Harlequin shrimp

[droinablunt]

Picked up a Harlequin shrimp from SF yesterday to controll my astrea star fish population.

I wish I had a camera cuz this guy is so cool! He is all over the place munchin on star fish!


And for thoes who are worried, when I run out of astrea's I will be buying star fish for him to eat.

[Goldpony75]

Well better get yourself a camera and take some pictures!!

[coralreefer]

Nice, you got it in the main tank?

[droinablunt]

Nice, you got it in the main tank?

yup I like my sand sifting star too much to put him in the 6 footer (tank that is)

[jon_56048]

Check this out ----> Harlequin shrimp attacking sand sifting star

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xajKJSzAbB8

[smeese]

Mine killed all of my sand sifters the first day. :)

[YiNYaNg]

How much did SF sell them for?

[Flounder]

they're pretty little guys, but have a 'tude!

*Finally a use for chocolate chip stars!!

[Tifosi]

I was thinking about getting one at some point. How is yours doing? Any problems with him to date? Has he decimated your Asterinas star fish population?

[kjdeut]

I have some cool pictures of mine pulling a big star up the side of my rock. I will see if I can find it and post tonight.

Ken

[KPAX]

Any prices on these guys from the LFS?

[hypertech]

They are a touch more than a cleaner shrimp online, so I'm guessing $40 or am I way off?

[civil]

Have any of you had luck reducing you Astrea population with these guys? I'm getting overrun by them and the Harlequin's are pretty cool.

[Tifosi]

Anyone know if any of the LFS have one?

[gogregerson]

Have any of you had luck reducing you Astrea population with these guys? I'm getting overrun by them and the Harlequin's are pretty cool.

My Harlequin shrimp has done a great job at wiping out my Astrea stars. I've got a 150gal Reef with about 250lbs of live rock so I had a million of those little blue bastards.

[David Grigor]

I have a mostly black with some yellowish/orange spots starfish. It's some type of linkia starfish that seems to be really hardy. Got it from OD about 4 months ago. It eats the funky shaped little starfish which is a nice bonus. I believe they run about $20-25 and they still have several that have been in the tanks for quite a while.

[kjdeut]

I was pulling out 20-30 every other night until I got a Harlequin. It wiped them out in no time. Only problem was keeping it alive after all the pest where gone. I kept it for a while by feeding various cheap star fish I would get my hands on, but it didnt last long. They are very beautiful and really neat to watch, espically if you throw in a large star fish.

Ken

[RaysReef]

So they do not harm fish, corals, and other inverts?

[kjdeut]

Never seen mine bothering anything other then the starfish.

[Swanwillow]

I was seriously debating on getting a pair of these, and setting up a dedicated starfish tank, feeding them a leg/day or thereabouts. BUT, moral issues come into play with that...

How many star fish does it take to make ONE come to your tank? even those choc. chips-for one starfish that makes it to the LFS, theres 20 that don't.

[Alunai]

I'm considering one of these lovelies for my super nano.
I don't know much about them though so I'll jost throw out a bunch of questions:

Are they picky about which stars they will have for dinner?
Which is typically the favorite?
How long does it take the shrimp to actually kill the star?
Can the star ever regenerate fast enough to keep up with the shrimp?
How long does it take the shrimp to fully consume the star?
Once one star is consumed, should it immediately be replaced by another?
How much does it generally run per star to feed the shrimp?

That's all for now ^.^ I'm sure I will have more later!

[Jager]

i think with its little pokers it is stinging the starfish, either paralizing them or something to that effect, pretty sure that the star doesnt survive the attack, and just becouse a feeding grounds for the shrimp

[this1fish]

that actually is not true and the starfishes are NOT paralized. they can still move freely but that's IF they can. Those little poking things you see are actually what they used to eat the starfish. The big claws that you see are more for combat and attracting a mate, otherwise they pretty much play no role in eating the starfish, except for used as leverage.

If you ever watch one eat the starfish, the first thing it does if try to flip the starfish, being flipped over the starfish can't move thus looking like it's paralized. I've seen the ones that i had just rip off a leg of the starfish and tend to that while the body just moves around again continuing life before it was disturbed. Either way, they are cool to watch when attacking a starfish.

[rihanssu]

the biggest problem is that they dont eat the whole star fish, they leave peieces of flesh under rocks and your nutrients will jump. its why i got rid of my pair. one chocolate start last about a week and cost like 15$

[rihanssu]

I was seriously debating on getting a pair of these, and setting up a dedicated starfish tank, feeding them a leg/day or thereabouts. BUT, moral issues come into play with that...

How many star fish does it take to make ONE come to your tank? even those choc. chips-for one starfish that makes it to the LFS, theres 20 that don't.

are you trying to say that starfish are imported just to feed these shrimp?? I think there is something wrong with that logic. if we wiped Harlequin shrimp out of the hobby there would still be the same amount of stars imported. or if there is an impact it would be minimal.