Got my Harlequin Shrimp! (VIDEO)

So, after getting good advice from my fellow 3reefers, I decided to get a Harlequin Shrimp. Picked a nice one up this weekend & had some pre-existing sand sifter Stars in my tank already. I acclimated & dropped him in. He immediately walks about 1 inch & sticks his claw into the sand & pulls out a star 2x+ his size. It was pretty amazing to watch him drag it away.

Also, all my little Asterina Stars took off running to my glass, I had thought I only had maybe 10, there are literally 100 on my glass now, pretty amazing how they know to "run for the hills".

Here's a little vid I took of him after he grabbed the star: http://www.joebeleznay.net/harley.MOV (quicktime movie)

 

Very interesting, let us know if you can catch him eating the asterina stars...

 

Harley is doing nicely, he is almost done with his first sand sifter and has been eyeing the larger sand sifter. I haven't tried to feed him Asterinas yet but I'm sure he will enjoy them like popcorn chicken when the main course is eaten.

 

I got a harlequin a few months back and now I have a hard time finding the astrina stars. And my coraline algae is starting to return. Before I had hundreds of those little starfish everywhere and no coraline, now no starfish and coraline is growing great. Here is a photo of mine eating a star.

 

Cooool, don't you love them, so unique looking, almost like little aliens. I sometimes feel a little guilty for the stars but I do love the harleys.

 

Am I missing something here?
Why would you want to kill the sand sifting stars? I had 3 in my tank and they were killer and kept my sand clean and neat.

 

Unfortunately, all stars are food for the Harlequin so the sandsifters are the least expensive route for feeding mine, I don't have a sump to rotate star legs uut & get them very cheap from my LFS. I have about 50+ Nassarius snails that keep my sandbed clean.

 

I was going to recommend alternating starfish so you don't need to keep buying new ones, but I guess you can't, unless it will fit in your DT.

 

Yeah I'm actually starting to think about getting one of those Dymax Pico's and maybe storing my stars in there after it establishes, hmmm.

 

looks like he found my other sand sifter, got a really good pic of him, very clear if you enlarge it: