Atyopsis moluccensis; Molting, Behaviour - 06/14/2004 Hello Bob, <Hi, Michelle, Sabrina (the freshwater shrimp-obsessed) with you, today!> Recently we bought 2 bamboo shrimp for our tank a couple days ago. We thought that one of them died because he was laying there. But when we looked at it we found both shrimps and what we saw was a shell.  My question is if they shed or lose their shells, or why are they doing that? Thanks, Michelle <This is totally normal, Michelle.  All shrimp - and even crabs, lobsters, and crayfish - shed their exoskeletons (their shells) as they grow larger.  They form a new shell beneath their old one, and when they've grown too large, the old one splits and is shed off.  The new shell is soft when this happens, and then hardens after the old shell is off.  This process of shedding shells is called 'molting', very much like lizards or snakes shedding their skin.  If you feed them well, your shrimp should molt regularly.  Wishing you and your shrimp well,  -Sabrina>

Cherax sp. with a Doritos Diet? Hello there! <Hello! Ryan Bowen with you today.> I'm Tracy, nice to meet you!  *waves* <Ah, nice to meet you as well> We just got a pet crayfish recently cause the people at my mom's office got tired of taking care of it.. =( <Too common, sad>  But we're doing our best to take care of her now. <A fishkeeper is born>. I learnt much about how to do that from your site, so many thanks!  And I identified her gender, which no one bothered to do in the 1 year they had her!!  *rolls eyes* <Nice work!> Anyway, she was very active for a few days and climbed all over the tank exploring.. or whatever it is crayfish do.. but we're quite concerned now cause for the past few days she's been hiding in her hole most of the time and staying very still for long periods of time.  Even at night, she only gets out to climb around for a bit, then she's back to hiding.  At first we thought she might be molting, but nothing has happened for 5 days.  Does preparing for molting take that long? <It can, and after the animal molts it will remain hidden as the shell is not hard yet.>  Or is there another reason for her behaviour?  We try to keep the tank clean.. uneaten food is taken out after a few hours.  About 20% water change every week.  We feed her sinking fish food and bits of peeled tomato.  There's limestone in her tank.  I am not sure where I can find iodine in my area, does feeding her fish/prawns occasionally work as well?  <Water changes alone should be plenty of trace elements.> Shy says hi!  I'm not sure what species she is.. she's blue all over though! <Cherax sp.> The brown markings are actually algae cause her previous owners fed her potato chips and didn't clean her tank enough. *grumble* <I'm not surprised that your pet is "adjusting" to her new environment!> She's about one year old and is 5 inches long. <That's about as large as she'll get.  Feed sinking algae pellets, and supplement with some small, meaty items for best coloration.> And very adorable! Thank you for bearing with me, I can get really long-winded at times.. =) <No worries!  You ought to hear how long those "reef" guys get.. sheesh!  ;)  Ciao Tracy!> *hugz* Tracy

Please help !!!! hey, I have a tropical aquarium with a small blue Marron <This is a Crayfish for browsers: Cherax tenuimanus> about 3 inches long and went I went to check my tank this morning I found the blue marrons shell without him in and than I looked under a rock and he is there and he isn't moving is hibernating or some thing and growing back a new shell or is he dead please write back as soon as possible thank you for your help. <In all likelihood your Marron is indeed hiding while its new exoskeleton is hardening. Do leave the old one in the tank (sometimes they are eaten to help build the new one) and the crustaceans hiding space intact... It should come out in a week or so. Bob Fenner> From Ian