harliquin shrimp

[waymack97]

my harliquin has cleaned up all the asterina stars in my tank.i have gave him a med red star and it only took him a week. i am wondering how often i need to feed him.
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[Anonymous]

I'm not sure. If it were me I would get a new star once they finish the old one.

 

[waymack97]

how can something that small eat that much? fish store here i come.
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[Anonymous]

The tube feet are not all that much 'meat'. The bulk of a star is tough material that the shrimp ignores.

 

[trigger0214]

As I have always loved this shrimp...so I am curious.

You are feeding this thing starfish/starfish legs?

Do they survive after this? Isn't this horribly expensive (and kinda creepy)?

I would love to do this.....but would be terrified for my clams (i.e. stars).

 

[Anonymous]

IIRC thier only diet is the leggs off of living starfish. I believe the star will die after/during the feeding.

 

[Anonymous]

IIRC thier only diet is the leggs off of living starfish. I believe the star will die after/during the feeding.

Yup, which is why I've never kept them myself. Can't stand the thought of them eating the starfish alive. I know, I know :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

IIRC thier only diet is the leggs off of living starfish. I believe the star will die after/during the feeding.

Correct. In nature I believe their diet is almost exclusively the tube feet of Linckia spp. stars. The seastar is killed in the process. Obviously difficult to provide in captivity. I know of one local reefer who was able to get them to consistently spawn on a diet of solely Asterina sp. stars. You would need a very large supply of these to keep them fed.

The pair I got was reluctant to eat the Asterina stars I provided, and I was forced to feed them "chocolate chip" stars. They lasted about a year and a half.

IMHO, completely unsuitable for captivity unless extraordinary means are taken to keep them.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't like this animal. It seems odd to constantly feed it live starfish that it slowly eats alive. Since the main food is linkias, I don't think most reefers would want to spend the money to drop a linkia a week in the tank. I wouldn't.


Question for people who have kept them. If there are multiple starfish in the tank, do the shrimp eat one at a time? How do they keep that one from escaping over the course of a few days while they eat the tube feet? If they would eat a meal and let it go, a tank with many starfish would keep them feeding off different individuals and give the victims time to heal in between attacks. But I think I read that they keep a victim on its back until they finish it off.

 

[Len]

I had one a while ago. It will only eat one star at a time IME. It squats on it until it's cleaned it up of their feet.

My biggest complaint (aside from cost of feeding) is that this activity fouls up the water pretty quickly.

 

[waymack97]

i got mine cause i had alot of asterina stars. well he whipped those out in 3 weeks. so now i have to feed him linkias to keep him alive, it is disturbing how they eat. mine would feed the star while is was feeding on him to keep him alive longer, real creepy. if anyone needs one to clean up some asterinas i would be willing to share. i have to get another star tonight. my kids hate that he eats the stars.
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[Len]

Shrimps have the most amazing metabolism and appetite
http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=87346

 

[Anonymous]

I don't like this animal. It seems odd to constantly feed it live starfish that it slowly eats alive. Since the main food is linkias, I don't think most reefers would want to spend the money to drop a linkia a week in the tank. I wouldn't.


Question for people who have kept them. If there are multiple starfish in the tank, do the shrimp eat one at a time? How do they keep that one from escaping over the course of a few days while they eat the tube feet? If they would eat a meal and let it go, a tank with many starfish would keep them feeding off different individuals and give the victims time to heal in between attacks. But I think I read that they keep a victim on its back until they finish it off.

IIRC they inject it with an anesthetic to get the star to relax its feet. Otherwise it would just clamp up and pull them in. It has a little needle shaped modified leg to accomplish this.

FWIW, harlequins are remarkably unafraid of hands. In fact, they'll crawl all over your fingers and you can just pull them out of the water. Maybe they think fingers are Linckia arms, or maybe they are somehow toxic and simply unafraid of predators. Dunno. Makes them easy to catch though!