Breeding asterina stars in refugium for harlequin shrimp?

[BelieveInBlue]

Anyone ever try this? I was thinking of seeding my tank and refugium (biocube 32) with asterina stars. Do they have to eat algae? Or would a few pieces of kelp wafers every couple days do the trick? Could also feed them pellets/flakes/mysis.

Plan would be for the harlequin to mow down the stars in the display, and once a week or so I'd pull a few stars out of the back compartment, which I've turned into a refugium, and put them into the main tank. Chocolate chip stars aren't super common in Canada, especially these days; nor are they particularly cheap (~$20-25 each usually), so I'd much rather have a renewable food source for them.

 

[elysics]

A harlequin needs more than a few asterinas once per week, multiple times per day more likely. Don't think your tank is even close to big enough to grow enough asterinas sustainably. And they really prefer bigger starfish.

 

[BelieveInBlue]

A harlequin needs more than a few asterinas once per week, multiple times per day more likely. Don't think your tank is even close to big enough to grow enough asterinas sustainably. And they really prefer bigger starfish.

Darn. Do they eat all stars? Because I could collect cold water stars from tidepools and feed that to it. Do they take frozen/dead ones or does it have to be alive?

 

[elysics]

Frozen /coldwater stars might work, just make sure any leftovers are not left in your tank to rot and foul the water

 

[LegendaryCG]

Never had a harlequin but asterina populations seem to explode. I guess if you want more of them you could cut them up and let them regenerate. As far as food goes, they seem to eat just about everything. They eat detritus and algae in my tanks, but they supposedly will eat zoas/palys too.

 

[elysics]

Never had a harlequin but asterina populations seem to explode. I guess if you want more of them you could cut them up and let them regenerate. As far as food goes, they seem to eat just about everything. They eat detritus and algae in my tanks, but they supposedly will eat zoas/palys too.

It's similar to a mandarin, without one copepods explode too, doesn't mean they won't go extinct once you introduce a predator.

For asterina eradication, a heavily infested 30g tank might support the shrimp for maybe a month, then most of the stars are gone.

@BelieveInBlue
If you have tidepools with abundant stars available, that might be a good option though. I had short term success feeding mine pieces of frozen wild salmon and it definitely wasn't hungry, but i don't know how that works out longterm, the longest i read about one surviving on frozen fish online was a year if i remember correctly. Maybe alternate between that and harvested local stars, i kinda envy you for having thatoption

 

[BelieveInBlue]

I'm pretty close to the beach honestly and I quite enjoy going there, so I don't mind going every week for some fresh sea star legs. As long as the harlequin eats them that is. Also, I assume that coldwater stars won't survive in my tank, so I'll probably have to swap out the leg within like a week? I'm also assuming that a coldwater star wouldn't bring in any diseases that could survive a tropical environment, although maybe freezing the legs as a preventative would be a good idea in that case.

 

[sp1187]

I'm pretty close to the beach honestly and I quite enjoy going there, so I don't mind going every week for some fresh sea star legs. As long as the harlequin eats them that is. Also, I assume that coldwater stars won't survive in my tank, so I'll probably have to swap out the leg within like a week? I'm also assuming that a coldwater star wouldn't bring in any diseases that could survive a tropical environment, although maybe freezing the legs as a preventative would be a good idea in that case.

don't think they are picky as to what type of starfish. how big are these local tidal stars? chocolate chip size? bigger? smaller? take one leg from a tidal and see how harley feels about it.

 

[sp1187]

another option, if available to you, I used to buy asterinas from local reefers and the lfs.
10 for $1.

 

[BelieveInBlue]

don't think they are picky as to what type of starfish. how big are these local tidal stars? chocolate chip size? bigger? smaller? take one leg from a tidal and see how harley feels about it.

Well sunflower sea stars get up to a meter across, but most other species are 6-12 inches. On a side note, I wonder how many harlequins a sunflower star could feed...

another option, if available to you, I used to buy asterinas from local reefers and the lfs.
10 for $1.

Unfortunately it seems my local hobbyist group is kind of dead, though I haven't looked around in years. I will try my LFS too, but they're mostly pest free IME.

 

[davidcalgary29]

Just be mindful that you'll be introducing foreign pathogens into your tank, as well. More and more tropical species are showing up in waters off of southern B.C. -- along with their biomes -- and if you're not going to quarantine, you might as well anticipate some surprises. Unless of, course, you're near Prince Rupert..

 

[BelieveInBlue]

Just be mindful that you'll be introducing foreign pathogens into your tank, as well. More and more tropical species are showing up in waters off of southern B.C. -- along with their biomes -- and if you're not going to quarantine, you might as well anticipate some surprises. Unless of, course, you're near Prince Rupert..

Huh just looked this up. Ocean sunfish and triggers... Guess I'll hold off on feeding wild sea stars for now. Although, since they don't need heaters, I could just put one in a 5g bucket for a week or two to make sure it isn't carrying anything with it.

 

[elysics]

If you are worried, freeze it for a week. There isn't much that will survive that

 

[Tchung23]

Why not keep a larger star fish in your fuge and snap off an arm every once and a while? This sound morbid but I was told to do this if I wanted one of those cool looking shrimp.

Personally I could do that so I just bought a cleaner, fire and coral banded shrimp instead.

 

[BelieveInBlue]

Why not keep a larger star fish in your fuge and snap off an arm every once and a while? This sound morbid but I was told to do this if I wanted one of those cool looking shrimp.

Personally I could do that so I just bought a cleaner, fire and coral banded shrimp instead.

The tank is a biocube 32 and the back component isn't super large. I doubt a large star would survive in the back for very long as there's not a lot of algae for them to eat.