0morrokh

My little guy molted the other day...the empty "shell", whatever you call their outside, is pretty wierd looking. Anyway right now he's hiding behind the sponge filter, but I got a pretty good look at him and he's a gorgeous dark red. He was a lot lighter before molting (and super pale when I rescued him from Petsmart ). The other day I was at Petco and they had Bamboo shrimp--HUGE ones. One was about 3 inches and the other was 4 or so. They were only $6 apiece too, super tempting. Anyway, both of them were a light brown color. Generally the pics of Bamboos I see on the internet are that same color. I was wondering if the color difference was an age thing? Mine is very young and tiny, maybe an inch and a half (same size as my Otos). I also had another one, about 2 inches, who was a lighter orangish-red color (he unfortunately disappeared soon after buying the two).

Also...do you think it would be a super bad thing to not quarintine shrimp? I don't believe I ever q'ed the Bamboo I currently have. I don't think shrimp carry fish diseases...unless someone knows otherwise? (I'm thinking of rescuing one or two from Petco since they're so cheap compared to anywhere else I've seen them, but all of my q tanks are occupied).

lilsoccakid

i dont konw much about shrimp (i only have a ghost shrimp)

but if they are anything like fish, when stressed they dont show their colors, so maybe after being more comfortable in your aquarium his colors showed,

someone else should be able to help u with the rest!

Peterpiper

I would always quarintine any new shrimp/fish. It only takes one to bring something in and you could lose all your fish. Is it worth the risk?

0morrokh

Generally my thinking, but I've heard shrimp can't carry any diseases. I'm wondering if anyone happens to know whether or not this is true?

Oh, and I just thought of another question that I forgot in my original post. How often should Bamboos molt? I've had mine for quite a while and this is the first time I've been aware of the molting. Although, there's still a bit of a green water problem in that tank so it's a bit hard for me to see things in there.

Jacko

Crayfish can carry horrible diseases so I am betting that shrimp can aswell, best if you QT them.

A little hint: Add some calcium for them, and they color up so nicely!

0morrokh

I have never added supplements to my tanks before, would calcium affect the catfish I have with the Bamboos?

Jacko

What catfish? If cories, then I wouldn't add it, just 'cus they are slightly sensitive, but I don't know of many other cats that wouldn't be fine with it.

0morrokh

Dwarf Cories and Otos.

sirdarksol

What you could do is add minute amounts of the substrate made for cichlids. It's made out the same stuff that inverts make their shells out of (okay, it's often made out of invert shells ). If you do a little tiny bit each time you do water changes, your cories should be okay with the change. Just be sure to pay attention to your pH if you do this, you don't want it to rise too quickly, or get too high (cories are listed as liking a pH between 6 and 8 on the Fishlore main site)

0morrokh

My water already has a super high pH and hardness. I'm not worried about the actual values, but I'm not sure I want to risk doing anything that could cause it to fluctuate.

sirdarksol

In that case, there shouldn't be any problems. I would just make sure that they are getting iodine from something. I make sure that my tanks get nori and/or spirulina. (there usually is something like this in algae tabs) If they don't get iodine, one of two things will happen, they will either not grow very well (and may actually shrink as they molt) or they may not be able to break out of the old shell.

0morrokh

I did not know that. So does spirulina contain iodine? I feed Omega One veggie rounds pretty often and that has spirulina as the second ingredient.

sirdarksol

Excellent. yes, most sea vegetables contain iodine, and spirulina is no exception. If it's the second ingredient, your fish are getting excellent nutrition, and your shrimp should never have any problems molting.

0morrokh

Ok that's good to hear. I was a bit worried for a moment.