harliquins and peppermints... questions on both

[Darrin]

question 1. Got a harliquin shrimp a month or so ago to eat the little annoying starfish in my tank. Have 2 chocolate chips standing by to donate arms, but I have not seen the shrimp in 3 weeks... Either she is hiding or dead...

If i put a chocolate in the tank, will she come looking for it cause of a sent or something or do they just stumble across starfish in their wanderings?

My tank is a 200, so she does have a lot of hiding places..

Question 2. I live 120 miles from galveston and you can catch hundreds of them in september... caught about 100 last week and several females are gravid. How long does it take for an egg to hatch? i put them in a refugium to see if they would hatch, but not sure how long it will take,...

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[sedor]

Shrimp can be sneaky little things sometimes. Chances are your harlequin is alive and simply hiding somewhere. Adding the chocolate chip won't release a scent or anything in the air, but with food in the tank its a lot more likely you will catch the shrimp in action. Another tip is to use a flashlight when your lights are off and search the rockwork. Animals tend to feel safer under the cover of dark and are usually pretty simple to find this way.

I don't have an answer on the peppermint shrimp because I have no experience in breeding them, but I have a feeling its not as easy as dumping them in a tank and watching baby shrimp go. Those babies need to eat and you probably won't be able to provide the proper food.

 

[Elysia]

I believe harlequin shrimp can sense starfish in some way, as stumbling over prey isn't a very effective method of locating food. However, whether or not you put a chocolate chip star into your 200 gallon --- do you have anything in the tank that the star will prey upon? Corals?

I assume that question 2 has to do with peppermint shrimp? It doesn't take long for the pepps to release their larva. It will happen soon after the daylights switch off.