Molting Shrimp

[tinyninjafishy]

Hey guys,
I woke up this morning to find two shells of my shrimp which means they have molted right? Being new to shrimp I have no idea what it means for them to molt so if someone would be kind enough to inform me on what this means that would be awesome. Today is the day of no power so I have them wrapped up real nice too. Counting on some good luck today.
Thanks for any help offered!

 

[pittbully13]

Yes, it seems like you shrimp are molting which is a good sign. Just leave the shells in there and the shrimp will do the rest.

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[Camescu]

Shedding the exoskeleton so they can grow. They will probably go into hiding for a bit until the new shell hardens.
They will most likely make a tasty meal out of the discarded molted shell.

 

[tinyninjafishy]

Awesome thank you!

 

[tinyninjafishy]

Holy cow. I was just watching the tank and saw one of my shrimp moving kinda funny. Next thing I know he comes flying out of his old shell haha. Really cool thing to see.

 

[cowfish7]

Cool. I haven't seen it take place yet. But I just saw a female lying 'upside down' in a plant and fanning her eggs. Funny!

 

[tinyninjafishy]

I can't wait to see that! This one was like curled in a ball doing something. Don't quite know what they look like when they're fanning their eggs, so I have no idea if that's what this one was doing.

 

[Jev12]

They will some times do that and I think they are just cleaning their tail

 

[tinyninjafishy]

That's is kind of what I thought but as being new to the shrimp world I just wanted to make sure that they were doing alright and that I wasn't missing anything important.
Thanks guys!

 

[pittbully13]

I have mine in a heavy planted tank and hardly do maintenance, shrimp are very easy to take care especially in a well established tank. I even let algae grow, nice food source for the lil guys.

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[tinyninjafishy]

Yeah I love getting distracted by them when I am trying to do some homework and study. Probably shouldn't of put the tank on my desk. Sidenote: does anybody know what plant that is in the picture? If so that would be awesome!

 

[tinyninjafishy]

Hey guys, I'm back with a quick question.

I believe that one of my female shrimp is no berried, but at the same time she appears to have lost some of her color. Is this due to the fact that she molted prior to becoming berried? Does this just happen when shrimp become berried? Or is something wrong with her?

Any answers would be awesome because I am very nervous for her. Thank you

 

[Camescu]

Have there been any fluctuations in your tank parameters etc that may cause stress?

 

[tinyninjafishy]

I honestly do not know. I don't have access to a car and haven't bought a kit yet so I am unable to check my parameters. However, all the other shrimp seem to be doing just fine. The shrimp in question is acting normal too so I don't know whats going on.

 

[Camescu]

Then Amazon is your friend. The API master test kit is good and seems best value from Amazon.

 

[tinyninjafishy]

How expensive is that? I am living on the budget of a college kid haha

 

[ScotJudd]

Hi. In the UK the API Master Test Kit can be bought on eBay for £17.50. It says a long time and is much cheaper than having to buy new shrimp. Don't bother with test strips - works out more expensive and not as accurate.
I added shrimp to my main community tank and now find myself watching them more than the fish. I think they swim like helicopters! Perhaps I need a life

 

[Camescu]

How expensive is that? I am living on the budget of a college kid haha

Take a sample o the water to your LFS and they should enable to test it for you. Cost = only your transport.

 

[tinyninjafishy]

I don't have any transport = problem haha

 

[pittbully13]

I don't have any transport = problem haha

If I were in your situation, I would just perform regular water changes. I have a 2.5 gallon RCS with so many shrimp in it I cant even count them and haven't done a water test. I just used established filter media and substrate and do regular water changes/top offs.

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