Should I get a harlequin shrimp ?

[Idech]

I have asterina stars in the tank but I have been netting them out dozens at a time. I didn’t see any for a while but now I see 2-3 per day. I don’t feel like netting them out forever.

Question : should I let them proliferate for a few months and then get a harlequin shrimp ? The tank is 150 gallons so there should be supply for a very long time.

I have a yellow wrasse that likes to eat inverts. Would it eat the shrimp ?

Thanks !

 

[littlefoxx]

I would say if your wrasse eats inverts then good chance it will eat the shrimp. You could get a nano set up and plunk the stars and put them in with the shrimp if you want, maybe give you motivation to get the stars out? Lol

 

[Idech]

I would say if your wrasse eats inverts then good chance it will eat the shrimp. You could get a nano set up and plunk the stars and put them in with the shrimp if you want, maybe give you motivation to get the stars out? Lol

A second tank isn’t an option but not a bad idea ! :)

Maybe someone out there has a wrasse with a harlequin shrimp and it works ? That’s my hope.

 

[Stomatopods17]

harlequin and wrasse are a no-go.

Also its impossible to sustain harlequin shrimp on asterinas alone, 200 maybe last a month. No point to build up the population if your hopes are that it stays with you longer.

 

[Idech]

harlequin and wrasse are a no-go.

Also its impossible to sustain harlequin shrimp on asterinas alone, 200 maybe last a month. No point to build up the population if your hopes are that it stays with you longer.

Ok, this plan is dead then. Sigh.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I have asterina stars in the tank but I have been netting them out dozens at a time. I didn’t see any for a while but now I see 2-3 per day. I don’t feel like netting them out forever.

Question : should I let them proliferate for a few months and then get a harlequin shrimp ? The tank is 150 gallons so there should be supply for a very long time.

I have a yellow wrasse that likes to eat inverts. Would it eat the shrimp ?

Thanks !

As mentioned, wrasse and shrimp don't mix well, but to address the starfish farming (the "Asterinas" we get in the hobby are actually Aqulionastras, for context):

you would need to consistently produce an unreasonably large number of stars to feed the harlequin broodstock and offspring long-term - these guys clean out even 300 gallon reef tank Aquilonastra infestations in weeks, not years.

So, to put it another way, short of basically beginning a commercial Aquilonastra farm with several hundreds of gallons of highly functional culture tank space and constant optimization of Aquilonastra culturing methods, you won’t be able to produce enough stars to feed even just the two shrimp in the broodstock pair of your farm as each shrimp will probably eat ~10-30 (accounting for different species and their sizes) Aquilonastra stars a day when full grown (see the quote below). So, assuming you need ~20 a day per full-grown adult shrimp, you’d need to be able to produce ~14,600 stars a year just to feed two adult shrimp.

about 15 a day,controlled feeding, she's only sm-med rt now

TLDR; It’s theoretically possible to farm harlequin shrimp using Aquilonastra stars as feeders, but it would require culturing an obscenely large number of stars to maintain a very small number of harlequins, so I would recommend against it.

 

[Flaglerd]

I have had and currently have a harlequin with about 8 wrasses and they haven't bothered the shrimp. Get a decent size shrimp. Once you acclimate, feed the tank then escort the shrimp to the bottom of the tank and let them get situated. Once you notice you are out of stars, you can either pass along to another reefer of take to your LFS for a store credit.

 

[exnisstech]

I keep one with a six line with no problems.

 

[threebuoys]

I had a harlequin shrimp that was not bothered by two wrasse in the tank. Unfortunately, after about 4 months, the shrimp was exploring the tank and got sucked into the back of a wavemaker. The shrimp was not chopped up but he died from being stuck on the wavemaker for a period of time overnight. He seemed to do a good job with the abundant starfish fairly quickly and survived on (I assume) food scraps after the starfish were gone.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Interesting to hear that these seem to do well with wrasses - I'll have to look into this more when I've got time, but it sounds like they may be alright with at least the reef-safe wrasse species then.

 

[I never finish anythi]

I have a Melanarus Wrasse and it was fine with my cleaner shrimp . I've also just ordered a harlequin shrimp and I'll be adding it to my tank soon . I will let you know what happens.

 

[Idech]

I have a Melanarus Wrasse and it was fine with my cleaner shrimp . I've also just ordered a harlequin shrimp and I'll be adding it to my tank soon . I will let you know what happens.

My yellow wrasse was also fine with my cleaner shrimp as far as I know. It disappeared one day but it was old, ie more than 3 years old, so I figured it died of natural causes.

Please do let me know. :)

 

[BlackSandArch]

I have a pair of Harlequins in my 80 gallon and a 6 line wrasse (who is a jerk) but there is no issue with them. The same cannot be said for my Mandarin, that he just killed!

 

[I never finish anythi]

I got a pair of harlequins and my melanarus ain't bothered them . It's only been one day tho , but I'm confident they will be ok .

 

[I never finish anythi]

Here they are .

 

[Terry Le]

I have 2 wrasses with my pair of Harlequins. The problem is I am out of Asterina starfish

 

[I never finish anythi]

I have 2 wrasses with my pair of Harlequins. The problem is I am out of Asterina starfish

I had this exact same problem after only a few weeks. I've now rehomed the shrimp.

 

[Idech]

I have 2 wrasses with my pair of Harlequins. The problem is I am out of Asterina starfish

Why is that a problem ? I wish I could get rid of mine.

 

[I never finish anythi]

Why is that a problem ? I wish I could get rid of mine.

Because the shrimp will starve without stars .

 

[Idech]

Because the shrimp will starve without stars .

I forgot about that part…