Harlequin shrimp - what kind of star fish they eat

[scubabr53]

I am thinking of adding a Harlequin shrimp to my 125 Gal. mixed reef tank.
Will Harlequin shrimp eat Asterina or Brittle stars? I have both in my tank.
I won’t mind if shrimp eat Asterina I have plenty and they are multiplying.
I would hold on purchase if shrimp will eat my Brittle stars.
Please share your experiences and provide your comments.
Below link to a red brittle star picture (one of my tank star residents)
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=11552&catid=member&imageuser=1532
Thanks.

 

[coppa]

A Harlequin shrimp eats ALL seastars.Now , you're red brittle star is also a carnivore , so a battle between those two is certain.
Normely the Harlequin will be victorius.

br,
Kris

 

[scubabr53]

Kris,
Thank you.
Any other comments?

 

[letter4tony]

I think this should be the only answer you get.

I have a pair I'm looking to part out with.

 

[scubabr53]

If they eat all see stars including brittle than I will hold on the purchase.

 

[PurpleTang]

when i had a pair mine never ate the brittle stars or green serpent stars, i mostly just feed my sand sifters they loved those

 

[scubabr53]

Where did u get the sand sifters? Are they for sale in the regular food fish stores?

 

[albano]

I've had 2 for almost a year...serpent and brittle stars are fine...asterina gone!, feed 'portions' of choc. chip stars from my refug, every other week.

 

[scubabr53]

Thanks for information, now I am tempted to try.

 

[daisy]

Mine (a pair) ate all the asterinas and have not been feeding on my micro brittles, it seems. I have been told it will not really touch full-size brittle stars.

I am wondering how often they will need to eat a full-size sand sifter... We'll see....

 

[ellebelle]

Tahl, I have one. They definitely do not eat the micro brittles, but he does eat the asterinas. I gave him a small linkia a week and a half ago, and he is still eating that (though I chucked in a small chocolate chip starfish yesterday that he can move onto). You should probably give a pair a new starfish about once per week or 10 days.

 

[tomtoothdoc]

i have two pairs in my 55 gal. fuge. they eat asterinas, sand sifting stars, chocolate chips, linkias, and one full size brittle star. he was safe for about 2-3 weeks until they ate all the asterinas. and i had alot of asterinas. used to see at least 60-80 at a time now almost all wiped out. interestingly they never touch the mini brittle stars.
i bought chocolate chip to feed but had to house it in the sump since he's not coral safe. he went through the baffles and clogged up one of the return pumps. so i got cheap hawiian linkia's from michael sterns $10 a pop and house them in the display tank. i cleared nyaquatics of all their hawaiian linkias from the last two shipments. each linkia, 3-4" across seem to last more than a week for the four of them.
imo, they seem to prefer other stars over the full size brittle star. i feel this is the order of preference for mine: asterinas, sand sifter, linkias, chocolate chip, full size brittle stars.
they are so cool. i think they are worth the risk of your brittle star. just keep them well fed. and they are not camera shy at all....more like camera whores.

 

[scubabr53]

Thanks for taking your time providing all the answers. This is really helpful and I do appreciate it.
I have another question.
Do you give shrimp the whole star at one time, or just cut one leg and throw in the tank for them to feed?
This way if you keep 4 or 5 of stars in the refugium they can regrow their limbs and no star's life sacrifices will require keeping the shrimp happy.

 

[daisy]

I'd say my pair wiped out my asterinas in about a week - there were hundreds of them. I put my sand sifter in there at the beginning of this week, and it looks to me like they're nearly done with it. ...broke my heart to do it, but it was either that or get rid of them, and I do like them a lot...

so now i'm on a search to find relatively inexpensive stars.... sigh!

 

[scubabr53]

Few minutes ago I was searching Internet and find this article. It provides detailed information about care, feeding and even breeding of the Harlequin shrimp.
Please read I find it very educational.
http://www.chucksaddiction.com/harlequinshrimp.html