Well in reality halocaridina rubra are an incredible species of "super shrimp" known to live more than 20 years in captivity with the proper conditions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halocaridina. Seven years is not really that long for these guys. There are numerous other websites including this one: http://www.fukubonsai.com/M-L2d.html on the subject. This website shows the research of Dr. Wayne Nishijima of the Univ of Hawaii. It describes in detail why the ecosphere is flawed. A Dr. is credible enough for me. " Each time the opae-ula molt, they step out of a larger shell and a new smaller shell hardens around them. Shrinking opae-ula are the same as skinny people or animals whose gaunt appearance and ribs sticking out are clear signs of being malnourished! If children or animals were starved as badly as these opae-ula, the parents, owners, or zookeepers would very quickly be in jail! The low indoor light where opae-ula jars are kept do not support the growth of high-energy algae equal to the type of algae that grows in the full sun in the anchialine ponds. The algae that grows in low light just does not have the nutritional value even if the opae-ula ate enough to always be "full." They survive but their shrinking indicates that they are malnourished. Anyone observing opae-ula in their natural habitats knows that opae-ula are voracious eaters! A healthy pond producing opae-ula has very little algae growth as the opae-ula is constant grazer that keeps the algae down. A pond with a lot of algae is a pond that likely has exotic fish and threatened opae-ula! Anchialine pond algae growing in full sun is believed to contains a significantly higher amount of nutritional value that the algae that grows on the inner walls of opae-ula jars that are kept in low indoor light. Fuku-Bonsai theorized that chill-dried spirulina provided the same or higher nutritional value of the full sun anchialine pond algae and it seems too! " Steev Ward <steevward@yahoo.com> wrote: Having a live shrimp in there after seven years sounds pretty good. The torture-sphere thing sounds like some pointlessly bitter hyperboly. People say a lot of wacky things on their websites, but I doubt that the average person could keep a tank of shrimp going for seven years ... or even a year when you get right down to it. We should worry more about those poor Sea Monkeys (note: just kidding). Steev Subject: Re: [GSAS-Member] Fun Present Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 16:25:26 -0800 From: "Matt Staroscik" Reply-To: Greater Seattle Aquarium Society member chat To: "Greater Seattle Aquarium Society member chat" References: 1 , 2 I have a small Eco Sphere. It started with 3 shrimp. Today, about 7 years later, there is one left. Hey, I think I should name him! I would like to see the alarmist claims vetted scientifically, for example, analyzing the water quality from a sphere that has been in use for a long time. It's not an ideal environment, but don't know that I would call it a "Torturesphere." I have accidentally caused much more grief to higher life forms in my aquariums, I think. - MS ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ _______________________________________________ GSAS-Member mailing list GSAS-Member@thekrib.com http://lists.thekrib.com/mailman/listinfo/gsas-member --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. _______________________________________________ GSAS-Member mailing list GSAS-Member@thekrib.com http://lists.thekrib.com/mailman/listinfo/gsas-member