Do Harlequin Shrimp Need To Eat Sea Stars

[backtotropical]

As per the title. Please discuss / advise.

Thanks

BTT

 

[GShorty1981]

They only eat star fish as far as i know.

 

[ben1987]

yep only eat star fish as far as i know too. Seen a few wnated adverts for pest star fish before

 

[Steven Tarise]

Not entirely true. I have read that they also eat the feet off of cucumbers and urchins. Still, hardly practical.

Oh, also, from what I've read, they only eat the feet, not the rest of the starfish. Might need someone with experience to clear this up.

 

[Colin_T]

they eat the entire starfish but only eat a couple of varieties of starfish, primarily Linkia sp. Some do take other types of starfish but not often.
If you plan on keeping harlequin shrimp you should really set up another tank purely for starfish. Grow them up and cut them in half, or break off the odd leg. Let them regrow and feed them to the shrimp. The bigger the starfish, the longer it takes for the shrimp to eat them.
Growing your own starfish will save you a fortune in the long run.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

They will eat a pest starfish that is easy to grow in large numbers (cant remeber the name sorry, someone will know though) and a lot of people that keep these shrimp have a seperate tank for the starfish.

Shame they are so difficult because they are stunning looking critters.

 

[backtotropical]

Shame they are so difficult because they are stunning looking critters.

My thoughts exactly. I was hoping i could have one in my nano-reef, but maybe not, eh?

I don't have another tank to breed stars in and certainly don't want to buy stars from the LFS every week. I'll give it a miss.

Thanks everyone for the input.

Cheers

BTT

 

[GShorty1981]

i know LFS sell chocolate chip stars for them to eat,i also heard of people keeping stars and cutting legs off them twice a week and feeding it to the shrimp then by the time they go to feed them again the legs are growing back.

 

[Colin_T]

chopping the legs off starfish is common practice but it takes a month or more for a leg to grow back. Therefor you need a group of starfish to be able to feed a pr of Harlequin shrimp properly.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

What do people think about the ethical implications of keeping starfish just to cut them up all the time as a food source? (just curious not wanting to start any arguements!)

Personally I wouldnt be able to bring myself to do this (though strangly enough I would have no issue with breeding pest starfish as a food source).

 

[Colin_T]

You have no problem feeding them off whole but you don't want to chop them up to grow more In that case you probably shouldn't keep harlequin shrimp.
What about the fish food we all use to feed our fishes. It is made from fish, and shrimp and god knows what else. People don't have any problem using that even tho the fish are usually harmed during the capturing process. How about live brineshrimp or daphnia. Brineshrimp lives in salt water and is frequently dumped into freshwater aquariums where it suffers from osmoregulatory problems before being eaten alive. Baby daphnia get fed to fish, but they are only babies, likewise newly hatched brineshrimp. Mass murder of new borns.
Feed them whatever you can and try not to think about it.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

You have no problem feeding them off whole but you don't want to chop them up to grow more

I know. Not saying its makes any sense at all because it doesnt
Just seems wrong (to me) for some reason to have an animal that you regularly cut bits off to use as a food source. But yeah I have no problem feeding whole animals to other animals (if that is what is required).

Not saying it is wrong or that people shouldnt do it or anything but just wondered if anyone else was as twisted as me on this because I really dont understand my own thinking myself

 

[Colin_T]

It’s ok
A lot of people have similar feelings about meat. I have trouble chopping up a dead animal to cook, but if it is on a piece of foam and wrapped in glad wrap it isn't an issue. Mind you I get a bit squeamish when there are veins and arteries that haven't been cleaned off.
When I was keeping starfish I would chop them in half once and when they had grown back, feed them off. I didn't normally keep chopping the same animal over and over again. However, many marine organisms like crabs, octopus and starfish, will shed their limbs if they are attacked. They have the ability to shut off the blood supply to that area and in a very short time, (a few seconds) shed a limb. Then while the predator is eating the limb, the animal tries to get away. Sometimes it works but not always.

 

[GShorty1981]

It is wrong because the Animal has to suffer with the pain of having a limb cut off for a month wheras feeding it whole would be done and dusted pretty quick!

I dunno..its all wrong really,but part and parcel if you want to keep a predatory animal.

 

[Colin_T]

harlequin shrimp don't eat the starfish instantly. Often it will be eaten over a couple of weeks, depending on how big the starfish is compared to the shrimp, (big starfish last longer). I'm not sure if I would rather lose a limb quickly, or get eaten alive over the course of several weeks, the former I guess.