Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

I am confused...I have researched, but that only made my confusion worse...LOL!

My RCS were molting litterally every week. I had this horrible brown algae (has been identified, but forgot the name..dia-something or other)...I added snails to help with the problem, and manually removed most of it, as it was so heavy it was killing my plant, added DIY CO2, the algae is gone. Now my Cherries have quit molting...maybe once every 2 weeks. Are they starving? I have algae wafers and shrimp pellets I got from the breeder...I have 13 Cherries (had 14, but I accidentally trapped one under a rock that I had tried to carefully set in the tank w/java moss). I also have quite a few plants..Java Moss, Java Fern, Twiania? Moss, Anubias (x2) Naja Grass, Pennywart (not sure what kind), and Riccia. I have Eco-complete as substrate...water parameters not sure...scheduled water change tonight...20%-30% weekly. I have been thinking about taking the CO2 off as it is supposed to be a low tech tank...my Cherries are only around 1.5-2.0cm...are they still to small/young to be breeding? I have had the largest 4 females saddle, and I have 3 males (ZOOM around the tank and look just like the picture in Shrimp Varieties).

Lightning storm! Gotta get offline for now...If need be, I will edit it after the storm...I hope I have given enough info (besides water para..). I just need to know if I need to feed my shrimp more to get them to grow.
Thanks

Your shrimp were molting before outof stress. You had a sick tank. Molting all the time is abnormal. Every two weeks is probably about right. Adult females will only molt once a month when they are ready to have eggs.

badflash wrote:Your shrimp were molting before outof stress. You had a sick tank. Molting all the time is abnormal. Every two weeks is probably about right. Adult females will only molt once a month when they are ready to have eggs.

Thanks for the reply...that makes more sense. I though that molting every week was a good thing. This is the first time to have shrimp (besides the Ghost shrimp that I just tried to keep alive).

When shrimp are stressed, due to damage, water quality, bad tank mates, etc. they respond with extra molts. That s how they regenerate. Too many molts should be a red flag for shrimp keepers. Cray keepers too.