Asterina starfish farm for future harlequin shrimp and Aiptasia farm.

[starfishguy869]

P1
I would like to farm Asterina starfish that my LFS gave to me (15 starfish), how could I do this? I want them to lay asterina eggs, or do they even do that? Is there a way to make them reproduce asexually or by fragging (slicing them in half) to make them grow? I have already done this with one small one but I would like to know how to mass produce this process?

P2
An aiptasia anemone farm would be great for Berghia nudis but unfortunately, I am afraid that they would spread in to my main. Tips on aiptasia cultivation?

Hints and ideas would be useful. Thank you.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

P1
I would like to farm Asterina starfish that my LFS gave to me (15 starfish), how could I do this? I want them to lay asterina eggs, or do they even do that? Is there a way to make them reproduce asexually or by fragging (slicing them in half) to make them grow? I have already done this with one small one but I would like to know how to mass produce this process?

P2
An aiptasia anemone farm would be great for Berghia nudis but unfortunately, I am afraid that they would spread in to my main. Tips on aiptasia cultivation?

Hints and ideas would be useful. Thank you.

I don't think they reproduce asexually actually...most species don't. You'll probably just have to wait. They don't lay eggs. Most starfish reproduce by dispersing male and female gametes into the water column which then become larvae. Some larvae eat, some actually do not. I think you'll need to identify this species and it'll probably take a little more research than you were expecting.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I guess the first hint would be to identify the species.

 

[Jmp998]

There are quite a few threads on Aiptasia/Berghia farming. Do you have a specific question?

In general for 'farming' it is most efficient to have dedicated systems, if that is what you are asking. I do know at least one person had a flow through system farming Aiptasia/Berghia in line with the overflow from their display, but I think that would be hard to skill unless you have a large sump.

I don't know how Asterina reproduce, but since they reach high numbers in some tanks it does not seem to be an issue. I would guess with the right environment and no predators/competitors they would probably not be hard to farm. However I suspect that raising Harlequin shrimp would be much more challenging.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Yeah...the shrimp will almost certainly be more difficult. I would still advise you to attempt to identify the species (all 15 probably might not be the same species though) because how they reproduce and how quickly is species specific. I've had a few in a 10 gallon for years and never had them reproduce quickly... likely because there are several species with different characteristics. It's likely not an Asterina Star tbh but an Aquilerastra (I may have misspelled that). If you want to maximize the reproductive rate, youll either have to try to identify the species or wait and see how quickly the reproduce over time.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

It's likely not an Asterina Star tbh but an Aquilerastra (I may have misspelled that).

Close on the spelling - Aquilonastra.

Both Aquilonastra and Asterina are genuses of small starfish in the Asterinidae family, but Asterina stars are typically predatory and (at least primarily) reproduce sexually while Aquilonastra stars are typically not predatory and tend to reproduce more through asexual means (they’re fissiparous, so they reproduce through fission - basically they either split in half or drop a leg, and then the splits halves or the main body and the dropped leg then regenerate into fully-formed individual starfish). The fissiparous reproduction is why their populations tend to reach extreme levels in our aquariums; they can reproduce sexually as well (though I’ve never heard of them spawning in our tanks - it might happen unseen), but because they spawn rather than laying eggs or birthing live young, the spawn would likely be wiped out in a normal reef tank (pelagic larvae tend not to do very well in our tanks due to predation, removal by equipment and water changes, lack of available proper foods, etc.).

Is there a way to make them reproduce asexually or by fragging (slicing them in half) to make them grow? I have already done this with one small one but I would like to know how to mass produce this process?

I would guess that a healthy Aquilonastra star with proper food and water quality would survive a surgery like this and regrow into two stars, but I question if it would be more effective than allowing them to do naturally reproduce. I would guess that allowing them to do it on their own would be less stressful and likely result in higher rates if reproduction, but I could be wrong.

Either way, though, while there’s a fair chance that harlequins could spawn with an Aquilonastra diet (I haven’t been able to fully confirm this yet, and it may depend on the Aquilonastra species fed to them, but there is some evidence to suggest that it would work), you would need to consistently produce an unreasonably large number of stars to feed the harlequin broodstock and offspring long-term - these guys clean out even 300 gallon reef tank Aquilonastra infestations in weeks, not years.

So, to put it another way, short of basically beginning a commercial Aquilonastra farm with several hundreds of gallons of highly functional culture tank space and constant optimization of Aquilonastra culturing methods, you won’t be able to produce enough stars to feed even just the two shrimp in the broodstock pair of your farm as each shrimp will probably eat ~10-30 (accounting for different species and their sizes) Aquilonastra stars a day when full grown (see the quote below). So, assuming you need ~20 a day per full-grown adult shrimp, you’d need to be able to produce ~14,600 stars a year just to feed two adult shrimp.

about 15 a day,controlled feeding, she's only sm-med rt now

TLDR; It’s theoretically possible to farm harlequin shrimp using Aquilonastra stars as feeders, but it would require culturing an obscenely large number of stars to maintain a very small number of harlequins, so I would recommend against it.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Close on the spelling - Aquilonastra.

Both Aquilonastra and Asterina are genuses of small starfish in the Asterinidae family, but Asterina stars are typically predatory and (at least primarily) reproduce sexually while Aquilonastra stars are typically not predatory and tend to reproduce more through asexual means (they’re fissiparous, so they reproduce through fission - basically they either split in half or drop a leg, and then the splits halves or the main body and the dropped leg then regenerate into fully-formed individual starfish). The fissiparous reproduction is why their populations tend to reach extreme levels in our aquariums; they can reproduce sexually as well (though I’ve never heard of them spawning in our tanks - it might happen unseen), but because they spawn rather than laying eggs or birthing live young, the spawn would likely be wiped out in a normal reef tank (pelagic larvae tend not to do very well in our tanks due to predation, removal by equipment and water changes, lack of available proper foods, etc.).

I would guess that a healthy Aquilonastra star with proper food and water quality would survive a surgery like this and regrow into two stars, but I question if it would be more effective than allowing them to do naturally reproduce. I would guess that allowing them to do it on their own would be less stressful and likely result in higher rates if reproduction, but I could be wrong.

Either way, though, while there’s a fair chance that harlequins could spawn with an Aquilonastra diet (I haven’t been able to fully confirm this yet, and it may depend on the Aquilonastra species fed to them, but there is some evidence to suggest that it would work), you would need to consistently produce an unreasonably large number of stars to feed the harlequin broodstock and offspring long-term - these guys clean out even 300 gallon reef tank Aquilonastra infestations in weeks, not years.

So, to put it another way, short of basically beginning a commercial Aquilonastra farm with several hundreds of gallons of highly functional culture tank space and constant optimization of Aquilonastra culturing methods, you won’t be able to produce enough stars to feed even just the two shrimp in the broodstock pair of your farm as each shrimp will probably eat ~10-30 (accounting for different species and their sizes) Aquilonastra stars a day when full grown (see the quote below). So, assuming you need ~20 a day per full-grown adult shrimp, you’d need to be able to produce ~14,600 stars a year just to feed two adult shrimp.

TLDR; It’s theoretically possible to farm harlequin shrimp using Aquilonastra stars as feeders, but it would require culturing an obscenely large number of stars to maintain a very small number of harlequins, so I would recommend against it.

Part of the issue is that there are many species called by the same name incorrectly and they don't share the same traits. He was given 15 unidentified Stars so it's not really easy to predict reproductive rate even. But you're point was better about the sheer number required!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Part of the issue is that there are many species called by the same name incorrectly and they don't share the same traits. He was given 15 unidentified Stars so it's not really easy to predict reproductive rate even. But you're point was better about the sheer number required!

Agreed, the different species may all have different reproduction rates, cues, etc. and may have different food needs, ideal stocking densities, growth rates, reproductive maturity ages, etc. - all of these would impact production speed and could impact necessary culture methods as well.

 

[Stomatopods17]

Don't bother, harlequin's need too many asterinas to be kept healthy and long-term off them.

I had a 200 population before I began using them for the harlequins, I was out in less than a week. They eat a chocolate chip 5x their size in a week, a single asterina is maybe 1/100th of that that size and need fed constantly, way faster than they can breed.

Cheapest and most efficient way for harlequins is just buy a bunch of CC starfish, cut off a leg from each, give them the leg, spread out each feeding by a few days after they're done, then give them the whole star when they're down to 3 legs and replenish every 6 months, it eases the cost. It'd in theory make them free but I find feeding the chocolate chips equally as expensive for fast leg regrowth rates.