Let's talk about Harlequin shrimp
- Thread starter E.intheC
- Start date
AJSTITAN14
New member
Unless you have a feeder population of Asterina stars in a sump or feedstock tank don't get one. This practice of chopping arms off large stars to feed Harlies is cruel.
VacavilleFC3S
New member
nobody sells asterinas in the amounts you'd need. chocolate chip starfish are there main diet.
hiramshaish
In Memoriam
sounds cruel to me...
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
No offense, but what do you all feed your fish? Most fish are carnivores or omnivores, so something died somewhere to feed them.
I have 2 spare tanks going besides the tank my Harlequins are in. My 135g tank & 5gal nano and I have put astrea stars in both tanks. I can take apx 10-15 stars out of both tanks a week to 10 days without depleating the astrea population.
There is no way I'm ever able to harvest enough astreas too keep my 2 harlequins well fed. I suplement their feeding mostly with chocostars. They love linkia stars but they get to be costly so they mabby get 3 linkias a year compared to 1-2 choco stars a month.
Cheers!
There is no way I'm ever able to harvest enough astreas too keep my 2 harlequins well fed. I suplement their feeding mostly with chocostars. They love linkia stars but they get to be costly so they mabby get 3 linkias a year compared to 1-2 choco stars a month.
Cheers!
AJSTITAN14
New member
Killing something isn't the issue. Keeping something just alive enough to harvest a part of it over and over again is the part I have a problem with. This is not a humane practice.
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
And yet, when people do it with corals and anemones, it's called fragging. Besides, many starfish reproduce asexually in just that way. Just saying that it's not exactly a black and white situation. I'm not exactly completely comfortable with the idea myself, though I suppose that it's possible to maintain 50 starfish in a separate system so that you'd only have to harvest one arm from one starfish once per year. Would that be better since you're avoiding the "just alive enough" part? Or, is it better to just give the shrimp the whole starfish at once so that it just dies and then you haven't cut off an arm?
I'm not saying that it's not a moral quandary. I just don't think it's a simple one.
circusink22
New member
i got a harlequin too eat my overpopulation of stars, took him about 3 weeks too eat thousands of stars, i have a few CC in my fuge i rotate breaking arms too feed my harlequin every other week in between the CC starfish legs he munchs on Asterina stars that still multiply in my tank. I have had my shrimp for 3 or 4 months seen him molt twice he hides under my bubble in the day and at night comes out to eat. As for it being cruel breaking legs off a starfish well i cant agree the shrimp needs to eat, I see it no more cruel then feedings my snakes rats, or watching a cat stalk and kill a rabbit or mouse, or catching a fish in a lake and eating that lol you get my point.
circusink22
New member
when i first put my harlequin in the water it started eating, within 2 hours all the Asterina stars climed to the top of the tank me and my wife counted a little over a thousend of them. it was almost 3 inches of stars at the top of the tank and my camras were dead. couple of my friends saw it and couldnt belive it, and like i said in about 3 weeks they were gone i just have some straglers that are still multipling enough to give my shrimp a snack.
