Freshwater shrimp found on water lily pad 1/27/2009 Hi Crew at WetWebMedia, <Karen> Can you please tell me why I encountered many many freshwater shrimp, most likely Atyidae, laying on the top of water lily pads in my local pond in the morning. The pond captures storm water and runoff from the local catchment area, Thornlands, southeast Queensland and provides a habitat for many aquatic animals. Thank you Karen <Mmm, I do wish that SabrinaF wasn't on sabbatical... as she likely would have useful input re Atyids here... I can only guess that either predators have "chased up" these shrimp, or that some meteorological or toxic event has caused their demise and that the bodies floated up, became isolated on the pads. Had there been a storm or some sort of poisoning event prior to this observation? Bob Fenner> Karen

FW Shrimp <beh.> questions!... and cycling comments.   2/4/07 Hello to whomever will inherit this email! <Audrey> Six days ago, we put two Amano and four Cherry shrimp in our 10 gal. aquarium. They were all over the place for about a day, then apparently they found very good hiding places. We haven't seen three of the Cherry since. The fourth made its home with the Amano. I'll remove the rocks tomorrow when I clean the tank and see if I can find the three missing Cherry :-) <... Cleaning? Removing the rocks? I would not thoroughly clean such a system, nor remove the rocks> In any case, that's not my question. The two Amano had been hiding for a few days. But two days ago they moved out of their hiding place to the back of the aquarium. We thought it was a little weird, since that corner is more open than their usual hiding spot. Then, this morning, I found a molt (I was thinking their colour had been off, I guess this is likely the explanation). Then, an hour later, a second molt! Do shrimp usually molt the same day? <Can> I know from reading WWM that triggers can be water changes or adding iodine, but I didn't do any of those. Do you think that the fact that I started giving them sinking wafers (36 hours before the molt) might have been a trigger? <Could have, yes> (Hikari small sinking wafers, almost the same ingredients than the flakes we give the fish). Or did the move into the aquarium trigger this? <Much more likely, yes> I'm just curious... The two of them were, at least this morning, much more colourful and active since the molt. They've started moving about the tank again. I haven't been home so I haven't checked on them since. Now the colour is off on the one visible Cherry, and I'm wondering if it's not getting ready to molt too. I will get iodine next time I go to the very neat saltwater fish place in town (I love looking at their tanks, especially the inverts...). They don't carry it at freshwater fish stores. One more shrimp question. I saw in some FAQ that Sabrina was saying something about C. Japonica not breeding in full fresh water but other species of shrimp doing so. But she never said which species, and there's not a whole lot of freshwater shrimp info on WWM (I think I read all of it, and didn't find an answer to this question, even using the search box). So, which species of shrimp breed well in FW, besides Ghost shrimp? <Most all the commonly available species...> Ah, and one comment, for those who still doubt the usefulness of cycling BEFORE you put in fish. We had set up and planted our 10 g. aquarium on the very last days of December - no fish, some Pigmy Chain Swords, a bunch of Bacopa, two small Anubias Nana. rocks, branch, gravel and bio-balls in the filter. After a week, there was about .5 ammonia already, but I felt thing weren't moving along fast enough, so I plopped half a frozen shrimp in there, and watched it turn into hairy stuff, then gooey stuff... (can't get Bio-Spira in Canada). A week and a half later, after the expected ammonia and nitrite spikes, everything leveled off. It cycled in less than three weeks total. I'm amazed. I really couldn't believe it. Maybe some useful bacteria came along on the plants (???). <Undoubtedly, yes> And, with the live plants in there, even nitrates were 0. So, we put in some fish, two Mollies, as well as six small shrimps. Two days later, still nothing detectable - and those fish are pooping machines. It works! (I expect nitrates to go up in short order though, I don't have nearly enough plants to keep up with the amount of waste the fish will produce). While, in our 5g. unfiltered quarantine (but with a bubble wand - we had to get a new heater and will eventually get a filter for it, but we can't afford to buy everything at the same time, and the heater was more pressing), which holds two Mollies that we got at a less reputable place and were waiting before introducing into the 10g, we have to do a 60% water change every day to keep the ammonia below 0.5... (I have no idea how people can keep goldfish in gallon bowls for months given the levels of ammonia we get on a 5 gal. with 2 Mollies.) <Yes...> I'm now fully convinced: bacteria are a good thing, and waiting for the cycle to complete before adding fish is DEFINITELY worth it. <Agreed> And almost all this knowledge came from you guys. I do have some books, but I just keep re-reading the same info in the books, and it's not nearly as detailed as what I read here. And there are no "useful tips" in the books, just general rules. You're great :-) Thanks, Audrey <Thank you for sharing. Bob Fenner>

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>

Iodine And Freshwater Shrimp - 12/15/2004 I recently picked up some ghost shrimp for my two aquariums.   <Yay, welcome to the world of freshwater crustaceans!!> All is well, but I want to be prepared for molting if/when it occurs.   <No "if" about it - ghosties molt a lot and often.> I know iodine is important for crustaceans.  Is there some sort of Iodine supplement the shrimp will need or is the weekly 10-20% water change I do going to be enough for them?   <Some SERIOUS kudos to you for thinking of this!  Yes, freshwater shrimp require iodine to facilitate calcium uptake and successful molting.  Though you *might* be able to get by with your regular water changes alone, I have found that adding iodine *dramatically* reduces the chance of a "bad molt".  Before adding iodine to my tanks, I would lose a few shrimp each month.  After adding iodine, I haven't lost any shrimp to bad molts, that I know of - and they started breeding right away, as well.  I use, and heartily recommend, Kent marine iodine, at a rate of one drop per ten gallons each week.  This amount may seem insignificant, but it has proven seriously beneficial in my tanks.> I feed a varied diet of plant and animal foods, they also have in the tank a piece of real driftwood and several species of live plants.   <Sounds perfect.> Thanks for your help guys!  :-)  (Almost forgot, they are also in the tank with some Zebra Danios and Otocinclus algae eaters in one tank, and a Betta and Otocinclus in the other tank.) <All sounds good.  Wishing you and your shrimp well,  -Sabrina>