Harlequin and Asterina Q

[authentic]

I have an asterina problem.have added harlequins twice without eradication and eventual loss of the harliquin.Just added another...they a;ways seem to be hiding on the sand...how and when do they catch asterinas around the tank..high on the rocks,,,etc.also should i supplement the diet with a starfish?

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

I have an asterina problem.have added harlequins twice without eradication and eventual loss of the harliquin.Just added another...they a;ways seem to be hiding on the sand...how and when do they catch asterinas around the tank..high on the rocks,,,etc.also should i supplement the diet with a starfish?

If your harlequins are not getting enough to eat from the asterinas, then yes you need to supplement their diet. Using harlequins for asterina starfish is more of a control method than a cure anyways and they will need supplemental food to stay healthy.

 

[authentic]

thx ill get a chipper

 

[alanbetiger]

Just my personal experience. I have a 350 gallon display and 100 gallons in two sumps and had literally thousands of asterinas. At night you couldn't see some of the rocks underneath them. I added one harlequin and then one a few weeks later since I hadn't seen it. Then a few weeks later a pair. It took about 6 weeks from the original one added that I started to see one harlequin and eventually saw a pair hanging out. No idea what two had survived. But it was a few months after seeing the pair that I actually saw the asterina population get dented. After about 6-9 months I never saw any more in the display and ended up supplementing them with 10 each week from the sump. I guess that was barely enough to survive on because that only lasted a month before I didn't see the harlequins anymore. Now almost 6 months later I'm seeing a few asterinas in the display.
Oh and I would see the harlequins all over the tank, high and low. I saw them most days but they mainly were active at night

 

[Chiefmaster30]

I have an asterina problem.have added harlequins twice without eradication and eventual loss of the harliquin.Just added another...they a;ways seem to be hiding on the sand...how and when do they catch asterinas around the tank..high on the rocks,,,etc.also should i supplement the diet with a starfish?

It’s kind of a long video but here’s my harlequin shrimp that I just got 2 weeks ago eating an asterina. I got lucky and caught it all on video yesterday! It tickled me to death! But I already knew he was eating the heck out of them bc there slimming down fast!