Harlequin Shrimp (FEMALE) Wanted

[grimreefer911]

I currently have a male Harlequin Shrimp and I would like to find a female to make a pair. I have a steady supply of starfish from my LFS and some asterina stars in my tank. You can tell the sex of the shrimp by looking at the underside of the tail. This is what a female looks like.

I can pick up locally near Raleigh, NC or pay for shipping. I have a small bbt anemone that I can throw in as payment as well. Thanks

 

[Luckyduck]

Hey I was just about to post about this. I'm in the same situation, 99% sure I have a male as his tails underside is all white. I absolutely love this guy. They are such fascinating creatures and I really want to get him a mate. I also have a steady supply of food from my LFS and I have a large sump with live rock where I keep a minimum of 3 Chocolate chips at all times. Not all have 5 legs muwahahaha lol Anywho did you ever end up finding a female? Or did you find any info on putting them together in the situation you and I both have and not introduced together as a mated pair?

 

[grimreefer911]

Hey I was just about to post about this. I'm in the same situation, 99% sure I have a male as his tails underside is all white. I absolutely love this guy. They are such fascinating creatures and I really want to get him a mate. I also have a steady supply of food from my LFS and I have a large sump with live rock where I keep a minimum of 3 Chocolate chips at all times. Not all have 5 legs muwahahaha lol Anywho did you ever end up finding a female? Or did you find any info on putting them together in the situation you and I both have and not introduced together as a mated pair?

I ended up contacting Vivid Aquariums support and arranged for a female to be sent to me. I believe I spoke with James and he arranged everything. I received a tiny female and the introduction went great. As soon as the female was in the tank the male ran over to be beside her, not in an aggressive way but almost to guard/claim her as a mate. The female was about half the size of the male when I got her, and after a few weeks she grew to be bigger than the male!

P.S.****The common starfish also known as the Forbes sea-star/starfish (Asterias Forbesi) was a great recent find at a new LFS I tried out. They are huge compared to most CC stars I see in stores, and they don’t eat coral/anemones. However, I have never seen them before online or in store, so I assume the supply may be lacking when it comes feeding harlequin shrimp but still something to look out for. This is what the (not so) common seastar looks like: There is a very recognizable orange dot on the top of this star.

Asterias Forbesi

 

[Luckyduck]

I ended up contacting Vivid Aquariums support and arranged for a female to be sent to me. I believe I spoke with James and he arranged everything. I received a tiny female and the introduction went great. As soon as the female was in the tank the male ran over to be beside her, not in an aggressive way but almost to guard/claim her as a mate. The female was about half the size of the male when I got her, and after a few weeks she grew to be bigger than the male!

P.S.****The common starfish also known as the Forbes sea-star/starfish (Asterias Forbesi) was a great recent find at a new LFS I tried out. They are huge compared to most CC stars I see in stores, and they don’t eat coral/anemones. However, I have never seen them before online or in store, so I assume the supply may be lacking when it comes feeding harlequin shrimp but still something to look out for. This is what the (not so) common seastar looks like: There is a very recognizable orange dot on the top of this star.

Asterias Forbesi

Awesome! Thank you so much for that! I'm glad I found your post as you answered with great info. I will reach out to Vivid. I'll keep a look out for these not so common common starfish lol How often do you feed a CC leg? One a week? I just kind of fred him when I would see him out at night but he comes out A LOT more now. He's become very active which is great but hard.to tell now when he's hungry. I can tell when he's not because he'll carry the leg around for days. I don't wanna overfeed him obviously on the flip side of that I don't want him to starve.

 

[grimreefer911]

Awesome! Thank you so much for that! I'm glad I found your post as you answered with great info. I will reach out to Vivid. I'll keep a look out for these not so common common starfish lol How often do you feed a CC leg? One a week? I just kind of fred him when I would see him out at night but he comes out A LOT more now. He's become very active which is great but hard.to tell now when he's hungry. I can tell when he's not because he'll carry the leg around for days. I don't wanna overfeed him obviously on the flip side of that I don't want him to starve.

Absolutely! Happy to help! I actually try to feed a whole cc star every week because I’ve been attempting to get this pair to breed. I completely understand in worrying about over feeding due to filtration issues, but I have also found that my pair will pace themselves and even leave a star to escape onto the glass when they’ve had their fill. And I’d think a good sign to tell if you’re under feeding, is to monitor how frequent the shrimp are molting.
If you put a full star on the glass, you might see more of your harlequin. They size the star up and just stare for a while before trying their best to glass surf and pry the star off. lol
P.S. I take back what I said about the common star, I found them on a few different stores online under the name Florida common or orange stars: https://www.saltybottomreefcompany.com/commonstar

Florida Orange Starfish (large)

Florida Orange Starfish (large) Echinaster spinulosus

www.mysaltwaterfishstore.com

I hope vivids gets everything you need!