Harliquin shrimp feedings

hybridazn · Jul 25, 2018

So my Harley pair have officially mowed thru my huge population of asteria stars. So now the question is, how much should they be fed? I have LFS's that I can get chocolate chip stars anytime I want but I don't want to overfeed and make my reef tank dirty.

Any suggestions or tips?

Sfplaya1 · Jul 25, 2018

They'll eat the ccs over time.

DSC reef · Jul 25, 2018

We would feed ours a small chocolate chip star and it would take about 2 weeks to eat it. Never made much of a mess or affected the tank negatively. I really like the harlequin so after he ate all the asterina starfish we decided to keep him.

hybridazn · Jul 25, 2018

DSC reef said:
We would feed ours a small chocolate chip star and it would take about 2 weeks to eat it. Never made much of a mess or affected the tank negatively. I really like the harlequin so after he ate all the asterina starfish we decided to keep him.

That's where I'm at now as well. I really enjoy having these 2 in my tank, so the time has come to feed them constantly now.

DSC reef · Jul 25, 2018

hybridazn said:
That's where I'm at now as well. I really enjoy having these 2 in my tank, so the time has come to feed them constantly now.

My friend that owned a store told me we could also keep one in the sump and snip a leg off if I was worried about nutrients but I never experienced any spikes. Ours would climb on your hand and take from us. Cool little guy.

hybridazn · Jul 25, 2018

DSC reef said:
My friend that owned a store told me we could also keep one in the sump and snip a leg off if I was worried about nutrients but I never experienced any spikes. Ours would climb on your hand and take from us. Cool little guy.

I too have heard this. My wife would probably flip her cap if she saw me cutting legs off a starfish hahaha

DSC reef · Jul 25, 2018

hybridazn said:
I too have heard this. My wife would probably flip her cap if she saw me cutting legs off a starfish hahaha

I just didn't feel right about it so in went the whole starfish! Lol.

reef lover · Jul 26, 2018

I tried having 2 ccs to cut legs from but they grew back so slowly it didnt seem feasible....

neupane00 · Jul 26, 2018

mine died after cleaning up astrea stars . so sad.

MontiFanatic402 · Jul 26, 2018

So ive had a pair of them for about 2 years....love em and i would never EVER get rid of them. I feed 1 chocolate chip per week and that keeps em satisfied. Its funny cause the male always comes out the second the starfish hits the water...he then flips it over and drags it back to his lady. Hes a hard worker, my female hardly ever moves....but shes a BEAST compaired to him. The only gripe i have is that i run bare-bottom (mostly SPS), so every week i have to suck out the remains.....which looks like big grains of sand....but it never spikes my nutrients. Good luck, i hope you get as much joy out of your pair as i do mine!

NoWaiAma · Jul 26, 2018

Decorator crab, puffer, eel, harlequin shrimp , starfish, urchin.

Anything else I want ?!

Sir Chris · Jul 27, 2018

I had a asteria Star issue and got 1. Then got 2 serpent stars on a order on frags. But didn’t know they didn’t eat them or heard.... so put em in my own sump I had and not ALK controller and know they melted. But got a brittle on 1 and kept it. But lost the shrimp after the invasion because I could not purchase a starfish knowing it was going in there just to die flipped over helpless. I’d snap a leg on a sand sifter get a few if u can that’s all I coulda done 2 keep him. Was gorgeous and loved watching him

DuesXX · Jul 27, 2018

I just have a single male. Usually a half dollar size chocolate star will satisfy him for about a month. Basically he drags the star to his spot in the rock work and whenever I see him roaming again, I get another.