Harlequin Shrimp

[grand reef1]

I'm a begginner and geting some guidents from a friend and I was woundering I a Harlequin Shrimp are easy besides the fact that they need to get paired up and THAT THEY NEED TO EAT SEA STARS?

 

[Pulp Fishin]

If you can get a pair then the only problem with these shrimp is their diet. Other then that they are realativly easy to care for!

Cheers

 

[VacavilleFC3S]

+1 , biggest problem is a constant supply of chocolate stars, they cost about $8 each and a pair will eat about 1 a week

 

[grand reef1]

I read that they only need to get feed at least once a month(julian sprunge)

 

[buttons buster]

probably around 2-3 times a month should be good

 

[charlesr1958]

Hopefully this might help answer some of your questions:

http://www.chucksaddiction.com/harlequinshrimp.html

Chuck

 

[grand reef1]

Thanks

 

[philter4]

One thing of note, I've kept them for several years, and I've watched them in the ocean, in nature I've never seen them without a star, maybe that is because they are easier to spot while feeding or that they are constantly moving from one star to another. I always keep stars with mine, and they only don't feed right before they are going to shed. Mine eat a star every 7-10 days which is 3 to 4 a month, I give them a mix of stars and they prefer linkia, but will take any star they come across including serpent and brittle stars.

 

[Pulp Fishin]

philter4
Did you collect your Harlequin on a dive?

 

[philter4]

I have collected them several times while diving in HI and I have observed them both in HI and the tropical pacific, but never collected them except in Hawaii, if you look at my avatar, the one on the right was the first one I ever collected, it was a female and was carrying a brittle star across the sand, I looked for the male, as they are almost always in prs but couldn'f find him, she was collected in Nov of '06.

 

[Pulp Fishin]

Do you collect your stars on dives too?
I would imagain it would make feeding Harlequin shimp a lot cheeper. Odd that the first ones you collected was female without her mate, normally they wouldn't be apart unless they were seporated by soemthing.

 

[philter4]

I do collect stars when I dive, thiugh I mostly collect serpent stars which I love to keep, occasionally I find linkia stars and those I feed to the harlequins. I have a deal with a local store and when I need stars I get them cheap by special ordering and picking them up on the delivery day while they are still in the bag so there is no care involved for the store and he makes a little and I get a discount on the feeder stars.

It was strange to just find the single female, I looked all around for the male but didn't see it. Either way, I was very happy to find the one, it was only my second dive in HI that year and it was one of the things I wanted to bring back the most, the second being a small bandit angel which I also collected later in the same trip.

 

[nayrgaijin]

Sorry to but in

Sorry to but in

Whats the reasoning behind harlequin shrimp needing to be paired up ? I am new to the hobby as well and this shrimp has caught my eye, but don't know much about them. Once again sorry to but in ! So curious

 

[philter4]

They don't need to be in prs, it is usually how they are sold, as I said in the above post, the one in my avitar was alone and has lived that way since I collected her. It is just interesting to watch a pr interact, breed and hunt, if I put a big serpent star with my other pr, they work together to over power the star and it is fascinating to watch the tactics they use, even a lg chocolate chip is fun to watch, they flip it and hold it down, which they can't do to a serpent star.