Harlequin

[jamesbond]

recently, i have housed all 12 harlequin shrimp to fish tank, and this is the first time i have seen it eat dead small fish. i also notice that it nip on clam that i cut to small pcs to feed my fish.

[yikai]

holy smokes..?

first time i see people keeping 12 harlequins in 1 tank.

i've heard of them eating frozen food but i thought it was a myth. then yours eat dead fish.

omgoodness!! now the question is, will the fish meat be able to sustain these obligate starfish eaters?

[FuEl]

Interesting observation. I have never seen harlequin shrimps do this. How long does it hold on to the dead fish?

[jamesbond]

i don't know, till feed them with starfish. At first, i am worry about fish to abuse shrimp, and it is surprising that things is ok. This tank involved 12 harlequin, 6 cleaner shrimp, 8 anemone shrimp, 4 carmel shrimp, 2 banned shrimp, and 22 sexy shrimp. all is ok for one week.

Fuel, around 2 hours, and it seems it really enjoy eating ... till cleaner shrimp take over.

[Indym]

i don't know, till feed them with starfish. At first, i am worry about fish to abuse shrimp, and it is surprising that things is ok. This tank involved 12 harlequin, 6 cleaner shrimp, 8 anemone shrimp, 4 carmel shrimp, 2 banned shrimp, and 22 sexy shrimp. all is ok for one week.

Fuel, around 2 hours, and it seems it really enjoy eating ... till cleaner shrimp take over.

Got pics of the 22 sexies? Thats worth a shot.

[Underwater]

Wow, you have 54 shrimps...and 12 harlequin in one tank!!!!

Me first time hearing harlequin eating fish and clam meat, if you succeed in weaning them to eat these, then you are probably the very few who did it. And the good news is you dun have to keep buying sea stars to feed them and risk polluting your water.

[Gouldian]

Wow, thanks for sharing!

[iskay]

Interesting shrimp-themed tank. Please show more photos.

[Gobyluver]

Ya pls post more photos... thanks..

[jamesbond]

i have no intention to feed them with dead fish, as it means some fish kill other. I am lucky to have year round source of starfish, only limit order for some month Aug-Nov.

will take some shot tonight for sharing.

[jamesbond]

some shots

Halerquin

sexy shrimp villiage (on top)

close up

anemone shrimp

[BFG]

If you have this many harlequin, suggest you feed them crown of thorn starfish, their natural diet, help to save the reef too by taking the crown of thorn from the wild as these starfish kills coral.

[yikai]

i dont think crown of thorns starfishes are available in LFS.....

btw that's alot of snappers....a juvenile parrotfish and a potentially large coris...

all need a new home when they grow bigger...and all will potentiall pose a threat to your shrimps..

[jamesbond]

it is quite rare to find thorn starfish here, even though we have big issue with this kind of starfish in Nha Trang, and authorized agency has to call for help to kill them, it is too big to house in tank. i only feed them with red starfish.

Lemon, you are right, when those fishes grow big, i will exchange with my friend. My plan is to house this tank with more halerquin, around 50-100, and move all fishes to other tank. however, it takes time to do collection. I am not worry about aggressive behavious, from my own experience, when you house just some, it will be kind of territory; when you house more than 10.. it becomes a friendly group.

[dryDiver]

Lemon, you are right, when those fishes grow big, i will exchange with my friend. My plan is to house this tank with more halerquin, around 50-100, and move all fishes to other tank. however, it takes time to do collection. I am not worry about aggressive behavious, from my own experience, when you house just some, it will be kind of territory; when you house more than 10.. it becomes a friendly group.

[FuEl]

Do keep a watchful eye out for nitrates. Nitrates above 10ppm usually lead to premature death in these shrimp.

[Guest]

it is quite rare to find thorn starfish here, even though we have big issue with this kind of starfish in Nha Trang, and authorized agency has to call for help to kill them, it is too big to house in tank. i only feed them with red starfish.

Lemon, you are right, when those fishes grow big, i will exchange with my friend. My plan is to house this tank with more halerquin, around 50-100, and move all fishes to other tank. however, it takes time to do collection. I am not worry about aggressive behavious, from my own experience, when you house just some, it will be kind of territory; when you house more than 10.. it becomes a friendly group.

It will surely be very interesting to see a Harlequin shrimp only tank

[jamesbond]

wow Jamesbond, this is very interesting. maybe i should add 10 pcs of harlequin at 1 time so that there is no quarrelling among them. where did you get your idea from?

Do you mind if i ask you how big your tank is, and what is your estimate flow rate (current flow) of your tank?

Thanks for the inspiration!!!

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my tank 1.2x0.35x0.6 m, flow rate is about 3500 liler / hour, filter: DIY wet-dry and over flow filter + 1 canister, no skimmer. it run well with 60 fishes and around 40 shrimps + 15 anemous + some button coral.

i just test to house many shrimps ... and by luck to get it work.

Do keep a watchful eye out for nitrates. Nitrates above 10ppm usually lead to premature death in these shrimp.

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thanks. it is about 3 ppm.

It will surely be very interesting to see a Harlequin shrimp only tank

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regret ... this is stommy season in Vietnam, quite hard to do collection; i only have 16 so far.