harlequin shrimp

Im Lon 2

Im Lon 2

Premium Member
What all do they eat?

I have way to many of those fat little white Star fish. I have noticed them on my zoo's when I was having trouble with Nudi's and when I dipped them a ton of those stars fell off. So I would get a Harlequin shrimp to take care of them, but I thought that star fish is their only food supply.

TIA
 
What I've read about them it is, and they only eat the legs, which would tell me, the legs would just grow back. Consider the source though, I'm very new at this and no experience at all with the harlequin. I do however watch a lot of t.v.
 
I've always heard that they only eat linkia, I'm not sure entirely on that. But I am sure that they rarely kill it when they eat it, most of what they eat grows back, and I have seen video of them going as far as when they have the starfish turned on it's back to bring it food to keep it from dying.
 
found this on melevsreef

Harlequin Shrimp are gorgeous creatures. I've never owned one myself, but was able to get a good picture of one while visiting a LFS. These shrimp only eat starfish, and will otherwise perish in our tanks. If you choose to own this shrimp, you'll have to buy a starfish or two each month just to keep it well-nourished. There is a chance it will eat the tiny white starfish (Asterina), but since I've got several Serpent starfish already in reef, I'm not willing to buy this particular shrimp to see if that is true. Reef-safe.
 
They wll indeed try and eat all of the stars in your tank, not just the fat little white ones. Of course if you keep them supplied in fat little white stars, you will be golden...

The one I had got rid of just about every little white star I had before something ate it!

Howie
 
They go after the tubular feet. Read up some more to be sure but I would think they leave serpent and bristle stars alone. You might take a chance on your urchins. When I researched them a while ago. There were some cool videos and a lot of owners who you can check with.
 
Don't get rid of the small brittles!

Give them away or sell them. They are definitely beneficial.

By the way, the ONLY reason you have that many is because they have plenty to eat. :D
 
If I remember this right those small fat white annoying stars eat coraline algae. I have seen them on my zoas but they never did damage.
 
Not sure if they do damage or not .. But I don't like seeing the Zoo's closed up, and finding one of those guys climing over them..
 
Asterina stars haven't been studied enough for anyone to be certain about anything. The current thinking is that there are several different species of them.

It has supposedly been documented that some are harmful. It is thought that most of them get a bad rap and are not bad guys.
 
I've read of some people keeping a dozen or so chocolate chip stars in their sump and switching them out routinely to get partly eaten and then give them a chance to regenerate. You can even put the star in a small cage so that it can't move around and eat your corals yet the shrimp can still get in and nibble away. I'm considering trying this.
 
Do the little white star fish really eat coraline, because I have a ton of them in my 58 and always wondered why I could not really grow coraline in this tank because my other tank is covered in it and I have not seen any in there
 
SOME of them have been seen eating coralline algae. Others have been seen eating corals.

Do you have an urchin in your tank? Many of those also eat coralline algae.
 
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