NoobtoSalt Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 So one of the few things in this hobby that I haven't had yet is a harlequin shrimp. From the research I have done I don't want to feed it for a long period of time so it would be likely that I would buy one have it clean my tank of asterina's and sell or trade it off to the next person as I don't want to buy star fish to feed it since I have just a little cube. Does anyone else have a suggestion on something I can add to the tank other than a harlequin that could help eradicate my star fish problem? The stars are not hurting anything but I have a good amount in the tank for some reason and just can't get to a controllable level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Harlequins work great! They are an awesome shrimp. We would feed ours chocolate chip stars but unfortunately I think the wrasses ate them (sad) They do a great job of clearing out the asterina population and I'm sure you would have no difficulty passing it off to someone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteRock Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 I always thought it would be cool to have a Halequin group of like 4 people. Each person gets the shrimp for 2-3 months and then passes it to the next. If it dies inyour tank, you buy the next person one. They are really cool critters and I love to see them walk around and eat. I'm just not sure what to do with them once my tank is clear of asternias. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted April 11, 2012 Author Share Posted April 11, 2012 I always thought it would be cool to have a Halequin group of like 4 people. Each person gets the shrimp for 2-3 months and then passes it to the next. If it dies inyour tank' date=' you buy the next person one. They are really cool critters and I love to see them walk around and eat. I'm just not sure what to do with them once my tank is clear of asternias.[/quote'] I know people just buy chocolate chip star fish and chop a leg off and fed them to it but I just don't have the tank to do that with. If I had a real sump it would be different but Just don't have the space anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matty Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 In a tank your size the harlequin would wipe out the asterinas in a week or two. Why not just pull them out by hand as you see them? It would be very stressful for the shrimp to be passed from tank to tank once a month. Just my 2 cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted April 11, 2012 Author Share Posted April 11, 2012 In a tank your size the harlequin would wipe out the asterinas in a week or two. Why not just pull them out by hand as you see them? It would be very stressful for the shrimp to be passed from tank to tank once a month. Just my 2 cents. That's kind of what I was thinking too, I've been picking them out for months now though every day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gradth Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 I love mine. Fun to watch. Of course I have a huge asternia population to keep him well fed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr S Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Jesse, when I pull asterinas the best time seems to be at night when the lights are off. They seem to congregate on the front of the tank so they are easier to get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fast5oranger Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 I had a harlequin that I lost shortly after I moved. He was picky and did not eat asterinas. I put a whole chocolate chip in the tank every 5 weeks or so and kept my harlequin happy for almost two years. Very cool creature! But it's not always a for sure on the asterinas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frlejo Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Mine died off natural in about 6 months Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted April 12, 2012 Author Share Posted April 12, 2012 Jesse' date=' when I pull asterinas the best time seems to be at night when the lights are off. They seem to congregate on the front of the tank so they are easier to get.[/quote'] Been there done that. Just too many to deal with for the time I want to spend doing it Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Not sure what you have for fish but I am thinking one of mine had shrimp cocktail for snack one evening or morning as I have not seen mine in about 2 weeks' granted I have not seen my dalmation starfish either. I was hoping the shrimp was held up somehwere eating and I just cant see him. I have a survivor pepermint shrimp and to blood shrimp and those have not become fish food, but they are large too. I want to get another but at 30-35 a pop its risky, but I have some asterinas that need to go away. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramy Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 I always thought that asternias were a good sign of a healthy tank I kind of like them. Never thought about getting rid of the lil buggers =) Although I have seen my hawk fish pic at them from time to time so maybe he keeps my population in check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Too funny, after I posted that this morning, I saw my Harlequin cruising the bottom, he must have ate all he could of my dalmation-RIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaticEngineer Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 After the asterinas are gone, if chocolate chip stars prove to be too spendy hit me up. I can get tons of starfish to use as feeders and I've been doing research on the viability of freezing them as a food source for Harlequins. I've talked with a few people who have done it succesfully now, so if you want to give it a shot I can get you some for cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaticEngineer Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 After the asterinas are gone, if chocolate chip stars prove to be too spendy hit me up. I can get tons of starfish to use as feeders and I've been doing research on the viability of freezing them as a food source for Harlequins. I've talked with a few people who have done it succesfully now, so if you want to give it a shot I can get you some for cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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