Boris Molted!

rwhhunt

New member
I've had Boris now for approx. 9 months, and this is the third molt since owning him.

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The main difference is that in the first two molts, he lived in a 5 gallon tank with 20 watts of PC, and his burrow handmade LR tonga pieces and was dark, but still had some cracks in it, so it was never pitch black.

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He was supposedly bright green when my LFS first saw him, then he molted to a brownish color:

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After his first molt in my possesion in the 5 gallon tank, he turned an orange-brown color:

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Then, in his second molt, he blended the orange, brown, and a little green came back... I dont really have any good pics of this color morph, I used a flash for this pic. But it was basically somewhere inbetween the first two molts, with a little extra green...

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Now, in his new 26 gal tank, he has more light: 130 w of PC, but it is a taller tank with much more shade around the tank, and he has a completely dark PVC burrow.

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He had been acting very wierd over the last few days, quite active, running around the tank, and coming being out in the open for extended periods of time, and didnt seem to care how close I was. He even almost attacked me while my hand was in the tank moving an anemone (probably my fault, I believe he thought I was feeding him) So in observing this behavior, I figured he was hungry, yet, he literally would take any food I would give him and push it back in my face, and do so more than normal (he's a picky eater sometimes) he actually grabbed the krill and feeding stick andpushed it all the way to the front glass, pushed it against the glass then retreated to his burrow... He was also doing some serious digging and constuction in the far back corner that I cannot get to or really see into.. In retrospect, a molt makes perfect sense for this odd behavior:

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So I have yet to see him emerge from his new dark burrow yet, But I am wondering what color he is going to turn... I hope he maintains or increases is vibrant colors...
 
I've got the new pics from Boris's Molt, He lightened up to a light tan color, which matches the sand and LR in the tank quite well... I imagine if I got some marcoalgae and coralline algea to grow throughout the tank, he might turn green again....possibly...
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he supposedly green when the LFS first got 'em, but changed to brown after the first molt in their possesion...
perhaps this is a better pic of the new color:
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A five or six inche O.s. male is usually green and the tan or brown that you show is very rare - although I have seen it. Can you get a photo of the uropods and telson.

Roy
 
I will have to take one tomorrow, are the males more/less aggressive, or larger than the females?
 
I have never seen any difference in aggressive levels. Both reach a maximum size of around 17.5 cm - typically you don't find them over 16 cm.

Roy
 
None what so ever. There are species like Lysiosquillina maculata and some Neogonodactylus that are sexually dimoprhic with respect to raptorial appendage size, but there is no evidence of this in O.s.

Roy
 
Is this pic sufficient? I have a hard time getting a good pic of the telson because he/she is always on the move!
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The telson shot is fine.

Boris is a she or an immature male. If the animal is over 13 cm, it is almost certainly a female.

Roy
 
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