Harlequin Shrimp Question

[Madreefer]

First off this is not the first time i've owned a harlequin shrimp, had one a few years ago and lost it when I added my MP40s. So I picked up 2 more last week. I also picked up a sand sifting starfish and froze it. Well the two shrimp I got wont eat the leg that I cut off. Twice now. Should I try a different flavour of starfish or not worry about it? There is a chocolate chip starfish at my LFS. I know there's at couple of you on here that have them. I have seen the odd asterina in my tank but not enough to keep these two alive. And pretty sure they dont eat brittle stars which I have alot of.

[High tide]

Keep the star alive next time and they should eat it.

[Madreefer]

This is how I fed my last one and was recommended to do it that way. Strange as this sounds and never heard of this but my CBB seems to have taken a liking to sand sifting starfish and ate the last one that I put in that was live. And no I'm not assuming that, I watched it happen

[High tide]

Wow! Very strange for a CBB to do that, but who knows what transpires on the reef in nature!? Maybe just doesn't happen our aquariums very often.
Maybe they're just being fussy in the beginning, in the wild they probably don't get frozen sea star arms too often.:razz:

[ElGuappo]

the way i have heard of feeding is to keep a couple stars in a seperate display tank and cycle taking legs from each star. then the legs have time to grow back. i thought it was you that was doing this before tho.

[phi delt reefer]

the way i have heard of feeding is to keep a couple stars in a seperate display tank and cycle taking legs from each star. then the legs have time to grow back. i thought it was you that was doing this before tho.


its impossible to do. It takes months for the starfish to recover and there is never enough food in a sump for the sucker to survive anyways. I just buy a chocolate chip starfish (smallest one i can find) and give that to my guy. It takes him a bit to finish it. I probably feed him once a month to every 5 weeks.


keep an eye on the chocolate chip stars for they are not reefsafe, though once the harley gets him its game over :mrgreen:

[Myka]

Get them eating the live starfish first, then wean onto frozen. Stick with the same specie. The LFS here gives a great deal on starfish for people who have Harlequins, maybe you can find a LFS that will do the same.

[Madreefer]

Thanks for all the replys. I thought about trying to keep a starfish in my refugium but I dont keep sand in it and stuffed full of rock instead. Looks like I'll be paying fairly large to feed these two. There is a large chocolate starfish at my LFS. I can't imagine the price, I asked about getting a harlequin shipped in and they wanted $80 each. Little steep for me, they also wanted the same price for a single mangrove. Oh the joys of having to order from 500 miles away

[Aquattro]

I'm lucky, I'm three houses from the beach, so I used to just go chop a leg off a star when needed. Which, BTW, is pretty tough to do!!

[phi delt reefer]

choclate chip stars are 50 cents from the wholesaler - my lfs charges $5-$8 bucks depending on how much water they are shipped with. they have always been cheaper than sand sifting stars in my area.

Speak to the LFS you bought them from and ask if they can order a starfish with every order once a month for you - doubt they would say no.

[Madreefer]

Just an update, well the harleys are now eating the peices of sand sifting starfish but I have to protect them from the CBB who wants to steal the peice from them. I've looked around on the net and have not found any info on CBB's eating starfish. Weird I say. I chase the CBB away with my tool that I pick stuff out of my tank with until the harleys pack the peice to a safe eating place.