DEVELOPING FROZEN HARLEQUIN FOOD

[blntsmk]

I've heard "Just chop a leg off of a fancy star and keep it in your sump" one too many times and am still in disbelief when I hear it!!

I believe the lack of knowledge about harlequin shrimp scares a lot of people away,
especially when they hear about people buying pricy fancy stars and slowly dismembering them alive in their sump..
it makes harlequin sound like the hummer h3 of inverts!
this method of feeding is also a HUGE potential nitrate/phosphate BOMB.

Ths is why I am working on "HARLEQUIN NUGGETS".

Packaged, clean, flash-frozen Asterina gibbosa stars that can be fed as necessary to keep your shrimp happy and healthy!
I provide them alive too, of course. The frozen counterpart is just easier to distribute, won't multiply in your tank, and is much easier to store for people that can't keep a separate tank for a star culture.

Altogether, seems like a no-er for people who have harlequins and may even be what some hobbyists need to feel confident in keeping these mysterious, amazing creatures.

I am going to snd out a test batch to as many fellow hobbyists that keep harlequin as I can before takng it farthr.
From what I've heard, nobody has a story where their shrimp has rejected frozen food!!

DId I mention you don't have to constantly dismember expensive LIVE casualties to keep your shrimp alive anymore?!?! It makes me think of a small snake owner keeping a giant rat and chopping it apart alive when they can just buy flash frozen tiny mice to feed their critter. There is room for much innovation in aquatic husbandry.

If anyone near Ocala/Gainesville needs asterina stars for their harlequin shrimp, pls contact me. you can feed as light or a heavy as necessary!!

 

[VintageReefer]

How do you keep up with mass production of asterina? One harlequin eats hundreds a month so how would you realistically be able to support a communities amount of harlequins long term?

Honestly I think it’s a great idea and I would be a potential customer, it just seems that one harlequin can eat them faster than they can reproduce

 

[Jasonak]

How do you keep up with mass production of asterina? One harlequin eats hundreds a month so how would you realistically be able to support a communities amount of harlequins long term?

Honestly I think it’s a great idea and I would be a potential customer, it just seems that one harlequin can eat them faster than they can reproduce

Im not sure how it would be done either. I have a 330 tank and two Harleys and they cant eat them all. So I know that 330 is at least enough volume to sustain 2 , I do give them a chocolate treat every few months just to make sure there getting enough.

 

[JTP424]

Following along, interested to see results.

 

[VintageReefer]

Im not sure how it would be done either. I have a 330 tank and two Harleys and they cant eat them all. So I know that 330 is at least enough volume to sustain 2 , I do give them a chocolate treat every few months just to make sure there getting enough.

I can tell you this. I have a 75g tank and one harlequin devoured the population in about 6 weeks. So thats not sustainable long term.

What’s needed? 150g tank per customer ?

 

[Jasonak]

I can tell you this. I have a 75g tank and one harlequin devoured the population in about 6 weeks. So thats not sustainable long term.

What’s needed? 150g tank per customer ?

Im sure allot of factors like live rock etc matter for the population. But thats about what mine have.

 

[exnisstech]

I can tell you this. I have a 75g tank and one harlequin devoured the population in about 6 weeks. So thats not sustainable long term.

What’s needed? 150g tank per customer ?

Im sure allot of factors like live rock etc matter for the population. But thats about what mine have.

I added my Harlequin at the end of October and am still seeing a few on the glass 65g total so there are a lot of variables. It will be interesting to see exactly what the OP has in mind. :thinking-face:

 

[Jasonak]

I added my Harlequin at the end of October and am still seeing a few on the glass 65g total so there are a lot of variables. It will be interesting to see exactly what the OP has in mind. :thinking-face:

Do you feed yours also ?

 

[Minifoot77]

I'd love to get one still

 

[exnisstech]

Do you feed yours also ?

I have not yet. I figure if I'm still seeing them on the glass he needs to feed himself lol. I do have other tanks that I remove from and drop in his tank but only a couple at a time when I see them

 

[blntsmk]

Im not sure how it would be done either. I have a 330 tank and two Harleys and they cant eat them all. So I know that 330 is at least enough volume to sustain 2 , I do give them a chocolate treat every few months just to make sure there getting enough.

my understanding is, especially for reefers with >60g you may need a separate tank to culture the stars. If ur a sparkly glass reefer/ozone boi I think u definitely do

cool 2 hear from som1 here tht has a successful culture in the same tank. I feel like u MUST hav diatom rich walls to keep them breeding and sustaining their pop. out of reach

I have started the culture in a small tank and am upscaling to an outdoor XL tank heated and chilled alrdy growing algae and chaeto.. will scale frm there. tons of live rock!!!

I'm in FL so the heater/chillers don't have to work too hard.

EZ to harvest the stars frm edges of tank or by pulling an individual rock out and removing them (which is especially easy if there are a lot)

stil not 100% sure what coral species asterina eat but they CAN develop a nice taste for your favourite coral in many cases. Anyone have star infestation stories tht can pinpoint their fav alt foods? I they can devour zoas
also hear they don't seem to pose a problem for some ppl...

for people wanting to keep a live asterina culture in the same tank as CORAL: I imagine as long as the coral is accessible to the harlequin, they keep it free of star infestations.. again having the pop. chill on th walls eating diatoms seems ideal to keep the stars thriving and not fully endangered.

I and many others NEED maximum coral growth and 0 hitchhikers when fragging, so I won’t be trying to keep them in any of my coral farm systems for now, willing to try in an aio or separate system.

leading down tht same potential nitrate/phosphate path.... by the sound of thngs, allowing them to grow heavily in a community tank poses possibility for nitrate/phosphate spikes to occur if you're not watching the rate of star reproduction and how fast they are being consumed/how much of their carcasses are being discarded by your shrimp. Each littl star creates nitrates and phosphates in life and death, it adds up!!

p.s. BIG TANK GUYS, especially with a lot of flow:
if you're worried about the flash-frozen stars being delivered to the shrimp properly and not being swept away by flow; you can lower them in a feed cage/holder of some sort lowered or placed near the harlequin. I have not experimented with this but it shldnt b an issue

it should be easy to find out how many stars they desire per feeding period and how often you wanna feed. Depends on how big the shrimp are and how many of course


THX FOR THE INTEREST STAY TUNED

 

[blntsmk]

How do you keep up with mass production of asterina? One harlequin eats hundreds a month so how would you realistically be able to support a communities amount of harlequins long term?

Honestly I think it’s a great idea and I would be a potential customer, it just seems that one harlequin can eat them faster than they can reproduce

aiming 2 produce THOUSANDS+ if th nuggets(stars) if they farm well lrge scale and the demnd for the food is there. outdoor tanks alrdy got 1 rdy

clean/risk-free shrimp food will be packaged by weight

hopefully no unforeseen issues in farming

worst case scenario get the hobby more familiar with how easy it is to keep their harlequins fed safely affordably and stop risking N/P spikes

it will be more cost effective for distribution compared to shipping live stars in water, as buying 10+ live runs abt 40 bucks shipped frm a dude on eBay(actually rly good bc shipping is included). most lfs do not offer asterina either. hard to find a constant supply. huge convenience/paywall issue

I offer live star pickup and possibly shipping(in the future)... they will NOT be over a dollar per

DM me if you are in my area & need live, healthy asterina to feed your harlequin!

 

[Fehorse]

aiming 2 produce THOUSANDS+ if th nuggets(stars) if they farm well lrge scale and the demnd for the food is there. outdoor tanks alrdy got 1 rdy

clean/risk-free shrimp food will be packaged by weight

hopefully no unforeseen issues in farming

worst case scenario get the hobby more familiar with how easy it is to keep their harlequins fed safely affordably and stop risking N/P spikes

it will be more cost effective for distribution compared to shipping live stars in water, as buying 10+ live runs abt 40 bucks shipped frm a dude on eBay(actually rly good bc shipping is included). most lfs do not offer asterina either. hard to find a constant supply. huge convenience/paywall issue

I offer live star pickup and possibly shipping(in the future)... they will NOT be over a dollar per

DM me if you are in my area & need live, healthy asterina to feed your harlequin!

Count me in. I have a fifty that was infested. Dropped a Harli in there and in less than two weeks almost totally clean of assterinas. Just a couple fast stragglers. Now he'll be looking for something to eat.

 

[VintageReefer]

I need this and would buy

 

[exnisstech]

I have a hunch this isn't happening. OP hasn't been here since May. I was lucky in my 65g and had enough asterinas to keep my Harley fed for 14 months. He's now in a 330g and I suspect by the time he has that one cleaned up I can bring him back to the 65g which already has asterinas returning.
These creatures are just so cool.

 

[VintageReefer]

I have a hunch this isn't happening. OP hasn't been here since May. I was lucky in my 65g and had enough asterinas to keep my Harley fed for 14 months. He's now in a 330g and I suspect by the time he has that one cleaned up I can bring him back to the 65g which already has asterinas returning.
These creatures are just so cool.

Too bad. They do sell this type of food in other countries. Just for harlequin owners. Would probably make a fortune here

 

[smitten with ocean life]

i want one so bad but i know i dont have enough stars for it

 

[fandaga]

Too bad. They do sell this type of food in other countries. Just for harlequin owners. Would probably make a fortune here

Count me in as someone that would buy a harlequin pair and this food if it existed in the US.

 

[Minifoot77]

I'd still buy it if it makes it to market