The Berried Clubby Molt & Moss
Menu

Investigate molting and exuviae: evidence dossier

This is the audit trail behind one practical guide. It keeps the linked studies, supporting authorities, named uncertainty, search trail and public changes together without copying a second bibliography.

Guide purpose: Molt stages, shed exoskeletons, GH and calcium claims, white rings and incomplete events.

Read the practical guide

Download this guide's 14 linked evidence records: CSL-JSON or RIS. Both retain every record's support and limitation notes.

This is an inventory, not a confidence score. A direct study is still limited by its animals, experimental unit, water, treatment, duration and endpoint. Record counts do not prove consensus, completeness or a universal care rule.

Linked evidence records
14
Direct Neocaridina
12
Direct controlled experiments
8
Supporting authorities
1
Named open questions
2
Public research changes
5

Registry reviewed 2026-08-12. Next scheduled review 2027-02-12. Read the editorial method.

Linked evidence records

Each record states what was measured and the nearest claim it cannot support. One source can serve several guides, so dossier totals must not be added together.

Morphology or taxonomy Direct Neocaridina evidence

Post-embryonic tail development through molting of the freshwater shrimp Neocaridina denticulata

Adachi et al., 2025. iScience 28(2): 111885.
Source taxon as published: Commercial Neocaridina denticulata (Neocaridina davidi), identified with partial CO1 sequence evidence

Study shape: A post-hatching time series combined light and time-lapse imaging, morphometrics, SEM, TEM, toluidine-blue sections, confocal cuticle and cell staining, and a separate WGA-injected, UV-resin-immobilized live-imaging method across the first ecdysis.

Experimental unit: Individual shrimp within each method: 15 animals for tail length and width, three per stage for SEM, two per stage for TEM, three or more per fluorescence study, and two animals with 17 tracked nodes for resin-immobilized live imaging; Videos S1 and S2 show the same 96-well individual

Environment: Commercial stock maintained in 45-litre tanks at 23 to 25 C; separated egg-carrying animals and hatchlings were examined in bottles, 300-microlitre 96-well plate units or invasive microscopy preparations

Endpoints: external uropod and telson form, telson length and width, cuticle branching and furrows, epithelial cell shape, time-lapse tail dynamics through first ecdysis.

What it can support: Under the tested developmental conditions, cuticle already separated overlapping uropod and telson primordia shortly after hatching. The first ecdysis made the uropod branches externally clear and changed the telson toward a longer, narrower form, with the visible tail-shape transition occurring within minutes in the recorded individual.

What it cannot support: This is first-instar developmental anatomy, not an adult molt interval or a home-visible molt predictor. The stock was commercially sourced, exact sex was unknown and the authors retained both N. denticulata and N. davidi because the name is disputed. Samples were small and method-specific. Fixed observations required anesthesia, dissection, fixation or staining. Captured 96-well animals molted faster, probably because of microscope heat. Live imaging used WGA injection, 395 nm curing light and heat-generating UV resin, slightly delayed ecdysis, included only two animals, did not label every cell and may have produced injury-related cells. The study did not test aquarium temperature, GH, minerals, treatment, survival, welfare or incomplete-molt prevention.

Open the source or open this record in the full research map.

Controlled experiment Direct Neocaridina evidence

Growth, reproduction and pigmentation performances of red cherry shrimp Neocaridina davidi fed with black soldier fly larvae Hermetia illucens meal

Azhar et al., 2025. Planetary Sustainability 3(2): 56-76.
Source taxon as published: Neocaridina davidi, red cherry adults

Study shape: Five approximately 42 percent protein formulas replaced 0, 25, 50, 75 or 100 percent of fish meal with black soldier fly larvae meal. The actual meal contents were 0, 10.8, 21.68, 32.62 and 43.64 percent of the complete dry formulas. Each diet was assigned to five aquaria containing one male and one female, fed to satiation twice daily.

Experimental unit: The 3-litre aquarium, with five aquaria per diet; treatment was assigned by aquarium, but the one-way ANOVA description does not state whether aquarium or animal observations entered each endpoint analysis

Environment: Twenty-five 3-litre aquaria with Java moss during a 60-day feeding trial, with daily water checks, 20 percent water exchange every three days and 50 percent weekly exchange

Endpoints: feed intake, survival, length gain, weight gain, specific growth rate, shed-molt count, ovary measurement, reported offspring count, colour coordinates.

What it can support: The 50 percent fish-meal-replacement formula, which contained 21.68 percent black soldier fly meal, had higher reported length gain, weight gain and specific growth rate than the 75 and 100 percent replacement formulas. The table letters did not distinguish it from the control or 25 percent replacement groups. Survival, ovary measurement, reported offspring count and colour intensity did not differ statistically among diets.

What it cannot support: This was a complete-formula comparison, not a test of adding 50 percent insect meal to finished food. Fish meal, black soldier fly meal, fish oil, corn meal and cellulose changed together, while measured lipid and ash also varied; amino acids, fatty acids and energy were not reported. Every diet contained the same Spirulina and astaxanthin. Feeding was described as both to satiation and predetermined, without an exact ration, uneaten-feed recovery method or leaching correction, and measured water values were not reported. The analysis unit was not explicit. The published molting equation multiplies molts per starting shrimp by 100, while the table reports 4.8 to 7.6 percent without reconciling the scale. Ovary size was calculated as length times width but reported in cm, one figure caption refers to male ovary development, and post-mortality brood denominators are unclear. The study does not establish a universal 50 percent recipe, a whole-insect feeding method, reproductive safety, a colour benefit or a home molting rate.

Open the source or open this record in the full research map.

Controlled experiment Direct Neocaridina evidence

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha modulates muscle growth and the molting process through its regulation of glycolysis in Neocaridina davidi

Li et al., 2025. Journal of Biological Chemistry 301(7): 110298.
Source taxon as published: Neocaridina davidi

Study shape: Histology, molecular manipulation and physiological measurements were compared across molt-related conditions.

Experimental unit: Animal or prepared tissue, depending on endpoint

Environment: Laboratory physiological and molecular experiment

Endpoints: gene expression, muscle metabolism, heart rate, gill ventilation, molting.

What it can support: Mechanistic involvement of HIF-1 alpha and glycolysis in the tested growth and molt physiology.

What it cannot support: The culture dissolved-oxygen range is not a tested aquarium minimum, and visible branchial movement cannot diagnose the pathway.

Open the source or open this record in the full research map.

Controlled experiment Direct Neocaridina evidence

Molecular cloning and functional analysis of two calcium-associated cuticular protein genes in Neocaridina denticulata sinensis

Gao, Duan, Sun and Zhang, 2024. Journal of Oceanology and Limnology 42.
Source taxon as published: Neocaridina denticulata sinensis

Study shape: Two calcium-associated cuticle genes were cloned and profiled across molt stages and tissues. Small stage-matched groups received RNA interference, cuticle structure was examined by electron microscopy and recombinant proteins were tested for calcium and chitin binding.

Experimental unit: Individual shrimp, prepared tissue or isolated-protein assay, depending on endpoint; several RNA interference comparisons used three to five shrimp per group

Environment: Laboratory molt staging, molecular manipulation, microscopy and isolated-protein assays

Endpoints: molt-stage gene expression, cuticle ultrastructure, calcium binding, chitin binding, calcium carbonate precipitation.

What it can support: NdCAP-1 and NdCAP-2 expression varied by molt stage and tissue, gene knockdown changed cuticle surface structure and the recombinant proteins bound calcium and chitin under the tested assays.

What it cannot support: The study did not assign water calcium, magnesium, GH or diet treatments. Its small molecular-manipulation groups do not establish a hardness target, diagnose an incomplete molt or show that a mineral supplement prevents failure.

Open the source or open this record in the full research map.

System observation or method study Direct Neocaridina evidence

Transcriptome profiles of the hepatopancreas of the Chinese swamp shrimp (Neocaridina denticulata) under different diurnal rhythms

Zhang et al., 2024. ScienceAsia 50(2): 2024043.
Source taxon as published: Aquarium-market animals printed as Neocaridina denticulata in the title and methods and as Neocaridina denticulata sinensis in parts of the results and discussion; no host diagnostic method or voucher was reported

Study shape: The authors reported 3,000 acclimated animals and destructive sampling of 150 shrimp every six hours. Sixty hepatopancreases per time were intended for three separate tubes of 20, but the sequence tables and heatmap contain only ten RNA-seq libraries distributed 2, 3, 3 and 2 across 06:00, 12:00, 18:00 and 24:00. De novo transcript assembly, pairwise differential-expression screening, annotation enrichment and qRT-PCR for Clk, Cry, Per and Tim were performed.

Experimental unit: The pooled RNA-seq library for transcript comparisons, with unequal 2, 3, 3 and 2 libraries across the four times and no explanation for the two missing intended libraries. The qRT-PCR unit is unresolved because the methods report three groups per time and five biological replicates per group while the figure displays three points per time.

Environment: Market-sourced shrimp acclimated for two weeks in recirculating tap water under a reported 12-hour light and 12-hour dark cycle at a natural daily temperature range of approximately 10 to 18 C, then sampled at 06:00, 12:00, 18:00 and 24:00 after feed had been withheld for at least 48 hours

Endpoints: de novo transcriptome assembly and database annotation, pairwise differential-expression counts, GO and KEGG enrichment labels, putative clock-related transcript annotation, qRT-PCR expression of Clk, Cry, Per and Tim.

What it can support: The study detected hepatopancreas transcripts annotated as Per, Tim, Clk, Cyc, Cry and 5-HT-related sequences and reported time-associated RNA profiles under its combined light, temperature and fasting history. The smallest reported pairwise contrast was 282 differentially expressed unigenes between 06:00 and 24:00. Among the four qRT-PCR targets, only Clk was reported as significantly different across sampling times.

What it cannot support: Sampling time changed together with light state, natural temperature and elapsed fasting history. There was no constant-temperature group, shifted photoperiod, constant-darkness condition, feeding-time treatment, repeated 24-hour cycle or time-randomized cohort, so the design cannot isolate an endogenous circadian rhythm, light effect, temperature effect or feeding-time effect. Tank number, volume, density, allocation, water chemistry, food formula and exact last-feeding time were omitted. The written tissue-pooling method is internally unclear, two of twelve intended sequencing libraries are unexplained and the qRT-PCR denominator conflicts with its figure. Differential-expression screening used raw p less than 0.05 and an absolute log2 fold-change threshold above 1 without a stated false-discovery correction; enrichment methods and cutoffs were incompletely reported. The 12:00 versus 18:00 total is printed as 983, while its 588-up and 350-down components total 938. Putative clock transcripts were assigned by sequence similarity without targeted sequence validation or a functional assay. qRT-PCR reused the transcriptomic sample set, reported one reference gene without efficiency or stability validation and does not provide independent replication. Pathway labels are not measured food intake, digestion, glucose, chitin turnover, molting, immunity, growth or health. The work does not establish a best feeding hour, night-feeding rule, light schedule, fasting schedule, temperature cause or home-care intervention.

Related source material: Official open article and supplement PDF, NCBI BioProject PRJNA832034

Open the source or open this record in the full research map.

Morphology or taxonomy Direct Neocaridina evidence

Epibiont Cohabitation in Freshwater Shrimp Neocaridina davidi with the Description of Two Species New to Science, Cladogonium kumaki sp. nov. and Monodiscus kumaki sp. nov., and Redescription of Scutariella japonica and Holtodrilus truncatus

Maciaszek et al., 2023. Animals 13(10): 1616.
Source taxon as published: Neocaridina davidi

Study shape: One hundred shrimp from each of three locations within each source category were inspected individually in rostral, branchial, pereiopodal and pleopodal regions. Epibionts were isolated under clove-oil and ethanol sedation, identified morphologically at 500 to 1500x, and followed by an incompletely reported two-week quarantine observation. Prevalence models used source category and sex, microhabitat models used body region, and Spearman correlations assessed co-occurrence, egg production and molting.

Experimental unit: Individual examined shrimp nested within nine source locations and their transport bags; the reported individual-level GLMs do not describe source location or bag as a cluster or random effect

Environment: Nine hundred approximately 2.0 cm shrimp collected in November 2018 from three wild sites, three aquaculture-pond sources and three aquarium sources in Taiwan, then air-freighted in habitat water to Poland and inspected after a 10-hour acclimation in the transport-bag water

Endpoints: morphological identity and measurements, prevalence and mean intensity, co-occurrence, body-region distribution, egg-production association, molting association, observed cuticle traces and recolonization after molt.

What it can support: The authors distinguished Cladogonium kumaki, Monodiscus kumaki, Scutariella japonica and Holtodrilus truncatus, plus ciliates and rotifers. At least one recorded epibiont occurred on 688 of 900 shrimp and H. truncatus on 390 of 900. All four named taxa occurred in all four body regions with different distributions; H. truncatus was relatively associated with rostral and pereiopodal regions. Live H. truncatus and temnocephalids were observed leaving shed exuviae and seeking a host, sometimes recolonizing the nearby original shrimp.

What it cannot support: The source categories were observed, not assigned treatments, and are represented by only three locations each. Transport, ten-hour acclimation and microscopy handling may have changed organism abundance or location. Source-level clustering was not included in the reported GLMs, the sample was strongly female-skewed, and the sexing method was not stated. Morphological identification required microscopy and does not validate a phone-image diagnosis. Egg and molt analyses were correlational; the H. truncatus molt row reports rho -0.26 with p 0.847, an internally inconsistent combination for the surrounding interpretation. The quarantine allocation, denominator, water conditions, removal exposure and outcome measurements were not fully reported. Molting did not clear live worms, and the paper did not assign or compare a salt, medication or home-removal treatment. The sample is not prevalence for every seller, home colony or geographic trade route.

Open the source or open this record in the full research map.

Controlled experiment Direct Neocaridina evidence

A novel microRNA and its pfk target control growth length in the freshwater shrimp Neocaridina heteropoda

Li et al., 2020. Journal of Experimental Biology 223: jeb223529.
Source taxon as published: Neocaridina heteropoda

Study shape: MicroRNA, PFK and related metabolism were manipulated with RNA interference, agomirs, antagomirs and hormone treatments.

Experimental unit: Treated animal or prepared biological sample, depending on endpoint

Environment: Laboratory molecular and physiological manipulation

Endpoints: PFK expression, ecdysis interval, body length, metabolites, protein-synthesis signalling.

What it can support: The tested miR-26 and PFK pathway manipulations changed molt interval and body-length outcomes.

What it cannot support: The invasive molecular treatments are not aquarium interventions and do not support a food, mineral or oxygen recipe.

Open the source or open this record in the full research map.

Controlled experiment Direct Neocaridina evidence

Effects of different feed types and feeding frequencies on growth performance, moulting cycle, reproductive efficiency and carapace coloration of red cherry shrimps Neocaridina davidi

Elmas, 2019. Izmir Katip Celebi University MSc thesis.
Source taxon as published: Neocaridina davidi

Study shape: Two commercial grow-out feeds and feeding once or three times daily formed a two-by-two design with three aquaria per treatment, ten shrimp per aquarium and a starting sex ratio of six females to four males.

Experimental unit: The 40-litre aquarium, with three aquaria per feed and frequency combination

Environment: Twelve 40-litre laboratory aquaria at about 26 C across a 12-week feeding trial with twice-weekly 25 percent water changes

Endpoints: feed consumption, weight, total length, carapace length, survival, shed exoskeleton count, egg and hatch measures, carapace lightness and colour coordinates.

What it can support: Under this exact protocol, feeding frequency changed several growth, survival, shed-exoskeleton and reproductive outcomes, while the two tested products also differed for selected reproductive and colour measures.

What it cannot support: The daily ration was not reported, feed consumption differed among groups and the products differed in more than their intended species. Shed exoskeletons were counted by aquarium rather than linked to identified individuals. The thesis does not establish three daily meals for a home colony, isolate an ingredient effect or provide a pellet amount.

Open the source or open this record in the full research map.

Controlled experiment Direct Neocaridina evidence

Effects of the juvenile hormone analogue insecticides fenoxycarb and methoprene on Neocaridina davidi

Hu et al., 2019. Environmental Pollution.
Source taxon as published: Neocaridina davidi

Study shape: Defined fenoxycarb and methoprene exposures were compared with controls.

Experimental unit: Exposure treatment culture unit

Environment: Chronic laboratory chemical exposure

Endpoints: body length, molting frequency, cuticle-related pathways, metabolism.

What it can support: The tested insecticides changed growth, molting and molecular outcomes under the exposure design.

What it cannot support: It does not establish that every pesticide acts the same way or identify a home exposure from behaviour or molting alone.

Open the source or open this record in the full research map.

Controlled experiment Direct Neocaridina evidence

Post-hatching development of the ornamental freshwater shrimp Neocaridina davidi in aquarium conditions

Pantaleão et al., 2017. Aquaculture Research 48(2): 553-569.
Source taxon as published: Neocaridina davidi

Study shape: Animals were followed through twelve post-hatching stages with microscopy and defined carapace measurements.

Experimental unit: Individual developmental observations within one culture protocol

Environment: Laboratory aquarium culture at 25 C

Endpoints: appendage development, sex differentiation, carapace length, first attached eggs.

What it can support: Stage-specific external development, the method used to distinguish sex and first reproduction observed under the tested protocol.

What it cannot support: It does not promise that home shrimp can be sexed at a fixed age, reach a universal breeding size or carry eggs by a fixed day.

Open the source or open this record in the full research map.

Review or synthesis Broader ornamental-shrimp review

Neocaridina denticulata: A Decapod Crustacean Model for Functional Genomics

Mykles and Hui, 2015. Integrative and Comparative Biology 55(5): 891-897.
Source taxon as published: Policy review comparing Neocaridina denticulata with the crayfish Procambarus clarkii and Cherax quadricarinatus, with additional inferences from other crustacean models

Study shape: The authors defined desired traits for a decapod model, compared three freshwater candidates, summarized selected Neocaridina life-history, culture, anatomy and genomic claims from earlier publications, recommended N. denticulata, and proposed obtaining a complete genome and developing tissue-specific gene-control and mutant-screening methods.

Experimental unit: Published source or narrative claim; the paper reported no new animals, aquaria, assigned treatments, measurements or statistical analysis and did not describe a systematic search, eligibility criteria or risk-of-bias assessment.

Environment: No new animal experiment or culture trial; narrative synthesis and recommendation arising from a 2015 comparative Pancrustacea symposium workshop

Endpoints: model-organism selection criteria, comparative recommendation, summary of cited life-history and culture claims, summary of draft-genome status, proposed functional-genomics next steps.

What it can support: The paper documents that two authors recommended N. denticulata as a decapod functional-genomics model in 2015 based on its small space requirement, commercial availability, transparent cuticle, cited life-history traits and then-available preliminary genome. It explicitly identified a complete genome and reliable gene-expression manipulation as future work.

What it cannot support: This policy review is not a new replication of any cited experiment and is not a systematic review. Its pH 6.5 to 8.0, temperature up to 30 C, preferred 22 to 25 C and pH 7.0 to 7.5, 15 to 16 day intermolt, 20 to 30 egg, approximately 30 day hatch and 4 to 6 month maturity statements combine older sources, populations and methods; they are not one standardized aquarium comparison or validated species-wide optimum. The broad statement that N. denticulata is resistant to bacterial infection does not establish general disease resistance, a pathogen-free line, treatment or immune supplement. The cited DPrP bacterial-challenge paper remains full-text-needed in this registry, and the companion crayfish-plague citation studied a related published species against one oomycete pathogen. The preliminary genome was explicitly incomplete, and proposed transgenesis, reporter expression, mutation screening and targeted gene control were future possibilities rather than demonstrated Neocaridina methods in this paper. The review does not validate a care range, breeding calendar, stocking rule, disease guarantee, commercial-line assay or consumer genetic intervention.

Open the source or open this record in the full research map.

System observation or method study Direct Neocaridina evidence

Identification of putative ecdysteroid and juvenile hormone pathway genes in the shrimp Neocaridina denticulata

Sin et al., 2015. General and Comparative Endocrinology 214: 167-176.
Source taxon as published: Neocaridina denticulata linked to the Kenny et al. draft-genome stock; the RNA-source animals were not otherwise identified or described

Study shape: Known arthropod hormone-pathway sequences were searched against the draft genome with TBLASTN and checked by reciprocal BLASTX, characteristic domains and, where identity was uncertain, Bayesian phylogenetic analysis. Selected partial transcripts were amplified from cDNA, cloned and Sanger sequenced. A semiquantitative JHAMT gel used equivalent total-RNA inputs and displayed three individual samples for each reported life-stage or body-region group.

Experimental unit: Gene sequence and draft-genome contig for homology analyses. For the JHAMT expression gel, the caption reports three independent individual shrimp samples per life-stage or body-region group, while the methods describe RNA from several individuals without source, sex, exact age, molt stage or allocation details.

Environment: Computational analysis of the 2014 short-read draft genome plus laboratory RT-PCR and Sanger sequencing from RNA isolated from several animals at different life stages; animal holding conditions were not reported in this article

Endpoints: reciprocal sequence homology, diagnostic protein domains, Bayesian phylogenetic placement, cloned partial cDNA sequence, GenBank accessions KJ200310-KJ200321, KJ579126-KJ579131 and KJ956470-KJ956473, semiquantitative JHAMT RT-PCR band presence across life-stage and body-region samples.

What it can support: The study catalogued candidate orthologues for sesquiterpenoid biosynthesis, binding and degradation; ecdysteroid biosynthesis; and putative hormone regulation or signal transduction in the source draft genome. It validated selected partial transcripts and reported stronger JHAMT gel bands in embryos and juvenile anterior samples than in adult posterior samples under its assay.

What it cannot support: Candidate sequence homology and transcript detection do not demonstrate the encoded protein, enzyme activity, endogenous juvenile hormone, methyl farnesoate or ecdysteroid concentration, tissue-specific function or a causal role in molting or reproduction. Shade was not recovered, which the authors attributed as possibly due to poor recovery of that genomic locus. The JHAMT comparison was a semiquantitative endpoint using equal total-RNA inputs, not qPCR with a reported reference gene, band densitometry or statistical model. Animal source, taxon verification, culture system, sex, exact age, molt and reproductive stage were not reported; the draft genome came from one unvouchered commercial adult. Supplementary alignments, phylogenies and primer details were referenced but were not accessible in this review and were not independently reanalyzed. No live-animal hormone treatment, RNA interference, molt frequency, ecdysis success, growth, survival, fertility or offspring outcome was measured. The paper does not validate a hormone supplement, insect-growth-regulator treatment, mineral dose, breeding intervention, molt diagnosis, commercial-line marker or consumer genetic test.

Open the source or open this record in the full research map.

Controlled experiment Direct Neocaridina evidence

Effects of Dietary Manganese Supplementation on Antioxidant Enzyme Activity in the Shrimp (Neocaridina heteropoda)

Wang et al., 2010. Israeli Journal of Aquaculture - Bamidgeh 62(2): 78-84.
Source taxon as published: Wild-collected Neocaridina heteropoda from Baiyangdian Lake; no diagnostic identification method reported

Study shape: Nine hundred shrimp were assigned at 50 per tank to six manganese-sulfate supplementation levels, with three tanks per diet. The measured complete-diet manganese concentrations were 2.79, 22.57, 42.55, 62.69, 82.59 and 102.45 micrograms per gram. Shrimp received feed at a stated daily rate of 5 percent body weight for 30 days.

Experimental unit: Tank for the six assigned diets, with three tanks per diet in one shared-water recirculating system. Figure 1 reports n = 6 for biochemical assays, but the paper does not map those samples or pooled hemolymph back to individual shrimp and tank replicates or state whether tank entered the analysis.

Environment: Thirty-day freshwater recirculating-system feeding experiment at 25 +/- 1 C and pH 8.0, with all tanks connected to one reservoir and reported water manganese of 1.00 +/- 0.02 micrograms per litre in the abstract but micrograms per gram in the methods

Endpoints: percentage length gain, percentage weight gain, hemolymph superoxide-anion assay, muscle SOD activity, muscle GPX activity, muscle CAT activity.

What it can support: Under this complete-feed formulation and 30-day system, every manganese-supplemented group had higher reported length and weight gain than the 2.79-microgram-per-gram control diet. The 62.69-microgram-per-gram measured diet had the highest reported growth percentages and antioxidant-enzyme activities and the lowest reported superoxide-anion assay value.

What it cannot support: The experiment does not establish a universal dietary requirement or deficiency threshold. The control was not manganese-free, the basal mineral premix already listed manganese sulfate, and the diets differed only within one formulation and short culture history. The paper reports neither starting-to-ending size values nor a growth formula, feed intake, feed conversion, survival, tissue manganese, deficiency signs, molting, reproduction or long-term safety. Wild-source identity, sex and life stage were not resolved. Sample-to-tank mapping for the n = 6 biochemical results and pooled hemolymph is unclear, and the water manganese unit conflicts between abstract and methods. A peak response at one tested concentration without dose-response modeling does not validate adding manganese to aquarium water, mixing a supplement into finished food or using antioxidant-enzyme activity as proof of better health.

Open the source or open this record in the full research map.

Review or synthesis Adjacent biological evidence

Calcium balance and moulting in the Crustacea

Greenaway, 1985. Biological Reviews 60(3): 425-454.
Source taxon as published: Broad marine, freshwater and terrestrial Crustacea review

Study shape: Published work on calcium storage, loss, uptake and exoskeleton calcification was synthesized across crustacean taxa.

Experimental unit: Published source, not a new Neocaridina experiment

Environment: Review of crustacean calcium balance across environments and molt stages

Endpoints: calcium storage, environmental calcium uptake, hemolymph calcium, exoskeleton calcification.

What it can support: Calcium handling and calcification change across the crustacean molt cycle, and freshwater taxa have evolved calcium-uptake strategies.

What it cannot support: A broad crustacean review does not establish a Neocaridina GH optimum, diagnose a failed molt or show that adding a calcium product corrects an observed problem.

Open the source or open this record in the full research map.

Supporting authorities

These can govern a method, professional boundary, regulation, maintained identity record or manufacturer instruction. They are not counted as animal evidence.

Source and roleSupportsLimit
Hardness of Water
U.S. Geological Survey; Analytical method or chemistry authority
The definition and conventional reporting of calcium-and-magnesium water hardness.Hardness does not reveal every ion, diagnose a molt or establish a Neocaridina optimum.
Open the authoritative source.

Named open questions and searches

What photoperiod, intensity and spectrum support Neocaridina welfare and colony outcomes?

Current boundary: An open 2018 thesis found colour-associated differences in short-term lit-dish occupancy, but did not equalize light output, fully specify the repeated-measures model or measure welfare and long-term colony outcomes. Two recent studies also report short colour-specific responses after eyestalk gene knockdown, with incomplete public methods. None establishes an aquarium spectrum, intensity or photoperiod.

What would answer it: Replicated intact-aquarium comparisons that measure irradiance or illuminance at animal level, hold shelter, plants, algae, feed and temperature constant, and follow behaviour, molting, growth, survival and reproduction across life stages.

Open the gap in the full research map.

Reproducible search reviews

Public research changes affecting this guide

Source added2026-08-11

Time-associated RNA does not identify a best feeding hour

Changed: The feeding, behaviour, molting and temperature evidence boundary now includes a complete diurnal hepatopancreas transcriptome study without turning molecular timing into a care schedule.

Why: The study sampled four sequential times after at least 48 hours without feed, but time changed together with light state, a daily temperature swing and fasting duration. Its ten sequencing libraries were unequal across times, two intended libraries were unexplained, the qRT-PCR denominator conflicts with its figure and only Clk differed significantly among four validation targets. No feeding hour, intake, digestion, growth, molt, reproduction or health outcome was compared.

Knowledge gap refined2026-08-11

Three linked pesticide-system studies do not create tank limits

Changed: The chemical-exposure map now records direct N. palmata tebufenpyrad and diflubenzuron articles plus a related Neocaridina thiacloprid preprint as one retrieval cluster.

Why: Only abstracts and indexed publisher text were accessible. The complete allocation, animal denominators, measured-exposure calculations, proxy definitions, analysis and supplements remain unaudited. Their wet-weight and chitobiase NOECs are chemical-specific system-study endpoints, not N. davidi mortality limits, household product rules or interchangeable pesticide thresholds.

Claim scope narrowed2026-08-11

A model-organism recommendation is not a care standard

Changed: The genetics and husbandry boundary now includes the influential 2015 recommendation to develop Neocaridina as a functional-genomics model while identifying its care numbers and disease-resistance language as secondary synthesis, not new experimental evidence.

Why: The seven-page policy paper arose from a symposium workshop, compared three candidate species and reported no new animals or systematic review method. It explicitly listed a complete genome and reliable gene-control methods as future work, while its pH, temperature, maturity, molt and egg statements came from selected older sources.

Source added2026-08-11

A hormone-pathway gene is not a molting treatment

Changed: The molting, genetics and breeding evidence boundary now includes the foundational 2015 Neocaridina hormone-pathway gene catalogue while separating sequence identification from demonstrated hormone production, gene function and whole-animal outcomes.

Why: The study searched a fragmented one-animal draft genome, validated selected partial transcripts and displayed a semiquantitative JHAMT gel with three reported individual samples per group. It did not measure hormone or protein concentrations, manipulate a pathway in living shrimp, or measure molt frequency, ecdysis success, growth, survival, fertility or offspring. RNA-animal provenance and several life-stage details were not reported, and the referenced supplementary alignments and primers were unavailable in this review.

Source added2026-08-11

One dietary manganese response curve is not a tank dose

Changed: The feeding and molting guides now include a six-diet manganese experiment while separating its short complete-formulation response from a universal requirement, aquarium-water dose, supplement recipe, incomplete-molt treatment and health claim.

Why: The study used three 50-shrimp tanks per diet for 30 days and reported its highest growth percentages and antioxidant-enzyme activities at 62.69 micrograms per gram of finished feed. The control already contained manganese, all tanks shared recirculating water, biochemical sample-to-tank mapping was unclear and survival, feed conversion, tissue manganese, deficiency signs, molting, reproduction and long-term safety were not reported.

Audit or improve this dossier

Return to the practical guide, compare coverage across topics, or challenge an exact claim or add a missing source.