Molting Question

jonathan03 · Post by **jonathan03** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 12:41 pm

I have some cherry red shrimp and I'm wondering if the molts have the antenna attached to them too? I have only had the shrimp a few days, and I want to be sure that what is on the bottom of my tank are exoskeletons and not dead shrimp. Do the dead shrimp float, or rest on the bottom?

I might be a little over concerned, but I heard that these shrimp are easy to kill. I think that I do have molts and not dead shrimp, but I just want to be sure.

Also, is it normal for the shrimp to pick at the molts? I have two molts in my tank right now and there are shrimp picking at them.

Pconnieae · Post by **Pconnieae** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 1:24 pm

Hi,

a dead shrimp is really different from a molt. It looks like a cooked shrimp. The molts are translucent. They do have the antenna attached to them.

Lotus · Post by **Lotus** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 6:51 pm

I believe dead shrimp are usually on the bottom of the tank.

As pconnieae says, the molts are translucent (sometimes a whitish color).

Yes, it's normal for shrimp to pick at molts.

chlorophyll · Post by **chlorophyll** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 3:00 am

I usually leave the molts for the shrimp to eat.

Molts are so intricate. On a larger shrimp like Macrobrachium rosenbergii, you'll easily see that every line on their long antannae can be seen in their molt. It's neat how something so long and thin can be so cleanly unsheathed, leaving such a perfect shed exoskeleton.

retardo · Post by **retardo** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 8:24 am

molts sink and are translucent. dead shrimp also stay at the bottom, but you usually will notice some form of coloration (white, pink, orange... kinda like a cooked shrimp). when they molt, everything goes with it, antennae and all... at first it's frightening cuz you think one might've just died, but then you get used to it. i've yet to witness a molt in progress, but others on this forum have and it's a sight to see (so i've read).

i've found the shrimp species that i've managed to keep are generally pretty hardy and molt more often than they die.

beckypyyeung · Post by **beckypyyeung** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 6:01 am

Yes yes, I witnessed a molt once. Now I have one more pregnant shrimp. I've spent a lot of time watching it in order to try my luck. I think it must be a wonderful experience to watch it give birth to babies.

I wonder if they tend to give birth in the dark coz every time I saw newborn babies in the morning when I got up.

GrandRoyal · Post by **GrandRoyal** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 6:09 pm

since you guys are on the topic, will my wood/bamboo (whatever you wanna call him

) get one of his long antenna back? He didn't have either at first but he had a little bit of one of the long ones and it came back after he molted for the first time..is it possible for him to get a full new one since I can't see much of anything where the completely gone one was?...He got tore up at the fish store but I managed to rescue him from the crabs and crayfish that were also in the tank eating the rest of them...Thanks for the help!

shrimpboyLA · Post by **shrimpboyLA** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 6:26 pm

From what I know about shrimps and crabs ( invertebrates ). They can only grow in size or replacement body parts when they molt. It will take a couple of molts to completely regrow the entire limp and it's the same with antennas.