Bumble Bee Shrimp and Asterina Starfish ???

JesseLander · Jan 18, 2016

So I have had these infamous Asterina Starfish for about a year with no problem but now they seem have out populated the source of algae they eat and have moved on to more sinister deeds. They are eating my zoas!!!!!!! I have caught them red handed at least 5 times, again, at least three of which the zoa was dead the next day! I was considering getting a Harlequin but as they only eat Starfish, I am hesitant as to the eventual, inevitable, starvation once the Asterina have been decimated. Terrible fate for such a great hero. So in my research I discovered the Bumble Bee Shrimp which should eat these Asterina but will also take other food and will not starve while also keeping any future Asterina populations under control. However, I cannot find any Bumble Bee Shrimp for sale. Does anybody have any experience with these shrimp and where can I find some asap please? http://www.reefs2go.com/product/INV_SHR_BB/Bumble-Bee-Shrimp-Gnathophyllum-americanum.html

human · Jan 18, 2016

JesseLander said:
So I have had these infamous Asterina Starfish for about a year with no problem but now they seem have out populated the source of algae they eat and have moved on to more sinister deeds. They are eating my zoas!!!!!!! I have caught them red handed at least 5 times, again, at least three of which the zoa was dead the next day! I was considering getting a Harlequin but as they only eat Starfish, I am hesitant as to the eventual, inevitable, starvation once the Asterina have been decimated. Terrible fate for such a great hero. So in my research I discovered the Bumble Bee Shrimp which should eat these Asterina but will also take other food and will not starve while also keeping any future Asterina populations under control. However, I cannot find any Bumble Bee Shrimp for sale. Does anybody have any experience with these shrimp and where can I find some asap please? http://www.reefs2go.com/product/INV_SHR_BB/Bumble-Bee-Shrimp-Gnathophyllum-americanum.html

http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/productDetail.asp?did=2&pid=1216&cid=84

ESVAreefer · Jan 19, 2016

I have a similar issue, I will be following closely to find out about others experience. I had those stars chew polyps in half overnight. They did it to my petroglyph and tinker bell polyps as well as others. It was horrible

JesseLander · Jan 19, 2016

Thanks for the link Human! I couldn't find them in stock anywhere! Do you have any experience with them? Does anybody else? They are like 1/4" to 1/2" and max out at 1". Seems like I would need quite a few.

ESVA, I have no experience yet with Bumble Bees or Harlequins but I recommend getting one or ten asap! In the meantime, pick those sonsabishes out as much as you can. They took out my whole colony of Red Hornets (15 heads).

human · Jan 19, 2016

I have no personal experience with the Bumblebee shrimp, but I have kept Harlequins and Bongo shrimp. With Harlequins, when you're short on asterina you can always keep a chocolate chip star in your sump and occasionally feed it an arm, the chocolate chip will regenerate them. Bongos tend to be a little more sensitive to swings in water quality than Harlequins and seem to do a lot better in pairs.

ESVAreefer · Jan 19, 2016

I vacuumed about 30 off my glass last night and there's more on the glass today .... I have a aiptaisia growing tank I will throw them in. I'm growing berghia Nudibranchs other than that death to aiptaisia!! But yes I'm thinking of getting a harlequin

I've lost too many polyps and they go for the nice ones first!!! There is a hole chewed in myJason fox bloodshot now -_- they are a resourceful and relentless enemy and they know when to strike! They ate 20+ detonators leaving just one which grew to 8 now :/ not a huge loss but still a pain [emoji36]

ESVAreefer · Jan 19, 2016

ImageUploadedByREEF2REEF1453258311.403154.jpg

ImageUploadedByREEF2REEF1453258349.856244.jpg

Dang just found a star eating another polyp :/

JesseLander · Jan 21, 2016

I'm going to order some Bumble Bee Shrimp next week

ESVAreefer · Jan 21, 2016

I'm going to see if a friend will let me borrow a harlequin shrimp if that fails I'm buying the bumble bee shrimp

JesseLander · Jan 21, 2016

I am setting up a QT tomorrow and going to train to eat the asterina stars. I will let you know how it goes. But a harlequin is pretty much a guarantee, just got to figure out what to do when all the stars are gone.

Mark3 · Feb 7, 2016

I knew I had Asterina Starfish, but didn't realize how many until today..... I finally got a harlequine shrimp yesterday, and this morning there is a mass evacuation of stars on the glass....it is amazing to see them running for high ground. The shrimp is very small, about the size of a dime, in a 125 gallon tank with 40 gallon sump, but the stars know he is there! ... they are running like their house is on fire. I haven't seen him go for any of the stars yet,... at one point a star was only about 1/4 inch away from him, no action, ... but he has only been in the tank less than 24 hours. The stars are just oozing out of everywhere...I have counted over 100 in just a small area of the tank...I'm guessing I have about 1000 stars, should give him enough to eat for awhile.

Easy way to get rid of Asterina Starfish would be to drop in a harliquine shrimp and then just clean off the glass after all the stars climb to the top.

Mark3 · Feb 7, 2016

Wow....bad photo, sorry, it looked acceptable on the phone, but comes out like crap.

NowGlazeIT · Feb 6, 2020

human said:
I have no personal experience with the Bumblebee shrimp, but I have kept Harlequins and Bongo shrimp. With Harlequins, when you're short on asterina you can always keep a chocolate chip star in your sump and occasionally feed it an arm, the chocolate chip will regenerate them. Bongos tend to be a little more sensitive to swings in water quality than Harlequins and seem to do a lot better in pairs.

Do the chocolate star fish arms snap off by hand? Or do they need to be severed with a blade?