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Harlequin Shrimp....
- Thread starter LtSmash
- Start date
I have never owned any Harlequin shrimp, however I do find them very pretty. Now having said that I'd just like to add my comments. As much as some of you think it is cruel to feed them the starfish, it IS the natural thing for them, like it or not. Whether it happens in your tank or in the wild, it WILL happen. What about raising rotifers, or what about all the little buggies in the refugiums for the fish to feed on? They are also in a closed system with no where to escape to, and eventually every last one WILL be caught and eaten by one fish or another. I would also like to have them in my tank, unfortunately where I live stars are too expensive to use as food.
Now having also said that, I'd like to say what I DO know about them. They can live in a community reef setup as long as there is notheing else in there that will go after them. A tank with all peaceful, docile fish is good. Linkia type stars are the proper type to feed them, as this is what they go after in the wild. Other types such as the chocolatechip types are not. Also, the chocolatechips are not reef safe anyways, as they will eat lots of the corals ( there, how about that, isn't THAT cruel if a star eats a coral, afterall, corals are live animals also, right???). They also tend to do better in pairs.
Now having also said that, I'd like to say what I DO know about them. They can live in a community reef setup as long as there is notheing else in there that will go after them. A tank with all peaceful, docile fish is good. Linkia type stars are the proper type to feed them, as this is what they go after in the wild. Other types such as the chocolatechip types are not. Also, the chocolatechips are not reef safe anyways, as they will eat lots of the corals ( there, how about that, isn't THAT cruel if a star eats a coral, afterall, corals are live animals also, right???). They also tend to do better in pairs.
I don't know for sure what they eat in the wild, but I doubt they limit themselves to Linkia. Mine were very happy eating choc chip stars, and trust me, if you have harlequins in the reef the stars won't get a chance to nibble on one coral polyp.
Don't think I would waste a nice star like linkia on harlequins.
Don't think I would waste a nice star like linkia on harlequins.
i have seen them eat choc. chip stars as well as sand sifting stars both of which are relitvely inexpensive, you only need to feed them 1 medium star a month to survive, my friend feeds his 2 times a month for a total of $20 for them both, a small price to pay for such a magnificant animal.
so you feed them the entire star or just a leg at a time?? if it's the leg at a time thing, i don't think i could do that. would you just pull the star out of the sump/tank/etc and hack a leg off then throw it back in or what? that's too creul for me. at least when i treat my aggressive tank to live feeders, the goldfish are put out of their misery in under 5 seconds. with the star, it would just be slow mutilation. couldn't do it, although i do agree that the harlequin shrimp are beautiful.
I would put in a whole star. The shrimp seem to smell it because they come rushing right out. They work as a team and struggle to immobilize the star by turning it over. While one of them is doing that one will stick a long pointy front leg up into the stars legs from the base; I don't know if it's injecting a paralytic or something, or severing part of the stars hydraulic system. Whatever they do it immobilizes the star, and they drag it into a recess and eat the star over the course of a couple of weeks. I fed one a month to two shrimp.
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