How long it takes a shrimp to molt

[Gregor Samsa Mendel]

Today, for the first time ever, I saw one of my red cherries molt. It was over in less than a second--it looked like the shrimp sneezed itself out of its old skin. Does it usually happen this fast?

[Neonshrimp]

That is pretty quick, but then again I don't always see my shrimp molting. I usually see the shell after the shrimp have molted. The few times I have seen them molt is when they are working on peeling off the old shell.

[ShrimpFan]

I was once able to watch one of my bamboo shrimp molt. It hung upsidedown from one of the plants in my tank and shook a bit, and then it just came right out of the exoskeleton. It happened very fast and was pretty neat to watch. The shrimp was very soft and floppy after it came out of the molt though, so it had to struggle a bit to continue hanging onto the plant.

[Gregor Samsa Mendel]

I caught another one in the act of molting today. It was very similar to the previous one. With a violent sneezing motion, the shrimp literally flew out of its old skin. One moment, there's a bent-over shrimp, and the next, the shrimp has popped an inch forward, and there's an empty exoskeleton where the shirmp used to be. Weird.

[badflash]

What I see is them stretching is ways that are realy unusual. They losen everything up and crack the back open, then in one or two flicks they are out of their old shell.

The new shell is sort of folded up & wrinkled and it inflates over the next hour or so. They are quite soft and easily hurt so they usually hide after a molt for a day or so to harden up.