Harlequin shrimp and asterina stars

[Dizzle63]

I have thousands of these stars in my tank and they are starting to eat my zoanthids. I just picked up a pair of harlequins to eat them. When do the shrimp feed and how long should they take to clear this up?

[tranto1]

My H. Shrimp took out my population of stars in about a month, i didn't have that much to start out with tho.

[Amoore311]

With a pair... I would say about a month if you are heavily infested.


My 90 had quite a bit! I got just 1 Harlequin, and he has put a significant dent in the population in about 3 weeks time.

[tydtran]

What do you plan to feed your shrimp after the supply of asterina is gone?

[stanlalee]

more stars :lmao: fromia and linckia stars (chocolate chip too) are cheap ($15) and pair only need about one adult size a month (maybe keep a second star in the sump or elsewhere if needed).

[cody6766]

one of my local reef buddies had trouble with them in a 120g. He bought a pair of harleys and they had his population cleared out in a few weeks. Last I heard, he was taking donations from the club to keep his harleys happy and fed!

[tranto1]

you could save some asterina stars in ur sump so they could breed and use that overtime as food for the shrimp.

[ChrisOzment]

you could save some asterina stars in ur sump so they could breed and use that overtime as food for the shrimp.

+1 that's my plan for my pair.

[gowingsgo]

I know that thous little stars split fast but they will never be enough to feed a pair of Harlequin shrimp. Mine took out a few hundred in a mater of weeks. You will need to feed them a CC star at lest every month. and maybe use the asterina stars as a treat. but they will starve to death if they are not feed enough. They ONLY eat stars.