harlequin shrimp

the guy who helps maintain my tank is bringing over a harlequin shrimp to get rid of the tiny asteria starfish that are starting to get out of hand my ? to you is how many of these little star fish will the shrimp get a day a couple of are we talking like he will mow em down?

 

Unfortunately, I've never seen them eat asterina stars. Omard here on the board also purchased these shrimp to control his asterina population with no success. Be prepared to have to feed your shrimp larger starfish to keep it alive.

 

Sorry dude, you are out of luck...

I got a nice pair of harlequins hoping for same result with asterinas...

These shrimp will not touch them. Even if I gave them "showers" of the darn things...

Only remedy I have found over years of dealing with asterinas, is vacuuming them off glass on weekly water change day.

They really are great little algae eaters, and I have decided they can be an asset to have around (in relatively small numbers) .... they were once considered to be a great benefit in a tank before there was such things as skimmers and when we did not know as much about algae control.

Learn to like them....

Might even try selling on Ebay....(I thought about, but don't want to deal with the bother)

I have sent some to other Reefkeepers who wanted for their tanks....

But Harlequins are cool to have anyway...Are you getting the colorful Indonesian variety?...worth the extra $...





Here are some vids of mine in "action"


Harlequin Attack I




Harlequin Attack II

 

i agree, it may be easier to just get rid of it. Many people have to buy 2 starfish, let the shrimp eat one for a little bit, then switch out the starfish and let it heal, and then do it all over again

 

Yep, and must be "live" starfish. Dead ones won't do.

My large pair could eat a good sized CC star or Sand Sifter about every two weeks. May need less, but why risk underfeeding...they know when they are hungry - usually start wandering about tank.

Have heard of people keeping a number of stars in sump and give them to Harlequins in rotation, putting them back in sump after they loose a leg or two, so they can grow back.

Harlequins always start eating at tips of legs working towards center, to keep prey alive as long as possible. (smart little devils...)

Linka's are their favorite if you can afford them.

 

hmmmmm he said the shrimp cured the problem in his own personal tank i dont mind the tiny starfish except they r turning the nice purple rock to white spots everywhere they hang out anyone had any luck of feeding them anything else??

 

Sadly, some are coraline eaters, some not. They do not bother mine, but there is plenty of "green stuff" on glass left behind by the snails...they do a good job of cleaning that up.

Could just be opportunistic eaters...not finding anything else they turn to coraline...maybe you just need to significantly downsize the population of them in your tank...:-/

 

Mine eats asterina stars. I'm starting a thread as we speak with pics.

 

Seems in this hobby there are always exceptions, but Harlequins do eat Asterinas. I have harvested plenty of mine to feed to other peoples. And yes, I'm with you. I want them gone. They were cute when I had about 100, not so much with a couple of thousand.

 

Hi i am new here,
So you guys are saying that you can give the harlequin shrimp a star fish let them eat and then remove the star fish put it in your sump and it will grown back its leg?