Harlequin Shrimp (Hymenocera picta)

Almondsaz

Almondsaz

AC Members
May 26, 2007
1,527
0
0
Thought I would share my experience...so far. I, like most reefers have been plagued with Asternia Stars by the hundreds. So I have tried the netting them off the back of the tank (6 foot long) and that is a temporary response to the issue. I needed to get something more permanent, so I got a Harlequin Shrimp (HS). They are absolutely fascinating to watch and have as part of a reef tank. I have two serpent starfish and they are unharmed by the HS. I did find out that when you 'try to add' a sand sifting starfish to the system - lunch is served.

These little guys must be incredibly strong for their size. They start out by getting on top of the star and the off to the side and actually flip it over. Appears that they only like to eat the feet. Mine has also fended off any fish that even comes close to the area of his starfish.

So here is a picture....hope no one is squeamish.

DSC_0889.jpg
 
That seems like a pretty big star, I have a bunch of tiny ones all over my tank. Great picture, if I was sure I had enough stars to keep him alive I would get one.
 
Before I got the star in the picture he had been eating all the little asternia stars.
 
i dont have a reef tank but if i did i would love to get some of those shrimps
 
I have the same issue with the asternia stars, all over. I moved about 6 months ago and lost a lot of my cleanup crew since. I have not repopulated because we are moving again next month and i am going to be building a new dual tank in wall setup (Reef and FOWLR) to replace my current reef. So i am hoping I can hold off until after the move before adding anything in. The stars do a fairly decent job of keeping the tank clean in the mean time.

I worry they are going to take over the tank, and have considered this solution as well. I have a sand sifter now, but may just move that to my FOWLR tank and do what you've done at that point.

Thanks for the post, I had been wondering about this solution for awhile now.
 
I'm waiting for my LFS to order me a Harlequin shrimp. I've always wanted one and now that I have hundreds of Asterinas I want even more. And yes, I am prepared tobuy it's expensive lunch when I've run out of Asterinas!!:)
 
The good news is that it seems t0 leave my two serpent stars alone. But I stupidly added a sandsifting star and "lunch was served". My asternia population is still there just not at the epidemic proportion that it once was. I must say that they are beautiful and interesting additions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom