Let's talk about Harlequin shrimp

these are my mated pair female on right is pregnant. just dropped in a chocolate starfish in front of there cave

<a href="http://s217.photobucket.com/albums/cc262/briankmarsh1980/?action=view&current=DSCF0508.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc262/briankmarsh1980/DSCF0508.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

they are taking him into there house

<a href="http://s217.photobucket.com/albums/cc262/briankmarsh1980/?action=view&current=DSCF0509.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc262/briankmarsh1980/DSCF0509.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

and 2 seconds later

<a href="http://s217.photobucket.com/albums/cc262/briankmarsh1980/?action=view&current=DSCF0510.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc262/briankmarsh1980/DSCF0510.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

I just drop in a starfish, they grab it take it home.. depending on the size this 1 is small so it will only last a couple weeks but the last one I had lasted a month.. I wait about 4 days after they ate the last star and then give them another
 
gkaquatic

waikiki aquarium has bred/raised harley's in the since the early/mid 90's. I am not a member of their organization so I cannot pull up their article.

I have 2 spawning pairs of harleys and from what I remember they are raised the same as other "shrimp larvae" till they settle and begin eating starfish. I am getting my breeding system ready, as they produce a batch every 2-3 weeks.

Bryan
 
I read an article somewhere that you can feed the larvaes baby brine shrimp until they are ready to feed on starfishes.
 
Added my harley about a month ago. Got him to deal with a zoa-eating asterina problem. He is one of the coolest things in the tank, IMO.

Can anyone tell me if these guys will do okay in a seahorse tank that's kept a little colder, around 75 degrees?


Here's a pic of mine with my little point-and-shoot camera.

Jeffrey.jpg


And a pic of the starfish problem (I scrape 50-100 off my overflow every day). I've lost several zoa colonies to the stupid starfish...

Asterinas2.jpg
 
75 is not a problem. I have my tank at 73. :D

If anyone is looking for a pair, or a single male Hawaiian shrimp. Let me know I have them available.
 
If I have a problem like a few posts above in a 180. Should I attempt to find a pair of Harlequin shrimp, or just add one?
 
How hard will it be to get the harliquin back out if it runs out of starfish? Can you usually net them?

Is it true that feeding it starfish may increase my nitrates, due to the waste?
 
gatorrx98 said:
If I have a problem like a few posts above in a 180. Should I attempt to find a pair of Harlequin shrimp, or just add one?
Click to expand...

You can get a pair, but know that you'll have to eventually feed starfish every 2 weeks or so.

(Same with one)..

These are some of my favorite reef creatures though. Definitely worth the slight hassle and expense.
 
Last edited:
are these guys the tiny little shrimp that like to hide in the anemone? I can go get starfish without a problem here.... I might have to look into getting a couple.
 
Mine doesn't hide. He'll show his big claws at my 6-line wrasse (to be fair, he's about the same size...wrasse is tiny). You might be thinking of anemone shrimp.

Try this


Mine is still chowing down on starfish. I've finally noticed a dent in the population, in that I only scrape about 50 tops off my overflow every day, versus 100 or so. The other night I was sneaking a peek and could actually see my harley walking on the coraline on the back wall and hunting stars. It was impressive, IMO, because when I first put him in the tank he was getting blown around on the substrate in a relatively calm area of the tank, now he was 12" from a modded Tunze 6025, pretty much taking it full flow, and not even phased by it.

I have no qualms about feeding CC stars when the time comes, I'll just be glad to put some zoas back in my display.
 
I'm definitely going to pick one up today. Can't wait to see it on the prowl. Is there any chance that my rather large coral banded shrimp is going to go after it?
 
I added my harlequin this afternoon after fishing out my brittle stars with krill on a bamboo skewer. I wasn't able to get one of them with the bait, so he is probably going to be harlequin bait.
 
i have a lot of the small brittle stars. will a Harlequin eat them? i need to thin the population of the brittle stars and the asterina stars as well.
 
i don't have time to go back and read the whole thread looking for that info. sorry. if you knew the answer why not just post it?

Carl
 
Carl, in my personal experience, I think mini brittles are too quick and hide too much for Harlequins. I'm sure there are others who can chime in more.

IMO, mini brittle stars are very helpful and don't hurt anything though, so I'm not sure why you want to get rid of them? Asterinas will be consumed by Harlequins though.
 
I bought a harlequin to combat my asternias. Had some collateral damage today...



IMG_3624.jpg


IMG_3625.jpg

You can also see one leg he's already chomped on.

IMG_3627.jpg
 
Ouch. Bummer. You can pull the star out of the tank (keep him in water, obviously) and he should recover as long as the damage isn't too bad.
 
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