Will harlequin shrimp eat small brittle stars, micro stars- basically any stars?

[JIM260]

Or do they only eat the larger variety of stars? Within my 5 tank, 600 gallon connected system, i have thousands of small stars. So many in my 30 gal sea horse tank that when a mysis hits the gravel, cheato, or rock- its gone instantly but humdred of little arms.

 

[iamwhatiam52]

I've been wondering the same thing. I'de love to have a Harlequin but don't want to supply it with big starfish. Teeny brittle stars I have by the hundreds.

 

[iamwhatiam52]

I've been wondering the same thing. I'de love to have a Harlequin but don't want to supply it with big starfish. Teeny brittle stars I have by the hundreds.

 

[charlesr1958]

I've been "testing" what starfish families/species the harlequin will eat, and brittlestars are not one of them. In fact, when placed near the shrimp, the shrimp move away as if fearfull of them. If you have a steady supply of the asterina species that are commonly found as hitch hikers and can become quite prolific, they will eat those.

Chuck

 

[JIM260]

Any idea how many Asterina Stars a pair of Harlequin Shrimp would eat in a month?

 

[charlesr1958]

Am just taking an educated guess going by how fast a pair goes through an inch wide starfish. For the typicaly small asterinas, probably about one asterina per shrimp every three to four days.

I keep mine very well fed trying to increase egg clutches, if it were not for that, I would probably have them being fed a medium starfish every two weeks or so. Medium being just an inch or two across. Feeding them an entire Linkia species is wastefull because the starfish, after being killed within a week will start to deteriorate and have to be removed.

Chuck