bumblebee shrimp help

[kcreefer86]

just wondering what's your experience with this shrimp..i want one to get rid of my asterin stars..i heard these guys will also take frozen too..

 

[iamwhatiam52]

I do not believe they eat asterinas, but they do associate with urchins. Maybe they snack on the tube feet..
VERY cool little shrimp, but they hide most of the time. I have tried them 3 or 4 times, once with a large Diadema urchin in the tank. None have lived more than a year.

 

[kcreefer86]

i think i saw a thread on here where a guy has pics of his bumblebee eating his sandsifting star..i can't seem to find it though..

 

[philter4]

I have seen lots while diving, and I have kept them for several years. I know that books and article say they eat the tube feet of echinoderms, but I have never seen them with anything. The usual place I see them is when looking under rocks, they are almost always in prs, and I have seen urchins and stars under the rocks, but not near the shrimp. Mine eat anything meaty that I put in the tank, mostly frozen chunks of mysis or other shrimp, but it has to be small. They are very agressive to each other, unless paired up, I've never seen more than one pr under a rock, even large rocks.

As far as eating a star, I would believe an unhealthy star, and sand sifters are very hard to keep well fed, usually starving after extended periods so it may not be apperent to the owners that the star is unhealthy because of starvation, could be attacked by a pr of bumble bee shrimp, but I am not sure they would activly hunt a healthy star, at least not to the point of killing it

 

[dapettit]

Why not use a harlequins? They definitely eat stars..