How many people leave their Exoskelotons in the tank???

[imow]

Ive never removed one. The less we can mess with our tanks, the better.

 

[Phishmon]

sometimes the critter will eaqt the exoskeleton for nutrients calciumm Etc

so it is a good idea to leave it in

 

[NoriMuncher]

My Sally Light Foot likes to munch my shrimp's exo, so I let him. Gave me a scare first time I saw it, though, I spent 20 minutes trying to find the shrimp to see if it still had all its body parts...

 

[Anonymous]

I leave mine as well. Just another food source as far as I am concerned.

 

[rotorh60]

Never gave them a second thought. Just left them in them water. After a month or so, never saw them again, so something ate or used them. No harm no foul as far as I can tell.

 

[Carpentersreef]

My foxface will eat them every now and then, and I saw my green open brain engulfing one once. I think that the reef shoud look after itself as much as possible.

Mitch

 

[MIKE NY1]

I leave them in there also, they are ussally consumed within a day or so.

 

[JonK]

I leave mine in also, They are usually gone
within a day. Unless my kids see it and want
to touch it then I'll take it out!

 

[beemert]

leave 'em
bruce

 

[Mike02]

I have a vermatid snail that eats the peppermint shrimp shell, if it can get a hold of it. usually it does, because for some reason the peppermint shrimp molts in the same place almost every time.

 

[Anonymous]

I was just wondering. I leave my shrimp exoskeotons in for a day so my fish can pick em clean, then I pull them.

 

[Jenemone]

I read a post a while back where everyone seemed to agree that they can't do any harm, so I leave mine, also.

 

[The Unit]

i just feed them to my emrald crabs - they love em'

 

[JohnD]

I leave all of my skeletons in the closet.

Actually, after a day, I remove it. Just to make the tank look clean and organized. (Just call me retentive!!)

 

[ejgorman]

I've always left mine in. What the livestock won't pick at, the skimmer and filter will take care of after they dissolve.

 

[monkeyboy]

I leave everything. When my yellow tang unexplicably died i left it in. The hermits had much fun rolling around it's skull. Hey, thats why we spend the big bucks on a clean-up crew!

 

[jdeets]

I usually leave them in, but the last time my largest SL crab molted, I found the exo and it was perfectly intact. This is a big crab--about 1" in diameter and legs that extend out about 5". This was a really nice exoskeleton and I dried it out for something cool to lay around the house. Then my roomie broke it.

 

[jmeader]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jdeets:
<STRONG>I usually leave them in, but the last time my largest SL crab molted, I found the exo and it was perfectly intact. This is a big crab--about 1" in diameter and legs that extend out about 5". This was a really nice exoskeleton and I dried it out for something cool to lay around the house. Then my roomie broke it.

</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Leave mine in too, except for saving an ocassional crab shell. They last longer if you strenghten them with a coat of clear enamel fingernail polish.

 

[davelin315]

I like to fish out my shrimp shells and put them on my nose and chase my wife around the house screaming "eat me, eat me, I'm a shrimp cocktail!". Too much information? Sorry.

Actually, I don't know that shrimp shells and crab shells will dissolve except after a very long time. I used to feed my sharks shrimp with the shell on because I believed that they might gain more nutritional value form them, but they would just poop them out, and then when I would lift a rock, I would find piles of shrimp shells with a bunch of copepods crawling around on them. In fact, I still periodically find these shells in my old substrate. If they can get eaten, great, leave them there, otherwise I think they just break up and become part of your substrate with clean up crews doing the work.

 

[polyp]

I leave the molts in the tank - shrimp, crab or otherwise... They are usually gone relatively quickly; a sure sign they are somewhat tasty (and probably would be even better with a little 'Old Bay' seasoning, butter, and lemon).