Harlequin shrimp:)

here are my 2 new Harelquin shrimp acclimating.
they have been aclimating since 2pm today I will let them loose by 5pm
this evening. these are very cool shrimp I will get better pics later.

super cool looking!!!

their also a lot bigger than I expected. which is a good thing:)
I have an over abundance of starfish which is their favorite food
so hopefully they will take the population down a peg or two.

nice!!

might be good for POTM as well lol.

But they eat Chocolate Chips. {sniff} ;o)

James0816 wrote:

But they eat Chocolate Chips. {sniff} ;o)

yes they do! chocolate chips are not reef safe there for they are also my enemy:)

they just found each other. one is bigger than the other and I also read they dont do well solitary so I hope they like each other:)

Awesome shrimp. Brittle stars that live in your rock already are beneficial to your reef. These guys do not differentiate and will eliminate all available food supply in a short time span. You'll have to start keeping general stars in the 180 sump to feed them with before too long.

The obligatory edit...

I'm currently monitoring asterina explosion. Keep checking local salt forums for a pair to rent for a month or so, so I'm fairly jealous of your acquisition. Much more so of your mad camera skillz.

Those are toooooo cool!!!!

Those have got to be the coolest shrimp I have ever seen! Do they eat anything other than starfish?

youre funny pope!
no they eat just stars. here's a better pic I took yesterday:)

Freakin wicked! I foresee a picture of the month winner here!

Awsome pics. stupid question because I've never seen on in person. are they that flouresent or does the camera make their colors pop?

no they really look like that and they are pretty large too.
easy to spot in the tank as well.

Cool! the way thier colors are makes me think about black lights.

Chuy wrote:

Cool! the way thier colors are makes me think about black lights.

they are under 72, 3watt LED'S 4x54 watt T5's Fiji and true actinic's that probably helps:)

That sounds like an expensive light set up, that's one (cost) thing that keeps me away from salt water.

Harlequin Shrimp update
I purchased a male and female to get the starfish population down in the 180 and boy did they do the job:) I'd say they have eaten 90% of them.
the female discovered the Linkia starfish on sunday and consumed all but 1 1/2 of its legs then last night I noticed she was hunting again and had the entire star in her grasp while the male watched from the under side of a monti cap.
she was very protective of her prey and when fish would swim by she would raise her claws at them, she continued to feed for about and hour then started dragging the Linkia into her cave it was quite a show. these two Harlequin have doubled in size since I got them in mid march and this Linkia was not small either he was over 4 inches tip to tip. my plan is I have chocolate chip stars in my sump to keep these guy's fed but I'm also going to add 3 medium size Linkia to the display from time to time as needed to keep them fed. it was really cool to watch nature at its finest.
here she is feeding and then the pictures of the male watching from above I guess he didn't dare get in the middle of her feeding.

I just love harlequins... thanks for the share

cwhip,
You didnt like the Linka Starfish?

Probably didn't matter if she liked that linkia starfish. Her shrimp liked it more it seems!

I know, but Linkas are easily removed unlike those little pesky brittle stars.

no, I liked the Linkia but nature took its course after they had eaten most of the micro stars they naturally moved on to him. I have 2 large serpent stars in there as well so I'm wondering if they will eat them. anyway the main thing is they ate the stars that were eating my SPS and Zoas which are far more expensive than Linkias and harder to replace. the Harlequins are not like other shrimp they dont hide and are always entertaining to watch. the male was climbing the front glass the other day using the backs of snails as a ladder:) its also really surprising how strong they are like I said that Linkia was 4+inches tip to tip and I watched the smaller female drag him into her cave. I will be buying medium size stars and housing them in the sump then putting them in the DT as needed for the Harlequins.

cwhip wrote:

no, I liked the Linkia but nature took its course after they had eaten most of the micro stars they naturally moved on to him. I have 2 large serpent stars in there as well so I'm wondering if they will eat them. anyway the main thing is they ate the stars that were eating my SPS and Zoas which are far more expensive than Linkias and harder to replace. the Harlequins are not like other shrimp they dont hide and are always entertaining to watch. the male was climbing the front glass the other day using the backs of snails as a ladder:) its also really surprising how strong they are like I said that Linkia was 4+inches tip to tip and I watched the smaller female drag him into her cave. I will be buying medium size stars and housing them in the sump then putting them in the DT as needed for the Harlequins.

Makes sense. I keep hearing other reef owners say the same about the pesky stars eating the zoas. I havent had a problem with that yet. But I have been wanting to get some Harlequins, but I'm worried that my Nigers will really enjoy them as a quick snack.