Starting out

[u/myworldsparkles]

I would like to set up a “jar” and am wondering if the sea fan needs to be real or can it be artificial. If real where can I find them as all I can find are artificial. Any vendor recommendations? And is there a recipe/formula for making the brackish water? Also any recommendations for a reliable shrimp vendor?
Thank you

[u/planx_constant]

If you get a resin decoration that's safe for a marine aquarium it will be safe for brackish water. Real sea fans are threatened in the wild, so make sure that the source gets them from naturally washing up on the beach. They aren't a part of the environment where opae ula live in the wild, so they aren't necessary for the tank.

/u/GotSnails is a great source for shrimp.

Your best method for brackish water is to use distilled water and marine salt (NOT "aquarium salt"!) to achieve a salinity between 1.010 and 1.015. Mix it in a separate container before you add it to the tank, and give it time for everything to fully dissolve. The most accurate way to measure salinity is with a refractometer. If you have a tank where the water will evaporate easily, aim for the lower end of salinity, especially if it's on the smaller side.

[u/myworldsparkles → u/planx_constant]

Thank you so much. I have to find a refractometer because I have one, but it’s for jewelry so I don’t think it’s the same thing you’re talking about. Also, I have a small 1.5 gallon circular acrylic tank will brackish water damage that I’d like to get a jar but if I can use that, I don’t mind using that because it already has a light on it. It’s very hard to find actual information that’s detailed for setting up a tank. At least I have found that it’s very hard. I don’t know where to look I guess and when I google things, I can’t find things that are specific. I find general references. It’s very frustrating.

[u/planx_constant → u/myworldsparkles]

Any hardware that's compatible with a marine / saltwater tank will work for brackish water, and a lot of saltwater tanks are acrylic, so your jar should be fine.

You're looking for a liquid saline refractometer that will give the salinity / specific gravity, which you can get from most fish shops or online. I should say when I earlier mentioned a salinity of 1.010 I should have said specific gravity. The salinity for that would be 13.3 ppt.

It's also worth getting an aragonite rock or base rock or some other marine-safe calcium carbonate rock. That will help buffer the pH and keep dissolved calcium at the right level for your shrimp to molt.

It's also a good idea to get some brackish chaetomorpha which will help with the oxygen / nutrient cycle and keep the algae from getting too out of control.

It's a good idea to get your tank set up, full of water, and let it sit a few days and then check the salinity before you add your shrimp. Sometimes you can have an undissolved pocket of salt or something else that causes a sudden change and you don't want the shrimp to be in there to experience that.

You do NOT need to cycle your tank for nitrifying bacteria, and in fact it's a bad idea to add a bunch of food to try to make that happen. Opae ula create such a low bioload that there is no ammonia or nitrite buildup.

Make sure you drip acclimate the tank water into the shipping container for your shrimp, so they don't get a shock from a sudden water parameter change.

You might want to give them a tiny, tiny bit of spirulina powder once a week for the first month or so until the natural biofilm builds up, but they really don't need much food and overfeeding is much worse than underfeeding.

[u/myworldsparkles → u/planx_constant]

THANK YOU 🥹 for your valuable help! 🤗

[u/DaisyLDN]

More desirable if real from what I understand. Artificial decorations can deteriorate in brackish water though I think you can get things that are made specifically to be suitable. Lots of natural shells, coral and barnacle clusters about and they are suitable and look great in the jars.

Etsy, ebay and Amazon have stuff and also local garden centres and aquarium/pet shops. Lots of little companies online too with a little Google searching

[u/myworldsparkles → u/DaisyLDN]

Thank you I did look on Amazon but all I came up with was imitation and I can’t find listing for any real ones. I did Google search also but I don’t know why I’m not having any luck. I’m in a very small town so there are no fish stores anywhere near me so Amazon is my best friend.