Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

They started off happy and active, but slowly started to get pale and lethargic. Have since released the shrimp into a larger tank. All 4 shrimp have survived. These are the reasons I disliked this product: Problem 1. These amazing little shrimp are called Opae Ula (typically pronounced OH-PAY-OOH-LAH), Hawaiian Red Shrimp, Volcano Shrimp, Supershrimp, and Micro Lobsters. Have you noticed that the EcoSphere website neglects to refer to these guys by any name other than "small shrimp?" The reason I mention this is because if you do ANY amount of research you will find breeders & people who observe Opae Ula in maintained environments saying that these shrimp have an estimated lifespan of 20+ years. The small EcoSheres have an estimated lifespan of 2-3 years. That is 10-15% of the animals' estimated lifespan. (Don't believe they live that long? EcoSphere happily boasts many success stories on their site where people have had one or more shrimp as many as 20 years. Check it out for yourself under About > Success Stories.) Yes, it is a closed ecosystem, and yes, it works for a while. If someone put cats in closed ecosystems in which they lived for 10-15% of their estimated natural lifespan, would you buy one? What about 50%? Of course not! The people responsible would be shut down immediately, and likely penalized. Unfortunately for Opae Ula (along with Hippo Tangs, Goldfish, & many other small creatures), human empathy and emotional attachment rarely extends beyond animals who can be affectionate to us in return. (What about the NASA research? Almost none of the NASA research links on the EcoSphere website lead to research about the spheres. There is a one page PDF in which the author states "no one is sure how long the shrimp may live, but their life spans could conceivably reach 10 years. In test spheres at JPL, shrimp were still thriving after four years." I'm not convinced that this science ever favored the shrimp.) Problem 2. I'm not saying that the EcoSpheres don't have any educational value. What horrifies me is that these spheres are marketed to the masses as pets that require little to no care. On Amazon alone, the small sphere has just over 1,000 reviews (as of 3/23/17). 23% of these reviews are 3 stars or fewer, and the vast majority of these 1-3 star reviews are people complaining that all or most of their shrimp died within weeks or months of purchase. The smallest spheres have 4 shrimp, and with the price tag, I imagine this to be their most popular product. (Their largest sphere contains 30-35 shrimp.) On their site, EcoSphere claims to have sold "almost 1 million spheres." If approximately 23% of almost 1 million (we'll assume 900,000) people experience the death of at least 2 shrimp somewhere within 1 year of purchase, that's at least 414,000 Opae Ula that have died after living less than 5% of their estimated lifespan in someone's house/office. Alternatively, pretend that all 900,000 spheres sold were only the smallest size, and that a conservative 50% of them died off completely within 5 years (remember, the estimated lifespan of the small sphere is 2-3 years). That's 1.8 million tiny shrimp that have died after spending no more than 25% of their estimated lifespan in someone's house/office. That number is wildly underestimated because if we could accurately account for the fact that EcoSpheres come in multiple sizes, we would come to a far higher number, even with such conservative calculations. What a sad thought! Long story short, if you want to own shrimp, I would encourage you to do what other shrimp enthusiasts do and learn how to maintain a healthy environment for them. Even if the EcoSphere lasts for you, the shrimp are far more interesting in a more natural habitat.