Molt vs Muerte: The mystery of the missing shrimp deepens
So back to the hobby after 10 years or so. I have a 29 gallon, The first occupant is a koi betta, then I added 5-6 amano shrimp; They looked bigger in the store than when I brought them home. Betta was intensely curious about these fast-moving bugs I put in his home. After a couple days, the shrimp disappeared. I presumed they were in hiding since reading a similar post on a google search that they can hide for several days. Soon I added more tank mates to distract Emperor Staleek the betta, 10 black neon Tetras, whom he has decided are not worthy of his attention. Then 6 Otocinclus to entertain the emperor with their antics.
I cut the amount of hours the light was on, and have made sure there is a piece of zucchini or algae wafer in the tank at night, presuming the shrimp are coming out then. Twice, late at night while examining the tank with a dim led candle, I have seen exactly one shrimp still alive, near the big rock that I'm afraid to move to check under cuz it would really squish 'em if it slipped. As I posted in my introduction, It's now been 6 days since I've seen a shrimp alive. Today I found what I'm 99% sure is a shrimp molt, but since I've never kept shrimp before, I could be wrong. (I used to catch crayfish from a creek and have seen them molt before, though)
*Is there any way to tell the difference between a molt and a carcass?*
I'd presume a carcass would have been covered in snails or maybe the otos. I took out the molt with tweezers, it doesn't smell fishy, there's no obvious pieces of flesh, it's clear, there's a gap between the head and abdomen where I presume the moltee left its former shell.
My new theory is that when I added them to the tank they were so small and I fed them so much they grew and hid to molt, and I hope to see more of them when they harden back up. Any other thoughts or suggestions?
P.S. Lid is glass, aqueon tank has a black plastic rim, but there are gaps small enough for shrimp to have escaped; no bodies have been found outside the tank and none in the Fluval C2 Hob. Lots of cholla wood that is hollow in the tank as well.