The black shell shrimp molts when it grows up. Their shells don't grow with their bodies. When they grow up and the shell is too small to wrap around the body, they will take off the old shell and replace it with a new one. Adult individuals will also change their shells regularly, but the frequency of shell replacement will be much lower than that in the growth stage. In addition, they may shed their shells when they adapt to new environments or when they are stimulated by the outside world.
Newborn shrimps have a high frequency of changing their shells. In 22-24 C water, shrimps will change their shells every 5-6 days. In 26 C water, shrimps change their shells every 3-4 days. When they grow into subadults, they change their shells about every two weeks. When they reach adulthood, the frequency of shell replacement will be greatly reduced, about once a month.
The shell replaced by the black shell shrimp does not need special treatment, because other black shell shrimps will help eat it. Their shells are rich in calcium, which can be supplemented by other black-shelled shrimps. However, if the water quality changes, resulting in a large number of black shell shrimp changing shells at the same time, so that there are many more shells in the water, then it is necessary to manually clean the shrimp shells, so as not to affect the water quality.
