Harlequin shrimps can't keep up!

[Uprising Rage]

I have a 120g reef tank. I got two harlequin shrimps to take care of my astenia stars. The astenia star eat at certain zoas and the green star mats. My problem is with a month and a half of adding the shrimps they haven't made a dent in the astenia star population. I do see the shrimp eating the stars. Anyone ever have this problem? How many harlequin shrimp are needed to control the population of astenia stars in a 120g tank??

 

[James]

The shrimp will take care of the stars, give them time. They will not eat anything else and will hunt them down, they might not completely eradicate the stars but they will put a big enough dent in the population that the asterinas won't be an issue. You could assist the shrimp by getting a pin or needle and spearing as many stars as you can( and removing them from the tank, they will live with holes in them). Every day spend 10 minutes spearing and removing the asterinas and you will have them under control in no time.

 

[jr973]

Time will solve your issues just how they didnt just populate over night just give em another month or 2 than u will be looking for food to feed em lol

 

[Montaquelaveist]

Time will solve your issues just how they didnt just populate over night just give em another month or 2 than u will be looking for food to feed em lol

I agree I have one in my 120 reef and it took some time but after about 1 1/2 months they are starting to decline the shrimp will find the ones hiding in the rock work first where you don't even see them and once those are gone they will start to come eat the ones you see the reason you see more is because they r running from the shrimp lol so thosebr the ones you didn't even know we're there lol

 

[Aquadicted]

Oh man they so pretty only if they had a diverse diet...

 

[BaaMNYC]

I have a 110 gallon and it's been about 2 months. I have seen a significant decline with just one harlequin. I'm glad it's taking a while. It has a food source that isn't gone already. My tank had asterina everywhere.

 

[Montaquelaveist]

i agree i like the fact that they keep multiplying and he has a steady food source cause they are very beautiful

 

[BaaMNYC]

Like most things in this hobby. Things you want to happen, happen slowly but bad things happen quickly. Sigh.

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

Like mentioned its a free food source and beats having to keep buying choc chip stars to cut legs off of. If they are really doing damage just grab them when you see them. No need to spear them just do what I do..throw them in the garbage lol.

 

[James]

Spearing them makes it easier to get them, I had small ones that I couldn't pry off with my fingers. That was my first approach, once I got the harlequin shrimp I stopped manually removing them so I would have a food source for longer (as suggested here and good advice).

 

[bigcapct]

I have 1 that almost completely took care of the stars in a 75g. I still see a few but not many. It's been I there for a few months. I had thousands of stars everywhere at one point

 

[skene]

i removed 98% of my former population of them within 2 weeks of using a net.
Just grab them out when the lights are off. They are usually hanging out on the glass early in the morning.