Questions on Harlequin Shrimp

Tennyson

Tennyson

Active member
I'm interested in buying a Harlequin Shrimp, but would like to know a little more about them. I have tons of experience with other shrimps, and would like to kick it up a notch and try something different and a little more challenging.

COMPATIBILITY

Tank details-Compatible?
46 Gallon Bow Mixed Reef. Around 40-55 ib of live rock, I might add more. With live sand.

Fish:
1. Midas Blenny
2. Ocellaris Clownfish (3)
3. Green Chromis
4. Four Striped Damsel
5. Firefish Goby
6. Yellow Clown Goby
7. Diamond Watchman Goby

Shrimp/Crabs/Other:
1. Emerald Crabs (3)
2. Urocaridella Anemone Shrimp (2)
3. Anemone Shrimp
4. Sexy Anemone Shrimp (2, I plan to get more though)
5. Peppermint Shrimp
6. Skunk Cleaner Shrimp (2)
7. Coral Banded Shrimp
8. Serpent Starfish (2)
9. Corals
10. Coco Worm

I was just wondering if harlequin shrimps would eat serpent stars, they hardly come out, maybe once in a while at night. Will it harm them? I wouldn't care if it did though.

And theres no need to warn me about it possibly getting eaten by my fish or coral banded shrimp. I have had three different species of tiny anemone shrimp in my tank for over 4 months, and they have not died from them at all. So I think a Harlequin Shrimp would be compatible with my tank and its inhabitants.



FEEDING
As for feeding them, what specific species of starfish do these guys prefer? I think Choclate Chip Starfish, right?
Since I have a reef tank, I can't buy a bunch and let these non-reef safe stars roaming around, so would it be ok to keep the starfish in a temporary 2 gallon tank, or a small refugium?

And when I feed the starfish, would I feed the whole thing, or just a portion of the star, and throw out or freeze the rest? And how often will they need to be fed depending on how big each piece is?
Is there any kind of substitute food besides stars to feed them also?



And if theres anything else I should know about these, let me know. All replied are appreciated, thanks in advanced.
 
As far as being eaten, they may be poisonus. There is some research that suggests that they are and that is why they are so colorful and stay in the open in the daytime.

They will eat a serpent or brittle star, in fact they eat all stars that they find in their habitat. I have found that they have a preference for linkia stars, mine will eat a star down to nothing, but if they are eating a chocolate chip or other and I introduce a linkia they leave the star they are on and attack the linkia. I have never seen them on any other star in the wild either. The pair I have now came from a trip to HI and they were on a linkia like star when I found them.

The last bit of advice I can give you is the amount of food, I keep stars with them all the time. Of all the ones I've seen in the wild I have never seen one that was not on a star. I know some people feed them much less, and have success, but like I say, in the wild they are always with a star so I provide mine with a star at least every week, and if they eat it down or it begins to desintegrate I add another one and remove the dead one. If they aren't hungry the just don't eat, like when they are getting ready to shed, they usually stop eating for about 10 days, but when they start to eat again if I look there is a shed somewhere in the tank.

Good luck, they are one of my favorite shrimp
 
I know one guy on RC as Harlequin shrimp and he keeps a 10 gallon with 5-6 choclate chip stars and cuts off the stars legs for the harlequins to eat. The reason for the multiple satrs is so they can regenerate the legs after he cuts one off.
 
Philter4, thanks for the info. Its kind of weird because this morning I was looking over pics of them and also thought that they were so colorful because they might be venemous.
Thanks for the info.

It seems that most of you have pairs, or they should be kept in pairs, but the only LFS that gets them only carries one every month. Would adding a second one later establish a pair? They look beautiful together in the link you gave me charles.

That article was very helpful. It says that a pair would be able to fend for themselves and form their own territory so I think they would be ok in my tank. There are plenty of uninhabited areas of the tank they could live in.

So how much should I feed? It seems that a leg of a star would be good since it would take a shorter period of time to eat and it wouldn't rot if it wasn't all eaten. I think I would be able to feed them an arm or a whole star once every 1-3 weeks. Would that be enough to keep them properly nourished?

As for feeding the stars, I plan to feed them choclate chip starfish since they are the least expensive. the only problem is they aren't reef safe so they would have to be in a seperate tank. Could I keep them in a refugium, or a 2 gallon tank?
And what do choclate chip stars eat? Silversides, or are there any specific foods?

Thanks.
 
I don't know for a fact they are poisonous, but I have read some research to suggest they may be.

They are very territorial, so if you have one you shouldn't add another, they do fine as a single individual, but adding another one you need to know the sex and add the opposite. Even then I don't know if they will get along.

As I've said, people have success feeding as little as a star a month, but I always have stars in the tank for them, if they aren't hungry they don't eat. I also remove the star if it starts to look like it's dead because I don't want it to rot in the tank. I have seen lots of them in the wild and I've never seen them not on a star, this doesn't mean they don't fast, mine don't eat for a while before they shed, but IMO they need more food then one star a month.
 
OK, like I said, I could probably feed them every 1-3 weeks. A whole star or whatever.

I'd hate to have just one of them and risk buying another one later that it might hate and be aggressive towards.

So I guess I'll look for a place that gets two, unless two incompatible ones can be kept in a 46 gallon tank. Can they?
Or would it be ok to add another of the opposite sex later? Anyone have experience about this?
They just look so nice together, a pair would look great.

I still didn't get my Q's answered about keeping the choclate chip stars, I'll just start a new thread on that. Thanks
 
Id wait a month to feed it then drop a full choc star in with it and it will attack it and eat it fund to watch iv heard. Keep it hungry and feed hole stars
 
OK, I could try all these different methods and see which one workds best.

Anyway, about their compatibility, my fish book says that they like to be kept in pairs or groups, so that means I could have around 3-5. Wow, that would look awesome-just like the picture in the link. But that probably means if they are all added at the same time. Would it matter when each of them are introduced?

I wouldn't be able to find 4 at one time. And would they all hang out together or stay by themselves.

Thanks
 
Groups may work while they are juveniles, but once the males lay claim to a female and they form a pair, the males will defend the female from other males and other males will try to bully/fight their way in on the female.
And I have never heard of any type of shrimp being anything remotely close to being considered poisenous, if any reference material is out there, I would love to see it.

Chuck
 
charlesr1958 I don't have the research in front of me but reference to it can be found by the author John Hoover, he suggests that they can incorperate the poison from some of the stars, like crown of thorn, into their body making them distasteful if not poisonous.
 
Thats interesting, a poisonous shrimp. Can't a scientist just disect it and see if they contain poison anywhere?

Anyway, could I add a harlequin shrimp to the tank one at a time since my Lfs only gets them once a month? Maybe I could somehow get three females and a male or whatever. I guess for now I'll get one (2 If they have a pair) and add one of the oppositie sex if I see one, and will post back to update. Thanks, and Im seting up a 10 gallon to keep the stars in.
 
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