Harlequin shrimp in a reef tank

[MimicOcto8]

My friend was shutting down his tank and had no where to put his Harlequin shrimp so I saved the little guy and put him in my reef tank. He took care of all those little tiny starfish but now i'm afriad he's out of food. Does anyone else have one in their tank and if so what are you feeding him? I'm a little afraid of just dropping a chocolate star in there for him.

 

[youngtimothy]

I had a pair of them in my Reef tank for over a year, with no problem. I would feed them a chocolate chaip starfish approximatly once a month. they would usually come out and hunt for a few days then I would know they had finished one. they would come out within miniutes of dropping one in the tank so it didnt run aroound the tank. I knew I lost the shrimp when I had a CC starfish wandering around, then I took it back to the LFS. they are easy to catch.. good luck hope this helps they are a cool addition to a reef!

 

[MimicOcto8]

excellent info there. that did help a lot and I appreciate the time you took to tell me

 

[Alattner]

i saw a thread the other day and the guy was keeping chocolate stars in his sump and cutting off a leg every once in a while and feeding them that. if i can find the thread i will post a link for you

 

[sts04c]

i saw a thread the other day and the guy was keeping chocolate stars in his sump and cutting off a leg every once in a while and feeding them that. if i can find the thread i will post a link for you

I know someone that does the same thing, could be the same person.... Anyways they would just cut off no more than 2 legs per starfish so they could eat to regrow legs. They had more than 1 starfish and would rotate the cutting to keep the Harley fed.

 

[MimicOcto8]

wow thats even better info lol. thanks guys this is all a big help

 

[Alattner]

I know someone that does the same thing, could be the same person.... Anyways they would just cut off no more than 2 legs per starfish so they could eat to regrow legs. They had more than 1 starfish and would rotate the cutting to keep the Harley fed.

must be the same thread i was thinking of because that sounds just right. i think its a really smart idea and would help save on costs for feeding

 

[PolandSpring]

is it nasty to cut the leg off?

 

[joelq]

Here's a site with great info on these guys. He also goes into feeding techniques, etc.

Harlequin Shrimp

 

[MimicOcto8]

Here's a site with great info on these guys. He also goes into feeding techniques, etc.

Harlequin Shrimp

thanks

 

[tanktop74]

Make sure all the asterina stars are gone too. I traded this Harlequin for my marble starfish because some of the asterina's were eating my montipora.

I will either pass this one along for someone else when all my asterina stars are gone or will keep a chocolate chip star in my aquapod and periodically cut off a leg. That to me just seems less cruel and more practical as you are only needing one starfish.

 

[PR_Reefers]

I have a pair also for over 7 months now!! I feed them chocolate chip star legs.. whenever I see them wondering around the tank (every other week or so)...have had no problems whatsoever with any corals or tank inhabitants!! Here they are wondering for food