nvandewa Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Fire shrimp died last night. Found an emerald crab finishing it off. I had it for about 6 months. Did notice over the last month thought the red of it's body had gotten darker. Do you think it died of old age, got something else? I checked my water parameters and they were good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad and Belinda Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Not sure on the life expectancy...but we have had ours for well over a year. By looking at your pic, it looks like he just molted . Don't be surprised if he comes out later. Our shrimp molts around every three weeks. When we first got into the hobby 7 years ago, and saw it for the first time, we thought our shrimp was dead, but realized later that he had just gone through a molt. Hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Are you sure the shrimp is gone and that it didn't just molt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nvandewa Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 Usually I can find it's long white tentacles sticking out somewhere, but I can't find them now. I'll see if he shows up in a few hours or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daisy82 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Yeah, our cleaner shrimp likes to freak us out by hanging out on top of a powerhead, and then we come home to find what looks like his lifeless body getting chopped up in the impeller, but always turns out he's molting. He pops up three days later, good as new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austx Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 I would agree with the molting suggestion. My cleaning shrimp, pep shrimp and hermits all molt and hide out for a few days while their vulnerable new soft exoskeleton hardens back up. Then they're back to normal scavenging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 +1 on the molting. I've never had one live for 4-5 years like I often have Coral Banded (I'm happy to get 2 years though) but if you got it at about 1 1/2" long I would hope for 2 years and about 2 1/2" long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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