice job on the emergency filters, i always mean to set that up but never do. when i use heaters, i set up two that are half the required wattage so that if one fails it likely cant cook the tank. they dont fail much but when they do its game over. no worries about grammar, your second language is way better than mine lol. these guys have pretty cheap 6500k bubls:

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/PowerCompact.html

[R_sustaita]

so how much you paid for the shrimp?

[Ca Nguyen]

that lava rock from HD is great biomedia, i used it for years. nice job on the emergency filters, i always mean to set that up but never do. when i use heaters, i set up two that are half the required wattage so that if one fails it likely cant cook the tank. they dont fail much but when they do its game over. no worries about grammar, your second language is way better than mine lol. these guys have pretty cheap 6500k bubls:

http://www.americanaquariumproducts....erCompact.html

thanks, i'm looking for a 36 inch standard output t5, i believe it's 21 watt

[Ca Nguyen]

so how much you paid for the shrimp?

the vender won't sell the shrimps only. so i bought an enclosed habitat with "up to 15" opae ula inside. i'm fighting usps for them at the moment because they have had it since wednesday but won't give it to me. the package have a hold order because the vender don't want some mail man driving all over city with it before handling it to me. but even if they don't deliver the package, they still deliver the slip with tracking number, and i need the slip to get my package (appearantly, having it on a printed sheet of paper with all tracking details from their official website don't work!). i'm going back to usps right now to fight for it again, been cold last few days, this is unacceptable.

[Ca Nguyen]

the vender won't sell the shrimps only. so i bought an enclosed habitat with "up to 15" opae ula inside. i'm fighting usps for them at the moment because they have had it since wednesday but won't give it to me. the package have a hold order because the vender don't want some mail man driving all over city with it before handling it to me. but even if they don't deliver the package, they still deliver the slip with tracking number, and i need the slip to get my package (appearantly, having it on a printed sheet of paper with all tracking details from their official website don't work!). i'm going back to usps right now to fight for it again, been cold last few days, this is unacceptable.

doh! i ranted on and forgot about the price. the final shipping price for the eco system that could have up to 15 opae ula is 71 dollars. i'll update you with an actual head count once i recieve it.

[R_sustaita]

i know where you got them from. to bad that habitat will be trash lol

[Ca Nguyen]

i know where you got them from. to bad that habitat will be trash lol

not reall, i'll use that jar for cookie, or maybe grow some indoor plants, i'll find a use for everything i guess. you don't happen to have a colony of them do you? i was looking to buy some locally before i bit the bullet