My first molt!

[MelWong]

*puts on Farnsworth expression* Good news, everyone! I just spotted a shrimp eating about the head and thorax portions of a fresh molt. It was brilliantly, ridiculously, looked-like-it-was-photoshopped red, so I think they are starting to adjust and the tank is cycling well enough to suit them. It wasn't one of my saddled shrimp, though, so no babies, nor am I expecting berried shrimp this soon, anyway.

[KenCotigirl]

Good news.
Ken

[phlox]

Woop woop woop! So awesome!

[shmohney]

How often do they molt? I've had 46 shrimp for about 5 weeks and haven't seen any evidence of molting yet. Just wondering.

[MelWong]

And I had another molt - the shrimp I nickname Sadie because she's heavily saddled (with a distinctive lone egg at the end of her saddle egg-mass), molted, and blushed up beautifully right after her molt. There were a few other shrimp chasing her, which I suspect could have been courtship, even if I'm not expecting babies yet. Now I've only got about three shrimp who haven't turned red, and the ones who have turned red are so intensely red they look like they were painted.

How often do they molt? I've had 46 shrimp for about 5 weeks and haven't seen any evidence of molting yet. Just wondering.

I don't know about the frequency, but you might never see evidence unless you're lucky or just spend a lot of time watching them while doing other stuff - I sit beside my shrimp tank and knit, see, so I spend a bit of time eyeing them since the actions of knitting are automatic for me.

See, when they molt they eat their shed exoskeletons in a group buffet, so yours might have molted already and just chowed down while you weren't looking. I only managed to catch Sadie molting because I saw her sitting on the reef rock right in the front of my tank when she did so.

[MelWong]

And another molt, just this morning. They're making like it's Spring Break or something.

[yoster]

I have around 15-16 in my 3 gallon nano tank that molt every other day. My shrimp never eat the molts as there is an abundance in algae. It's fun watching them zip around the tank like if they were racing each other. I used to have the fine algae, but for some reason they hated it as it impeded their swimming. They would popcorn away from it all the time. I also took out the big coral and just left the 20 or so nugget sized algae rocks on the bottom.

[MelWong]

Two more molts. Nevermind about spring break, I think it's streaking season.

[Mustafa]

Two more molts. Nevermind about spring break, I think it's streaking season.

Maybe your tank is too warm?

[MelWong]

Two more molts. Nevermind about spring break, I think it's streaking season.

Maybe your tank is too warm?

It is getting pretty warm here in Durham. I just had another shrimp molt. Didn't catch it in the act, but the empty exoskeleton is just hanging on some rock in the little "cave" they like to hang out in, so it should have been pretty recent (as of midnight). I'm taking this and their increased activity as a good sign. Hope you're enjoying your vacation, BTW.

[MelWong]

And another molt this morning, this time with the empty exoskeleton tangled in some of the macroalgae.

[MelWong]

And I just found yet another molt on some of the reef rock.

Talk about streaking shrimp.

[MelWong]

And just to document, I found another molt in the tank just a bit ago.

[Mustafa]

Looks like they're finally done changing clothes.... I'm glad to read that they are growing.