LOVE my Harlequin Shrimp
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: Invertebrates
Forum Description: This is the place to ask questions about invertebrates.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=37412
Printed Date: February 13 2026 at 10:17am
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Topic: LOVE my Harlequin Shrimp
Posted By: thefu
Subject: LOVE my Harlequin Shrimp
Date Posted: December 23 2009 at 5:11pm
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Three months ago I had the biggest invasion of those pesky little Asterina starfish. No matter how many I pulled out, the next day there were another 20 taking their place it seemed. I read that the Harlequin Shrimp will work on these guys but I was not having high hopes. Still, I bought one from Chad and tossed it in there. If nothing else I figured it was about the coolest looking invert I had seen. Well a couple of months later and I am hard pressed to find even one of those starfish and he has left my big serpent star (Cinco) pretty much alone. Now I just need to find a way to catch him and put him in my nano to get them out of there. I just thought I would post this out there in case there is anyone else with tons of these crappy starfish invading your tank.
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Replies:
Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: December 23 2009 at 5:31pm
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Bait him with a Chocolate Chip star.
Mike -------------  |
Posted By: badfinger
Date Posted: December 23 2009 at 9:19pm
| Can a harlequin live pretty indefinitely on those little star fish? i would love to have a Harlequin but dont want to feed it starfish.. would that be an option? or would it die when they ran out? |
Posted By: Crzyfshguy
Date Posted: December 23 2009 at 10:52pm
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It would definately die after all the asterinas were gone. Lynn Griffith on here was feeding his a Choc chip star every few weeks with great success for quite awhile. ------------- 45G w/ leds 15G sump MP10es |
Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: December 23 2009 at 11:04pm
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They are specialized eaters and only eat sea stars.
Mike ------------- |
Posted By: badfinger
Date Posted: December 23 2009 at 11:24pm
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knew that, just was hoping that they wouldnt wipe out all the little stars and could survive... thanks guys
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Posted By: thefu
Date Posted: December 24 2009 at 12:27am
| My little guy is only about an inch and a half. I highly doubt that he would be able to eat a chocolate chip starfish every few weeks. He doesn't seem to move around very fast so I can't imagine his metabolism is that fast. Are we talking about the same kind of chocolate chop starfish? The 3" variety? |
Posted By: Crzyfshguy
Date Posted: December 24 2009 at 12:39am
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Yes... Lynn had one a little bigger than an inch and a half, and maybe it was less often than every 3 weeks. I do know for a fact it was eating 3-4 inch choc chips though, I sold them to him on several occasions. They digest them slowly over the course of a couple weeks, the bigger the star the longer the process. They dont just gobble them up in one sitting. ------------- 45G w/ leds 15G sump MP10es |
Posted By: Crzyfshguy
Date Posted: December 24 2009 at 12:42am
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Badfinger, my suggestion would be to wait until your asterina population is HUGE before you add a Harlequin, so that it takes quite awhile to run out. That or maybe you could pick some up from other reefers, I know I have some in my tanks, but for some reason they have leveled off, for awhile they were going crazy. ------------- 45G w/ leds 15G sump MP10es |
Posted By: griffith
Date Posted: December 24 2009 at 9:54am
Yes I had one for a long time and loved it 
At first it to 3 weeks to eat a starfish - at the end it ate one every 1.5/2 weeks.
So fun to watch them flip the starfish over, etc.
Now you made me want another one.
Linn
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Posted By: thefu
Date Posted: December 24 2009 at 12:54pm
| It amazes me that this tiny thing would eat something 10x it's mass every two weeks. I guess I will have to rent him out. :) |
Posted By: Sculpin
Date Posted: December 24 2009 at 1:20pm
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I had a pair of Harlequins for almost a year before they disappeared. I love em'! I had a massive asteria star problem and they wiped the tank clean in about a month. I feed them a chocolate chip leg every week and sometimes threw the whole thing in. I don't know what happened to them (maybe I didn't feed them enough?) but I still don't get asteria stars. They wiped them out completely. Here is a pic of my old friends-  Micah
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Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: December 24 2009 at 1:56pm
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Great photo Micah!
Mike ------------- |