Atya Gabonensis - odd behaviour, moulting related

Emmabeth · Post by **Emmabeth** » Thu May 04, 2006 4:15 pm

I have a pair of these and they went through their first moult fine, both moulting within a few days of one another, both feeding well, active but not too active, etc etc.

And then about 3 weeks ago, they started to be 'odd'.

Not so active, not feeding, hidden together all curled up together (although that might be because hiding spaces are few in the old tank).

I thought they were going to moult and left them to it, but afte ra week of no sign of moulting i had a look.

One, the one i think is male, as pinkish patches on his big front legs, and the odd pinkish patch on his body (looks like a blister, almost)...

The other who i think is female has just a few of these blistery type spots, again pinkish - the same colour a sh ed shell will go when its dried out.

So i thought, ho hum, give them a few days longer, they seemed slow and sluggish and i did think they would die.

And then i saw them both feeding again.

This hide, sluggish, feed.... cycle has gone on a w hile now and i finally moved them both to a bigger tank, wondering if it was a water quality problem.

The male is now mostly feeding and as active as i class as normal, the female - well i know seh was alive last night although i havent see all of her, other than that i dont know.

I am V confused, they seem to have gone towards a shed and then stopped!

Em

Emmabeth · Post by **Emmabeth** » Sat May 13, 2006 2:42 am

No one?

Any ideas, even really vague ones would be good.

Still no signs of them moulting, and they still have pink patches on them where they would normally be grey/blue.

Em

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sat May 13, 2006 3:45 am

Start with the water. These need soft acidic water to be happy.
Do you do regular water changes? You should be doing about 20% each week without fail.
These are filter feeders, so they like a place in the tank to perch that has lots of flow.

Emmabeth · Post by **Emmabeth** » Sat May 13, 2006 4:30 pm

Yep and yep.... plenty bogwood, bag of peat in filter, range of places to go to, they like to be under teh bogwood (even in previous tank they didnt bother climbing) but they are picking places where teh current will take food to them.

Seen one of them feeding a lot tonight and i can tell by the dimples in the sand taht fter lights out they are fairly active now....

Very odd, do you think they were going to moult and then halted it or something?

Em

Earthgoddess · Post by **Earthgoddess** » Sun May 14, 2006 4:19 pm

I have a female who use to have a pink patch I had asked about it and was told that they are fine I wonder if maybe they had a bit of damage after molting to there shell or maybe some kind of soft spot like it had not hardened as fast as the rest or something mine had it for awhile it finally went away But she had acted fine definatly think water quality is very important and lots of hiding spots I use driftwood and tera cota houses I made with a carbide router bit I made a doorway and set it up side down the females seem to really like them. Also I think live plants are important mine really seem to thrive and they like hanging on the stems to be in the water inbound from the filter plus the plant help keep the water clean using the waste as fertilizer and providing oxygen

Mine go through cycles first they hid for along time until they moved in a bit and started hanging out in the open more they go back and forth from hiding to staying out and every water change they come out they love that because of all the particles floating around though mine always feed they like to sit in the houses with there fans right in the doorway.

They LOVE Cyclopsees!! And I also feed Dt live marine phytoplankton on occasion and they really seem to like that also.

Emmabeth · Post by **Emmabeth** » Sun May 14, 2006 8:24 pm

They seem pretty happy right now, tank light is on and they are both out and about, mooching, feeding, telling the eels and fish to go away....

I may invest in more hiding spots as the eels have teh same hiding requirements as the shrimp, plus they have had some form of marital dispute and whilst i decide whether to move one or not it might be wise if there were more places to hide (big dilemma as once moved, my ch ances of getting it out of teh large, heavily planted tank it would have to go in are NIL unless i tear down the ntire tank!)

Hopefully the shrimp will moult soon and illsee if the pink patches go away.

Em