Harlequin Shrimp Feeding

[codytbuckner]

I’m thinking about getting a pair of harlequin shrimp. I’ve done a lot of reading and thinking. The general consensus seems to be feeding them chocolate chip starfish as they are the cheapest. Has anyone else owned these? How are they? Will putting CC Stars in a reef tank be a problem or will the harlequin shrimp take care of it? Will 2 shrimp be able to eat an entire star or will it rot in the tank? I won’t have a place to keep a star and feed individual legs so that idea is out.

 

[flagg37]

I’m thinking about getting a pair of harlequin shrimp. I’ve done a lot of reading and thinking. The general consensus seems to be feeding them chocolate chip starfish as they are the cheapest. Has anyone else owned these? How are they? Will putting CC Stars in a reef tank be a problem or will the harlequin shrimp take care of it? Will 2 shrimp be able to eat an entire star or will it rot in the tank? I won’t have a place to keep a star and feed individual legs so that idea is out.

I’ve never personally kept one but my buddy would do like you said you couldn’t. He would keep the cc star in his sump and cut off a leg every so often to feed to the shrimp. Cc stars are not reef safe so I wouldn’t put it in your dt with you harlequin shrimp. I also don’t know about keeping two. I’ve only ever seen one kept at a time.

 

[Nanoreefer4ever]

I seeded my tank with asterisk starfish before i got the shrimp

 

[codytbuckner]

I’ve never personally kept one but my buddy would do like you said you couldn’t. He would keep the cc star in his sump and cut off a leg every so often to feed to the shrimp. Cc stars are not reef safe so I wouldn’t put it in your dt with you harlequin shrimp. I also don’t know about keeping two. I’ve only ever seen one kept at a time.

Too bad I have no place to keep one. I know they aren’t reef safe, but if the shrimp takes it right away......problem solved right? LiveAquaria says best sold as a mates pair.

 

[codytbuckner]

I seeded my tank with asterisk starfish before i got the shrimp

Not a fan of that idea. Especially since you can’t readily buy them fr every LFS as online store. I’d still have to feed it other stars

 

[Nanoreefer4ever]

Not a fan of that idea. Especially since you can’t readily buy them fr every LFS as online store. I’d still have to feed it other stars

Those are easy to get, all you need is a post in the want to buy section. Some will give you free to seed, they multiply quick and harlequin will wipe them out quick

 

[PigFarmer]

I put a pair in to clean up a asterina starfish issue in a 120gallon setup.. They did their job! cleaned up my mess in about a month! I fell in love with them and was afraid of starving them after the asterians were gone so I resorted to feeding a chocolate chip starfish every other week... my nitrates skyrocketed over the next few months! be ready for that aspect, the jump in nitrates took out 4 of my SPS colony's

 

[codytbuckner]

I put a pair in to clean up a asterina starfish issue in a 120gallon setup.. They did their job! cleaned up my mess in about a month! I fell in love with them and was afraid of starving them after the asterians were gone so I resorted to feeding a chocolate chip starfish every other week... my nitrates skyrocketed over the next few months! be ready for that aspect, the jump in nitrates took out 4 of my SPS colony's

This is kind of why I want to feed a leg at a time, but I really have no place to keep the rest of the star

 

[DanConnor]

I had them a pair in a reef 15 or 20 years ago. They cleaned up all my asterina in a week or two. Then i fed them one smallish choc chip star a month. They disable it almost immediately, and feed on it over a couple of weeks. If I recall correctly it is more or les alive for the process, and they eat it all.

 

[DanConnor]

An experiment I wanted to try was to try collecting some local starfish and freeze them in chunks to see if they would eat that, but when I went to the coast looking I couldn't find any starfish