Harlequin Shrimp

[Bob]

I have always had "a few" of the typical small starfish in my tank. Some whole, some missing a leg or two and none very big. Tonight I was staring at one area and started to count and realized I had bunches and bunches of the little buggers. While I have not noticed any damage to my corals or mushrooms I started wondering how to control them. I started reading on line about the Harlequin shrimp and the fact they eat only starfish and some people have had great success with them. Wondering if anyone here has purchased or kept this pretty little shrimp and what your experiences were?

Edited October 31, 2007 by Bob

[davelin315]

Had one before. They are very slow and peaceful, and they do only eat starfish (although I have heard that they will also eat urchin feet). They feed only on tube feet, so I'm not sure how much those little asterina stars would do as far as sustaining them. When I bought mine I also received a bag of frozen chocolate chip stars that had come in under poor shipping conditions so the store figured that instead of letting them disintegrate they would be proactive and simply chuck them into the freezer. I would feed it a leg about once a week. They are slow eaters and take quite a bit of time to eat their prey.