harlequin shrimp questions

[BYU]

i got tons of astrea starfish and thinking about getting harlequins to get rid of them
I also have a brittle starfish do you guys think they will eat the brittle starfish too?
I also have two skunk cleaners, 1 blood red cleaner and 1 coral banded shrimp
do you think if i get a harlequin pair they would be okay?
by the way my tank is 210 gallons
thanks for the advice in advance

 

[DEL]

i used to feed my harley the asterinas..id use a long tweezer and hold it in front of him and hed grab it..dont know about the brittle star tho..gets expensive after a while having to keep buying choco stars to eat..

 

[KathyC]

I would be concerned about the coral banded shrimp and the Harleys.
The skunk & blood shrimp won't have an issue with them.
The Harleys won't bother with the brittle star, mine has been in my tank for 2 years with Harleys, never an issue if you keep them fed with the stars they usually eat.

If you do decide to get 2 - make sure to get a M/F pair!

 

[BYU]

thanks for the input guys
do you think the coral banded will bother the harlequins or the opposite?

 

[tosiek]

I got a pair of harleys to get rid of my asternias. It will work to a degree but they will never get them all, once the harleys are gone the aternias will multiply back. Just something to keep in mind when you see them roaming your tank for a day or two to feed them even though you might see that 1 asternia on the glass.

Mine don't bother my serpent star or go after any brittle stars at all either or my crinoid like I thought it would.

 

[BYU]

any good places to get a pair M/F ? queens or long island prefered

 

[KathyC]

Most good LFS get them in - best to call as they don't usually get a lot due to demand.
One near you may be willing to order them for you or you could ask one of our vendors that is near you to order them

 

[grknyer]

.gets expensive after a while having to keep buying choco stars to eat..

+1 Just so you know mine would go after the legs of my sepent sea stars when it was hungry while I drove all over looking for chocolate chip starfish

:starfish::eat:

 

[E.intheC]

Great answers everyone. To the OP, I got mine from WillsWaterWorld. They were great. You also have to prepare yourself for bi-weekly feedings of chocolate chip sized stars (gets expensive and some don't think it's humane)...

Good luck if you end up getting them. Harley's are awesome shrimp

 

[rookie07]

perhaps you could borrow someone else's harley and keep swapping back and forth so you guys can regrow asterinas while harley is in the other persons tank....would prevent you from having to buy food for it ever.