harlequin shrimp

if i were to get a harlequin shrimp is there any chance it would spare the life of my sand sifter star? what do they eat if their are no starfish to eat?

 

No.

If there are no starfish to eat, the shrimp will starve to death.

 

will it eat the small starfish i have everywhere in my tank? how often would it need to eat? i can get chocolate chip stars for it.

 

I have one. I think you mean tiny brittle stars, not asterinas. They also eat the latter however.

Mine eats the chocolate chip for 2-3 weeks straight, and it's alive the whole time.

Good luck; they're an awesome shrimp.

 

I've heard of them eating asterina stars but have never seen mine do it. Keep in mind, however, that if you get one and it does eat the asterina stars, that doesn't mean that it won't also eat any starfish that you already have in the tank.

I feed mine a choc. chip starfish once every month or so, depending on how quickly they eat the last one I put in.

 

ok thanks

 

I would STRONGLY recommend against adding harlequin shrimp to any aquarium as these are one of the main predators of the coral eating seastar (crown of thorns), which is responsible for wiping out a significant part of our reefs.

Because this is a complicated issue, it is not wholly responsible, but man is responsible for creating the conditions that allow this destructive seastar to multiply in record breaking numbers. We are also responsible for the depletion in numbers of it's few predators.

OK, will get off my soapbox now.

Anne

 

I didn't know that harlequin shrimp prey on crown-of-thorns, so thank you for bringing that to our attention. Given their size vs. the size of other predator's, such as tritons, coral trout, humphead wrasse, however, I don't think harlequin shrimp are efficient predators (it takes them weeks to digest a 5" chocolate chip but maybe they could eat a juvenille crown-of-thorn).

Past infestations of crown-of-thorns were massive, heightening our awareness of the ecological balance on the reef. As mentioned, man played a significant role in their reproduction-- the main reasons were attributed to nutrient runoff and overfishing of their predators. Hundreds of miles of reef tract were plowed, and in response programs were implemented throughout the Great Barrier Reef and several atolls in the area where managers killed crown-of-thorns, thousands at a time, but even they couldn't keep up with the numbers. Today they are still a threat to stony corals so, while I can appreciate the awareness that harlequin shrimp play a role, resourse managers tend to focus on the larger issue: runoff and clear-cutting, agriculture, etc.

It's true that harlequin shrimp in the trade are wild caught; hopefully aquaculture facilities will take notice in their conservation (and profits as the shrimp goes for around $25) and develop programs to take the pressure off wild stocks. There are probably pictures on the net and there was a book published, in addition to numerous publications and a special on the Discovery channel that is airing right now.

 

Are you from down under????? You sound more knowledgeable than I do about this whole situation. Shoot, I was only typing what I could remember from a couple of documentries (even at that, I edited quite a bit).

BTW--the shrimp may be small--but it is wise to not totally ignore it in this equation. For one, smaller animals tend to reproduce in more numbers at one time and for two, they tend to be a bit more tenacious and fierce when it comes to their survival. Just a couple of observations

Anne

 

I've lived here and there, in Australia for about a year and I am in the field alot, studying reefs and implementing remote marine protected areas. Ocean policy is my field but I target the aquarium industry and community-based management and protection.

About the harlequin, I am totally in agreement, and again thanks because there are still some of us around that appreciate conservation minded suggestions. But in the same token think about the education that results from us bringing these issues to light. I'm glad that people have the option to keep them, and I hope that aquarists learn from discussions like these, to build awareness for the larger, more pressing causes of reef degredation.

I agree that it's unfair to sacrifice one issue for another, but keeping harlequin shrimp brings debates like these into the spotlight. The root cause is much deeper, unfortunately. Harlequins are not for everyone, and I doubt a LFS would sell one to someone without going through some of the priorities associated with their care. Now that I've looked into alot of LFS policy and so on, I give them more credit.