Harlequin Shrimp Detailed Article

he came today and boy is he tiny much smaller then i thought hed be, i hope doesnt get wrecked by my big ol scarlet (even though i know they are peaceful and that harlequins are incredibly strong!
I let the bag float for 15 minutes then i siphoned for 2 hours!
 
Conski: I have read that article and it is quite helpful when starting out. Haven't tried breeding them yet as it is hard to do and harder to order a male or female. I do not feed mine anything but asternia stars and it is thriving in my system. I have 100's of asternia so it has a never ending supply - even with me doing the odd asternia cleaning off the back wall of my tank. I have fed (by accident) a sand-sifting star because it was already in my system when I added the HS. They are fascinating shrimp and left alone by all the other members of the DT. Don't forget to be careful with the CC stars - they are not reef safe. Many keep them in their sump and remove a leg at a time and it regenerates. Sounds a bit too barbaric for met to do, and fortunately I don't have the need with all the asternia.

Good luck with yours, don't forget to post pictures.

HS.jpg
 
I've been considering 1 or 2 to control my asternia outbreak. Didn't know if they would quickly dispose of them all and then starve. If I did 1 as you have (75g tank) it sounds like it might be viable. I have to move my sandsifter first though, thats the big issue.
 
lanimret said:
I've been considering 1 or 2 to control my asternia outbreak. Didn't know if they would quickly dispose of them all and then starve. If I did 1 as you have (75g tank) it sounds like it might be viable. I have to move my sandsifter first though, thats the big issue.
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The one that I got for my 125 hasn't really made a dent in their population yet. I have to net them off the back wall of the DT to keep them from really growing out of control.

Good news is that they will leave serpent starfish alone. I have a large one and a small one and both have been in there for several months unharmed.
 
I never had any luck with the shrimp eating the astrenia either. I think they are more chocolate chip eaters. When I place a chip in the shrimp flips it over and holds onto it until it has finished it off. Depending on the size of the chip it can take a week to eat it all. I didn't't much care for the cutting legs off thing so tryed this and so far have not had any problems except one when the shrimp went into molt so I put the chip into the fuge till the shrimp was done.
 
Conski said:
he came today and boy is he tiny much smaller then i thought hed be, i hope doesnt get wrecked by my big ol scarlet (even though i know they are peaceful and that harlequins are incredibly strong!
I let the bag float for 15 minutes then i siphoned for 2 hours!
Click to expand...
might be small but just means it will have a longer lifespan for you to enjoy. Congrats on its arrival in good shape. You will enjoy it. Really personable shrimp as far as a shrimp can be personable.
 
I LOVE HIM! before i went to work all night i went out and bought him a medium size CC star and 11 little aster stars to populate my tank! I come home from work 7 hours later hes on top the of the guy in the middle of my tank doing work! the star is still alive ( no rot is nice!) I moved him clover to the front lol and now the star is trying to get away and hes pulling it back!

i am SO glad i got one they make me so happy to see eating! heres a couple pic of my little guy! i will be buying idoine tomorrow or when ever its aviable at my lfs

Im not worried about the CC in my reef he seems to have it under control and ill be buying a 29 gal bio cube within a week so ill be moving all my corals in that tank and the HS can have this tank all to himself with his stars lol and this cc is probably gonna last him a while.

im gonna do small water changes daily to help rotting if it occurs!

Phone Pictures 014.jpg Phone Pictures 008.jpg
 
It is incredible how strong they are. When I saw mine flip a sandsifting star I couldn't believe it. Looks great and glad he is eating. The asternia's won't seem to populate quickly, and then all of a sudden they are everywhere.
 
haha well i have 11 so hopefully they go crazy! that way i wont have to buy him 11 dollar chips every 2 weeks! CC are only not reef safe because they crawl on corals and stuff right? not because they release chemicals or anything like that

I know about the spinals
 
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