Harlequin shrimp

[cookie53]

Hey all
Well this morning I left my harlequin shrimp munching on a couple of decent size Asterina star fish, a few hours later he had passed away
He has been absolutely fine the last 5 months I have had him eating well and shedding.
He was straying close to my watchmen goby and pistol shrimps den
Is it possible for the pistol shrimp to fire off a shot and it killed him.
So sad he was such a little character

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Maybe possible, but not terribly likely.

A fee questions: are you sure it wasn't a molt? How are the other inverts (like the pistol shrimp) doing? How big are the pistol and harlequin?

 

[moretor1]

How often did you feed him? did you feed solely asterina stars?

Sadly harlequins are one of those shrimp that are doomed to die of malnutrition in most systems as they can eat dozens of asternia in a day

Try some sexy shrimp or if you REALLY want a harlequin you can either
A. Try to find one that has been trained to take frozen food (suboptimal)
B. buy 5-7 chocolate chip starfish and feed it a different leg every week. If you rotate legs they should grow back fast enough and the star will be fine if you leave it in a seperate tank (or your fuge)

 

[cookie53]

Hi
The harlequin had a sand shifting start fish decent size once a month he would feed solidly on it for 2 weeks then he would have plenty of asternia as I have a small tank I farm Asterina for him. It definitely wasn’t malnutrition as he had only stopped feeding on the big start fish a couple of days ago and must’ve grabbed an asterina this morning.
The pistol shrimp I would guess is half his size
Definitely 100% not a moult

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

The size disparity there leaves me thinking it'd be even less likely.

Are the other inverts on the tank alright?

 

[cookie53]

The size disparity there leaves me thinking it'd be even less likely.

Are the other inverts on the tank alright?

Yeah everything else absolutely fine
Did my testing yesterday all good he was fine this morning as I say
So sad as he ate well had a sand shift starfish once a month it would take him 2 weeks solid to finish it. He then had asterina until it was time for his sand shifter again. Definitely wasn’t malnutrition

 

[moretor1]

Hi
The harlequin had a sand shifting start fish decent size once a month he would feed solidly on it for 2 weeks then he would have plenty of asternia as I have a small tank I farm Asterina for him. It definitely wasn’t malnutrition as he had only stopped feeding on the big start fish a couple of days ago and must’ve grabbed an asterina this morning.
The pistol shrimp I would guess is half his size
Definitely 100% not a moult

I've heard of pistol shrimp killing fish larger than itself and crustaceans are a lot more susceptible to carapace fractures. I'm gonna go with the pistol shrimp because if it was water conditions any other shrimp you have would also not be doing so well

 

[moretor1]

Just to be safe i would test Tds, Gh, Kh and calcium

have you added anything to the tank recently?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

With everything else being fine, it's possible (but not likely) that it may have been the pistol shrimp, or it may have just had some other issue unrelated to husbandry (sometimes animals suffer from things like sudden heart failure just like people do).

If the shrimp was full grown it may have been old age too.

Regardless, pistol shrimp or random fatal disease would both be incredibly bad luck.

 

[Pistondog]

I think my blood shrimp dies every time he molts

 

[cookie53]

I think my blood shrimp dies every time he molts

It definitely wasn't a moult bless him

 

[cookie53]

How often did you feed him? did you feed solely asterina stars?

Sadly harlequins are one of those shrimp that are doomed to die of malnutrition in most systems as they can eat dozens of asternia in a day

Try some sexy shrimp or if you REALLY want a harlequin you can either
A. Try to find one that has been trained to take frozen food (suboptimal)
B. buy 5-7 chocolate chip starfish and feed it a different leg every week. If you rotate legs they should grow back fast enough and the star will be fine if you leave it in a seperate tank (or your fuge)

 

[cookie53]

He was absolutely fine this morning bless him I tested my water yesterday and everything was good.
The pistol shrimp has been in what seems to be an aggressive mood as he even fired out at the watchman goby
The harlequin was near the entrance to their cave when I left
I have heard that pistols can cause death if they fire directly at anything in their way
My pistol has been in the tank nearly a year and not cause any issues
The harlequin wasn’t fully grown but he would much through a sand shifting star fish once a month and then top up on Asterina, he was well fed
Going to miss the little fella as he was a character and I hate it when they die and I don’t know why

 

[Stomatopods17]

once a month isn't enough for feeding.

Harlequins are very slow eaters, they should be eating after they finish, it usually takes them 1 to 2 weeks to finish, its basically going 2-3 weeks without eating at all.

Once they're out in the open again, that means they're hungry and need given something. Asterina is not enough for them at all, they need so many that I do not consider it possible to keep harlequins on an asterina only or supplemented diet, at one point I had a system where I bred asterina stars, and after a few hundred gave it a go and I was out in a matter of weeks, not months.

You can span out one starfish over the course of a month (cut off leg, wait 3-4 days after they finish, give another leg, etc and you might pull off a month off one starfish if you span a few days inbetween feedings.) but 1 whole star once a month that only feeds it for 1-2 weeks of that month max could've made it weak.

I had no issues with any of my pairs with large tiger pistol shrimp, even my hawaiian male lived with my pistol for about 2 years.

 

[cookie53]

once a month isn't enough for feeding.

Harlequins are very slow eaters, they should be eating after they finish, it usually takes them 1 to 2 weeks to finish, its basically going 2-3 weeks without eating at all.

Once they're out in the open again, that means they're hungry and need given something. Asterina is not enough for them at all, they need so many that I do not consider it possible to keep harlequins on an asterina only or supplemented diet, at one point I had a system where I bred asterina stars, and after a few hundred gave it a go and I was out in a matter of weeks, not months.

You can span out one starfish over the course of a month (cut off leg, wait 3-4 days after they finish, give another leg, etc and you might pull off a month off one starfish if you span a few days inbetween feedings.) but 1 whole star once a month that only feeds it for 1-2 weeks of that month max could've made it weak.

I had no issues with any of my pairs with large tiger pistol shrimp, even my hawaiian male lived with my pistol for about 2 years.

It was definitely not malnutrition or starvation as he had been feeding continuously on this sand shifting star fish for over 2 weeks. The starfish was literally 3 times his size . He was eating it in the morning 2 hrs later the starfish was still there and the harlequin had died.