Harliquin Shrimp Care

[EllisJuan]

I picked up a Harliquin and was told he eats starfish. He recommended droping in a chocolate starfish for home every 1 to 2 weeks. Does this sound right? I could alwats use advice from someone with experience with these guys.

Here is a pic of mine chowing on a chocolate chip:

Personally I think he hs a great looking specimen and cant believe the pics thsis iPhone 4 can take.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[WXB]

Harlequin shrimp ONLY and ONLY eat starfish. They will not eat any other food. This is their natural food in the wild. I don't find this too great and it is a bit cruel, but I've heard someone buy a whole bunch of chocolate chip starfish, which is pretty cheap and freezing them. When feeding them, you just break off part of the legs and drop it in the water.

I believe it is cruel to freeze a live animal in the freezer....and let it slowly die. However, I don't know of anyother way that you can actually keep this shrimp alive. Too bad they are not scavengers like other shrimp that will take in flakes, and brine. The harlequin will basically eat any type of starfish, be it Linkia, Fromia, etc.

 

[Dino]

This thread has been moved to the current forum.

 

[ousnakebyte]

So... you bought an animal - one that was collectd from a wild reef no less - without doing any research on it first?

Sigh...

 

[EllisJuan]

So... you bought an animal - one that was collectd from a wild reef no less - without doing any research on it first?

Sigh...

No, I did what reading I could. I know what water peramiters it prefers. I know that they feed exclusively on starfish and sometimes urchins. I plan on keeping him well fed. I was just looking for any other advice anyone felt like offering.

Sorry.

 

[ousnakebyte]

I picked up a Harliquin and was told he eats starfish. He recommended droping in a chocolate starfish for home every 1 to 2 weeks. Does this sound right? I could alwats use advice from someone with experience with these guys.

Thanks for any advice.

Well... that's just not what it sounds like.

But, and I may get chastised for this, I prefer to leave these guys on the reef, as they seem to be a natural predator of Crown of Thorns Sea Stars.

And, to feed them, we need to keep pulling animals from wild reefs - IMHO, it's just an all around bad practice. It would be one thing if we could feed them aquacultured stars.

Again, it's just my opinion.

Cheers
Mike

 

[EllisJuan]

Well... that's just not what it sounds like.

But, and I may get chastised for this, I prefer to leave these guys on the reef, as they seem to be a natural predator of Crown of Thorns Sea Stars.

And, to feed them, we need to keep pulling animals from wild reefs - IMHO, it's just an all around bad practice. It would be one thing if we could feed them aquacultured stars.

Again, it's just my opinion.

Cheers
Mike

I understand your feelings completely. I have heard of people buying one starfish, keeping it in their fuge, then trimming an arm off once a week to feed the Harliquin. By the time they work their way back around to the the arm they started with, 5 weeks earlier, it has regenirated. This allowed them to keep their Harliquin fed properly, minimized the cost, and lessened the impact on the natural reef starfish.

I would like to try this once he gets settled in.

 

[brannock_16]

I have been looking into getting a pair of these shrimps as well and from the extensive readings and research this is the best solution I have come up with to consistently have food for them:

First and foremost, these shrimp feed exclusively on meaty starfish. They will decimate any asterina population you have in your tank. If supplemental feeding of other stars (linkia, chocolate chip, asterina, etc) is not provided the shrimp will die.

Secondly, freezing the stars is not the best idea as once the frozen pieces are put in the tank they will begin to decay and pollute your water chemistry. The best way to supplementally feed these shrimps is to have a chocolate chip "farm" in your sump/refugium.

What I mean by having a "farm" is to have roughly 3-5 chocolate chip stars in your sump and once your shrimp let you know they are hungry (they will begin avidly searching for food in your tank by running around) you will cut a leg off one star and put it in your DT for the shrimps to consume. Once the leg has been cut off, the starfish will regenerate a new leg, and therefore you rotate your starfish harvesting amongst the 3-5 starfish in your sump/fuge.

By having multiple chocolate chip starfish in your sump, you allow each time to regenerate before harvesting another leg. But make sure the shrimps eat the leg put into the tank as chocolate chip stars can devastate a reef.

Here is an excellent web site that will provide more info for you. http://www.chucksaddiction.com/harlequinshrimp.html

Hope this helped you and your harlequin.

Robert

 

[EllisJuan]

I have been looking into getting a pair of these shrimps as well and from the extensive readings and research this is the best solution I have come up with to consistently have food for them:

First and foremost, these shrimp feed exclusively on meaty starfish. They will decimate any asterina population you have in your tank. If supplemental feeding of other stars (linkia, chocolate chip, asterina, etc) is not provided the shrimp will die.

Secondly, freezing the stars is not the best idea as once the frozen pieces are put in the tank they will begin to decay and pollute your water chemistry. The best way to supplementally feed these shrimps is to have a chocolate chip "farm" in your sump/refugium.

What I mean by having a "farm" is to have roughly 3-5 chocolate chip stars in your sump and once your shrimp let you know they are hungry (they will begin avidly searching for food in your tank by running around) you will cut a leg off one star and put it in your DT for the shrimps to consume. Once the leg has been cut off, the starfish will regenerate a new leg, and therefore you rotate your starfish harvesting amongst the 3-5 starfish in your sump/fuge.

By having multiple chocolate chip starfish in your sump, you allow each time to regenerate before harvesting another leg. But make sure the shrimps eat the leg put into the tank as chocolate chip stars can devastate a reef.

Here is an excellent web site that will provide more info for you. http://www.chucksaddiction.com/harlequinshrimp.html

Hope this helped you and your harlequin.

Robert

Wow, that is great information and a great link! Thanks!

 

[ousnakebyte]

I understand your feelings completely. I have heard of people buying one starfish, keeping it in their fuge, then trimming an arm off once a week to feed the Harliquin. By the time they work their way back around to the the arm they started with, 5 weeks earlier, it has regenirated. This allowed them to keep their Harliquin fed properly, minimized the cost, and lessened the impact on the natural reef starfish.

I would like to try this once he gets settled in.

You are going to need a lot more than one sea star to work around the arms. They will not regenerate that quickly.

The link provided by brannock_16 is a nice one and does have some good information. The author writes, "In order to avoid having to feed an entire starfish at one time it is a common practice to cut off one of the starfishes arms and feed that to the shrimp while keeping the remainder of the starfish in another aquarium. In due time, the starfish will regenerate its lost arm. By keeping a number of starfish, you can rotate through the starfish, having them each donate an arm when required. I find this method of feeding to not only be less wasteful of starfish, it also allows the shrimp to feed right away. It can take a few days for the shrimp to actually break through a starfish in order to get at the internal parts that they eat."

The author does not, however, list which species is best for this, how long it takes a given species to regenerate an arm, etc. In theory this seems like a sustainable practice, but many stars are known for not always regenerating an arm that quickly - if ever - in captivity (this is exclusive of asterina, brittle and serpent stars, which seem to regenerate readily). In addition, stars like Linkia sp. are already very delicate. Hacking them to pieces is not advisable.

However, as I have already stated, this seems to be a nice predator of the Crown of Thorns Sea Star. Removal of these (and the Triton's Trumpet) will likely contrubute to more Crown of Thorns outbreaks.

Harlequin Srimp feeding on Crown of Thorns

Now... if you can find a readily available source for COT stars... go for it...

Cheers
Mike

 

[r_jay]

You would think if we started to harvest these COT stars solely for food for harlequins our problems with the COT would be soon over, lol. LETS DO IT, we are great at harvesting a species till they're extinct.

BTW I too am planning on getting a pair of harley's and am already getting my chocolate starfish farm growing in my sump.

Also I would DEFINATLY reiterate do not put an entire chocolate star in your tank. One harley only needs one leg per 2 weeks and if he mortally wounds the star and stops eating it then you lost an entire star and polluted your tank in the process.

 

[WXB]

Why is it that people just think just because we can its ok to rape on species to have another in our aquariums? I dont know if this is just me but i see no point in hacking a starfish apart and feeling like it is ok. I am not some soft little women. I lost enough blood and sweat in my deployments with the 3rd RANGER BN. I have a heart and i do not see the point of putting star fish in a sump just to hack it up. Why do people insist on buying thies things. The more people who buy them the more they will be sold. People need to wise up and left them the hell alone. Just my humble opinions.

 

[ackee]

Starfish gourmet

Starfish gourmet

I have a Triton Trumpet that also eats only starfish. I knew this when I collected it in the Caribbean. I've seen many, many large Tritons over the years, but the one I brought home with me was the only very small one I've ever seen, about half the size of my thumb. The rest were usually between 8 and 12 inches, weighing several pounds. They are secretive, hiding in holes and under ledges during the day. They are extremely beautiful creatures, and unfortunately are killed for their magnificent shells, a popular tourist purchase. You can see my Triton Trumpet as he appeared a year ago on my public profile personal info page here. He looks the same now, but is bigger. Fantastic colors.

I knew in advance that I'd need lots of feeder starfish, but I'm a diver and live near the coast, and I can collect limitless numbers of common starfish easily just snorkeling in shallow water near fishing boat docks, where they carpet the bottom feeding on discarded fish entrails. I can collect a hundred in 20 minutes, with no visible effect on their population density. They also are major predators on mussle beds, and seem to have few natural enemies (excepting me). After two years my Triton has gotten very large, and keeping an adequate supply of starfish in the freezer over the winter is crowding out my own frozen foods. I'm not sure what will happen when he outgrows the 90 gal tank he shares with only a mated pair of Neon Gobies and a couple of shrimp.

Obtaining food for the Triton is not a problem for me, and I knew this before I collected the lovely creature. I suppose I did ignore the inevitable size issue, but I think I've got a couple of years before it becomes significant. At this point buying even cheap starfish would be extremely expensive. The Triton would knock down at least one every day. There is no problem freezing starfish, or cutting off sections . A Harlequin Shrimp eats only a very small amount, so freezing and sectioning is the only way to go. I see nothing wrong with using starfish as food. Freezing an invertebrate is not an ethical problem or an act of cruelty, and I'm a committed vegetarian. Good luck with an interesting and unusual animal.

 

[brannock_16]

Why is it that people just think just because we can its ok to rape on species to have another in our aquariums? I dont know if this is just me but i see no point in hacking a starfish apart and feeling like it is ok. I am not some soft little women. I lost enough blood and sweat in my deployments with the 3rd RANGER BN. I have a heart and i do not see the point of putting star fish in a sump just to hack it up. Why do people insist on buying thies things. The more people who buy them the more they will be sold. People need to wise up and left them the hell alone. Just my humble opinions.

The fact of the matter is is that if there is a demand for a product or good there will always be a supply. The fact that the harlequin shrimp is a beautiful reef specimen means that there will always be a supply for them in the aquaria trade.

I think that you have a valid point by saying that harvesting starfish legs can be cruel, but the fact of the matter is is that the person who initiated this thread wanted to know a way to care for their newly purchased shrimp and there are only a handful of ways to do this. I simply stated one viable option amongst a select few. It is important that in order to not "rape" a species, we exhibit proper husbandry skills to keep those that are in the trade alive and thriving.

If you are anti-harlequin shrimp harvesting than where does it end? Moorish Idols have an extremely high mortality rate in aquaria trade but it never fails that online sites and LFS's will always have them in stock. Seahorses, pipefish, Latz clowns, mandarin gobies, copperband butterflies, octopi...all exhibit extremely difficult demands for aquariasts yet they will always be imported and marketed for the trade. And these are only livestock that are difficult to keep...think of all the corals that rtn or die in the trade.

The important thing to do is make sure we exhibit proper husbandry skills and hopefully bring new and exciting aspects to the aquaria trade. There are countless people that are trying to breed captive harlequin shrimp, thus depleting our dependency on wild caught specimens. ORA has successfully bred and raised mandarin gobies for the aquaria trade that often times will feed on copepods, frozen food, and pellets thus reducing our dependency on wild caught, finicky eating mandarins.

We all just need to make sure that we can provide the most suitable environment for our marine life and not let them just survive, but thrive! We also must push the envelope so we can prolong and proliferate the trade that we have all come to love.

Just my .02 cents.

 

[ousnakebyte]

Ackee - as you know, your Caribbean triton is not a predator of COT stars - we are good there.

But, when you say "freezing an invertebrate" we need to be careful. I agree that some of the more "simple" (I really hate using that) inverts likely don't have pain receptors and would not sense 'pain' like we do. However, I would not recommend freezing a live octopus or cuttlefish. But, that's getting off target of this thread.

The fact of the matter is is that if there is a demand for a product or good there will always be a supply. The fact that the harlequin shrimp is a beautiful reef specimen means that there will always be a supply for them in the aquaria trade.

Just b/c there is demand and a supply doesn't make it right. Shark fins are a perfect example of this.

If you are anti-harlequin shrimp harvesting than where does it end? Moorish Idols have an extremely high mortality rate in aquaria trade but it never fails that online sites and LFS's will always have them in stock. Seahorses, pipefish, Latz clowns, mandarin gobies, copperband butterflies, octopi...all exhibit extremely difficult demands for aquariasts yet they will always be imported and marketed for the trade. And these are only livestock that are difficult to keep...think of all the corals that rtn or die in the trade.

For me, the difficulty in keeping a specimen is not the issue, it's that, currently, you have to keep harvesting reef animals to feed a reef animal. This would be no different that harvesting sponges to feed your nudibranch population. In addition, harvesting this particular reef animal likely has a direct detrimental effect on wild reefs, as COT outbreaks seem to be more and more common.

The important thing to do is make sure we exhibit proper husbandry skills and hopefully bring new and exciting aspects to the aquaria trade. There are countless people that are trying to breed captive harlequin shrimp, thus depleting our dependency on wild caught specimens. ORA has successfully bred and raised mandarin gobies for the aquaria trade that often times will feed on copepods, frozen food, and pellets thus reducing our dependency on wild caught, finicky eating mandarins.

We all just need to make sure that we can provide the most suitable environment for our marine life and not let them just survive, but thrive! We also must push the envelope so we can prolong and proliferate the trade that we have all come to love.

Just my .02 cents.

Agreed - maintain good water quality and minimize your losses. Learn how to move from wild capture to aquaculture.

I would have no problem with aquacultured harlequins feeding on aquacultured stars. I realize you have to harvest these animals to do these experiments, yes. But, I have yet to see any detailed reports of people being able to keep the "starfish arm-farm" sustained for the entire life of their harlequins.

If anyone keeping harlequins has been successful with the regeneration of their sea stars' arms and has 15-20 (or whatever the number) stars that successfully rotate through arm donations and subsequent regenerations, I would love to see your setup, with detailed pictures of arm harvesting and regeneration and then harvesting again - basically detail the complete captive cycle. Plus, how long all this process takes in captivity.

I'm not saying it cannot be done - I've just never seen documentation.

Cheers
Mike