I think I figured why shrimp die when/after they molt

James0816

James0816

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Feb 14, 2007
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Doing routine maintenance today and walked by the CRS tank. Man, these guys are so active. Swimming all over the place. Then something caught my attention in the corner of the tank.

There were about (5) shrimp fighting over the body of another one. I got a quick look and crap! It's a female carrying eggs. Great! So I go to fetch her out of the tank and before my hand gets to her, she breaks out of her exo and swims off.

The others kept fighting over the exo. I felt sooooo bad for her. They swarmed her like flies on poo. She hadn't a chance.

Meanwhile....found a deceased prego Blue Pearl in the next tank over. Oddly enough, her exo right beside her.

I'd be willing to bet this the cause.
 
Interesting thought. They snarf the snailo pretty darn quickly. May need to look into safe ways of raising the calcium in the tank with out affecting the Otos in there.
 
The times mine have died right after molting it was (1) the molt after which they would have reached adult size, ie they had molted uneventfully several times before as they grew up; (2) both exoskeleton and corpse were found pretty much right next to each other and neither had any indications of violence or having been nibbled on. None were bearing eggs or had ever reproduced, as this appeared to be the "last molt" as they were becoming breeding age/size.

These were RCS my first time I tried raising them--okay first two times actually /hangs head in shame/--but the same thing happened both times: Grow up then die for no apparent reason. I think the presence of eggs is significant in the above cited cases but there's also something else going on, what it is I don't know.

I have another batch now, still all quite small; this time I have a large number of seashells in the tank in an effort to keep the calcium levels up. I also just got some spirulina sticks said to have calcium in them and am going to start feeding those today. (in very small quantities given all the warnings I have heard that the easiest way to slaughter shrimp is to feed them too much.)
 
Drunkenbushman said:
They might not kill on purpose but if a shrimp has just moulted and is then swarmed they might be stressed or they might suffer damage due to no outer shell.
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After seeing what I saw (lol...see...saw....get it....oh well), I would have to say that the poor thing molting would definately be stressed out to the max. It's stressfull enough for them just to break out of the exo alone. Add to that a mob of other shrimps picking and pecking at anything, I can see where it could cause unintentional death.
 
DoctaQ said:
shrimp do not kill anything live..maybe eggs but nothing that can move
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I've witnessed blue pearls eating live baby bladder snails a number of times! The Malawas don't.

And I'm not sure they eat eggs. I know of a number of people that keep shrimp in breeding tanks for the sole purpose of keeping eggs clean of fungus.

But I do agree with you in general... And in specific, I also highly doubt they'd intentionally attack a live shrimp. I think it has to do with nutrition and the exoskeleton.

Edit: Definitely not trying to "call you out," DoctaQ, just wanted to politely disagree :)
 
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