Harlequin Shrimp Spawning & Asterinas

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Hey everyone! Straightforward question today. Will harlequin shrimp pairs spawn when they’re feeding on asterinas?

For anyone who cares, I’ve been reading about starfish and harlequin shrimp aquaculture lately, and one of the articles I came across compared the reproduction of harlequin shrimp on diets of different starfish from different genuses. With one species they didn’t spawn at all, with one species they did spawn but they produced fewer offspring, and with the standard species (the preferred species by harlequin shrimp breeders in their native range) they spawned and produced a lot of offspring. None of the species tested were were asterina (aquilonastra) stars, though, so I was wondering if they would spawn while feeding on them as their primary diet.

Thanks!

 

[Chrisv.]

Hey everyone! Straightforward question today. Will harlequin shrimp pairs spawn when they’re feeding on asterinas?

For anyone who cares, I’ve been reading about starfish and harlequin shrimp aquaculture lately, and one of the articles I came across compared the reproduction of harlequin shrimp on diets of different starfish from different genuses. With one species they didn’t spawn at all, with one species they did spawn but they produced fewer offspring, and with the standard species (the preferred species by harlequin shrimp breeders in their native range) they spawned and produced a lot of offspring. None of the species tested were were asterina (aquilonastra) stars, though, so I was wondering if they would spawn while feeding on them as their primary diet.

Thanks!

No idea, but a bump for having a question that isn't boring.

 

[reefluvrr]

Oh my gosh, I have been feeding my Harlequin shrimp pair asterina and wondered if they will spawn...
Guess time will tell.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Bump/follow-up questions as we wait for reefluvrr's answer: With Chocolate Chip & Sand Sifting stars being the hobbyist go-to feeds for Harlequin Shrimp, will they spawn on diets of either of those?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Bump/follow-up questions as we wait for reefluvrr's answer: With Chocolate Chip & Sand Sifting stars being the hobbyist go-to feeds for Harlequin Shrimp, will they spawn on diets of either of those?

To answer part of my own question here, I found a thread by Chad Vossen about his work with Hawaiian Harlequin Shrimp (now considered the same species as the common Harlequin Shrimp, but with a slightly different appearance). He fed the pair one Chocolate Chip Starfish a week and they were spawning for him. Based on the thread, though, it doesn't look like he had any success rearing the young past 6 DPH. That said, the shrimp did produce viable offspring on the Chocolate Chip Star diet, so it seems at least those are adequate food items for the Harlequins.

I've kept a spawning pair of Hawaiian Harlequin shrimp in my office tank for a couple years now with the intention of rearing the babies. We have focused mostly on fish, so never really gave them a try. We feed one chocolate chip starfish every week to our pair to keep them well fed.



The Hawaiian Harlequin shrimp differs from other Harlequin shrimp by the purple spots and yellow background. In my opinion, the Hawaiian shrimp are the most beautiful of this species. They are also harder to find, and are considered quite rare in the hobby. Our goal is to change that and make them easily accessible to anyone that wants them.

I've yet to catch the shrimp molting, however I did get lucky once and observe the actual spawning process. The male mates with the female multiple times after she has molted. We've captured this on video, which may be the first time it's been documented.



When the eggs are ready to hatch, they begin to hydrate with water and increase in size. This makes the female look much larger than normal. This is when it's time to move the female into our larvae extraction device, which is connected to the Vossen's Larval Trap.

This collection method was highly successful and we collected far more than expected. I estimate 1500 larval shrimp in this hatch, but it's anyone's guess. We transferred the entire batch to a larval tub with ease.



Our first larval run lasted for 6 days, and did very well till day 6. In the morning, they were all alive and doing well. I did a large harvest of copepods and baby brine shrimp to get them through the day, however when I came home from work 9 hours later, they were nearly all dead. We attribute this loss to over stocking the larval tank with food, causing an ammonia spike that resulted in a crash. This is a valuable lesson for us, and our next spawn will be split into multiple larval tanks to reduce the risk of loosing the entire batch. As of right now the female is holding eggs again, so we hope to update this post with progress and some baby shrimp pics!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Still not certain if they'll spawn on an "Asterina" (Aquilonastra) stars diet yet, but I just found confirmation that they will spawn on sand sifting stars.

Harlequin Shrimp‘s zoea and juvenile shrimp

www.reef2reef.com

 

[reefluvrr]

Well. I think Harelquin shrimps can spawn from Asterina starfishes. I have had tons of Asterina star with my Harlequin pair, it wasn't until today did I noticed my female had eggs under her belly. Coincidentally, the pair attacked my one and only Sand sifting star today as well....

Video of the female swollen with eggs under her tummy has been uploaded to youtube.

 

[MtnDewMan]

Years ago I had a pair of Harlequin Shrimp that spawned. They were however fed only on Blue Linkia starfish, so don't know about asterinas.

 

[reefluvrr]

They were however fed only on Blue Linkia starfish, so don't know about asterinas.

Did they ever make it?

 

[MtnDewMan]

Did they ever make it?

No, I didn't intend to breed them, but the tank was in such good shape that the conditions were right for them to spawn. I am sure they ended up being nice treats for the fish when the spawn occurred (just like in the wild).