My experience with harlequin shrimp

Update!

Update!

It's been awhile, but time for an Update :wildone:


I've turned to the dark side and feed live now :angryfire:

Lol, but seriously, here and there I'll throw in a star and whenever I go to the LFS to get more and if they're still eating their current one I'll freeze any others. I can't keep a starfish alive for more than a couple days, I'm not sure why but they all end up "melting" sooner or later.. the harlys do a better job keepings them alive than me :hmm5:

My ten gallon will never be the same..

2wqbg2h.jpg


After this.. cyano, film, bryopsis, GHA, film, dinoflat.. whatever thats called, and bubble algae bloomed and I couldn't see in the tank for days until I got a credit card and scraped the side only for it to grow back.. Every coral (except some rics and the brain which I can't remove..) was removed and placed in another system.

Life lesson.. get a skimmer if you got harlequins :crazy1:

So far so good with the tankmates..
2 sexy shrimp
2 anemones hosting ricordeas
3 emerald crabs (for now.. we're at war with this algae so I don't know whats going to happen when it ends..I haven't had good crab experience in the past..)
2 nassaruis (need more..)
2 bumblebee snails
and.. 1 mexican turbo..

and recently I had an arrow crab in there ripping some bristleworms. He's in the 125 now as he molted and got scary in size :worried: still 20 more bristlworms and 5 more fire worms in there.. just gotta hope they starve and about a month ago a small eunice :eek2:

The Female picta has eggs! I have no clue if they are fertilized so I'll keep a watch, right now she's out hunting by herself as usual seperated from her mate :facepalm:
 
could i feed common starfish (Asterias rubens)? these are plentiful here in ny and i could harvest enough in the summer to get through the winter.
 
Great thread, very informative.

I just purchased a Harlequin shrimp today, as I have hundreds of asterina starfish overrunning my 180. I drip acclimated the shrimp and placed it in the tank, several minutes later it had all ready scared off a clownfish that got a little too close and caught a starfish. It is an amazing little creature.
 
They're pretty amazing!

I moved my harlys into the 125 gallon. So far so good. The arrow crab is 10x bigger and the harlequins scare it off occasionally. I'm guessing their sudden movements and colors throw predators off.. they do look poisonous in a way (thankfully they're not)
 
I love my pair so much id love to get another pair for my 90. Although im doing everything I can to keep a ribbon eel in there so idk if he will see the harlys as potential food :(
 
Update

Update

Since the harlequins have been relocated into the 125 gallon reef my first thought was they were going to hide from the fish and never come out.. I was wrong!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/HGmRlDUCGrc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The male actually came out to show all the fish gathering infront of their cave who's boss! (and while he wasn't paying attention the starfish escaped:lol2:)

One time he pinched the arrow crab's leg when he tried poking in for their starfish. The arrow crab later on didn't play nice with some chromis and was sumped so.. that solves that :/
 
I picked up another pair for my 90 gallon at Segrest farms a few days ago. Paired them up myself :D its a cellphone pic but here they are eating minutes after hitting the tank
y9aha2ah.jpg
 
Probably just an inch and a quarter or so. While seeing what gender they are I was pretty impressed at how strong they were outside of the water. Most shrimp will lay there like a lump or try and flick away but these guys were able to move out of water pretty well. Little shrimp tanks
 
It's very strange how underestimated these guys are. They look as weak as kites but are as bulky and strong as sharks.
 
I loved mine when I had them. Unfortunately finding starfish for them was a never ending hassle.

DSC04539_Starfish_Harlequin-vi.jpg


8harlequinstarfish-vi.jpg
 
Nice!

I have to travel about an hour to pick up stars.. and the lfs I go to is constantly changing the prices for better or worse. (10-15 dollars it the common prices)

I've consitured just ordering loads of them online to make the shipping worth it.

They can be little pains for how much I actually see them but I guess they're still worth it to experience their behavor every now and then.
 
It doesn't make much sense really. I've seen first hand a lot of species have so so survival rates from wholesalers so you have to charge enough to make a profit and account for losses. But really you aren't going to have much or any die off on cc stars they shouldn't charge upwards of X4 or even more wholesale
 
Then there is some like chromis who are known to even just vanish in an established tank. Let alone a LFS. Those buggers are literally $1 wholesale
 
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