Harlequin shrimp care

[Killerdrgn]

Hey whats the minimum tank size for a pair of harlequin shrimp. I know about the starfish thing already, anything else i would need to know about these guys.

Thinking about setting up a small office tank and was wondering what the options were.

 

[emmanuel]

I have one in a 1 gallon fruitbowl it seems to be doing fine and even molted yesterday check it out in my tank thread "the wife's going to be pissed"

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

Hey whats the minimum tank size for a pair of harlequin shrimp. I know about the starfish thing already, anything else i would need to know about these guys.

Thinking about setting up a small office tank and was wondering what the options were.

Hi, please think again. These shrimps eat sea stars and are a bit messy in doing that, so you will always have some ..."left overs..." that will not help to maintain the water parameters. Also one recommendation to both help maintain water parameters and make constructive use of sea stars as food source... You live in Forrest Hills NYC, so that is not far from what I could see on the map, from long beach, Atlantic beach, Jamaica bay...so this said I do not know those sea side places, but if they are or have rocky parts, then there is a possibility of finding sea stars...cut one or two of their arms with a very sharp blade that will do a clean cut, and leave the star for regeneration out in the sea while you bring home the cut arms, that will be the food for your Harlequin shrimps.
Now like here in Europe, you should find Asterias on the Atlantic shores of NYC. Its cold in this time of the year, but one sea star arm should be food for a week or even more, depends on the size of it, the shrimps...Another possibility would be if you know a local fisherman that can bring you some arms...
Well its suggestions and as for the tank think of a 15g, 20g or 25g...obviously do remember to include in your choice, enough room to accommodate the remaining bio load that will be present with other animals that you put in it with the shrimps.


Cheers
Pedro Nuno ;-)

 

[Killerdrgn]

then there is a possibility of finding sea stars...

Man I never see anything cool like that at the beach. At most I see blue crabs and jelly fish.

 

[tosiek]

This isn't geared at anyone in particular but some food for thought:

Remember that just because someone can keep something in a teensy tank and it lives does not mean its the right thing to do for the animal. I can shove a tang in a fish bowl and keep it alive and fed easily even if it has barely enough room to turn around. But thats not something i would even consider doing. Animal psychology to some degree has to come into play. Harly's, even though they are small and walk and hide most of the time still need room to forage for food and area's to hide and create a feeding place. All that does play into the overal health of the animal if you see it right away or not. As a hobbyist that should be the first thing in your mind and not "I can set up a teensy tank and put a teensy animal in it and keep it alive for xxx amount of time". If its the challenge of doing that thats keeping you in the hobby i suggest taking up shipbuilding in bottles.

Anyways, As far as harleys go i wouldn't go less than 15g with a good amount of rockwork to scale and hide. They will hide ALOT and your barely ever gonna see them untill they are really hungry and the lights are off or low. I had mine in a smaller tank for a while that was just a few frag racks and a rock or two and they never came out untill they were real hungry. Once i put them into my larger display with more rockwork they were out and about the moment they finished eating looking for more. In the smaller tank they also didn't go right out for the star they waited for dimmed lights or the star to move closer.

I haven;t noticed a big increase in trates or P04 with them eating but they do produce alot of waste byproduct which can build up fast in smaller tanks without more than adequate filtration.

Pedro said everything you need to know about harley food. Alot of people get stars and put them in the freezer and cut off as much as they need when they need it. Usually a leg or two every 2-3 weeks depending on the size of the harley but your gonna see how much he needs as they will be out and about when they get hungry again. IF your barely seeing them that means they are eating or not that hungry yet.

 

[Killerdrgn]

Ok yeah I don't think i can put a 15 gallon tank on my desk so nevermind.

How about teh sexyiness shrimp?

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

Man I never see anything cool like that at the beach. At most I see blue crabs and jelly fish.

Hi
I'll try to gather information to help you locate some. In the mean time perhaps you could talk with meagheavz as from what I remember She has a brother that is a fisherman, so maybe She and He could help. Another possibility is to browse Fulton Fish Market
now located in Hunts Point if I well understood...or going to the fisherman docs...
well these are suggestions/possibilities.

Cheers
Pedro Nuno ;-)

 

[DrCooper]

So I have a harley and at first I tried to keep a Chocolate Chip Starfish isolated in a small container in my tank and just use one limb at a time. This was sad to watch and I just felt bad. I buy one Chocolate Chip and he has his way with him. These shrimp are gorgeous and are amazing to watch, just the whole starfish thing is no fun. I am in nyc and just pick up a C.C. star at a LFS when I need one!
even petco has them (although I would never buy it from them)

 

[emmanuel]

Now I feel bad I took my harlequin out of the 125 and put it in the bowl but it never did anything other than hide come out and eat and hide again now it still does the same except I can see it even when its behind the rocks . As far as feeding I keep 4 cc stars in my sump and snip a piece of leg off once every couple of days . I realy don't think that keeping the shrimp in a pico tank is more cruel than keeping one at all and feeding it starfish(think of the star and how many die in shipping) nor is it as cruel as keeping a tang in any size tank . Even 150 gallons

 

[Marteen]

I'd say get a trio of Sexy shrimp, they like to run in packs. A 10 gallon tank would be fine for them as long as you don't have any other shrimp or crabs in the tank.