Harlquin Shrimp Eating a starfish

[VermontReef]

Trying to train my harlequin shrimp to eat those pesky little starfish that multiply in reef tanks.

 

Heres a couple pics of the harlequin. He's very small, about 1"

 

Here he is eating a pesky little starfish. I had to skewer the starfish with a pin on the end of a skewer and put it in front of him. He pulled it off and began chowing on it. I hope that eventually he will hunt them on his own.

[cyenna]

what're you gonna do after the starfish are gone?

[VermontReef]

Boil him up and eat him. He should be big and fat by then.

[sandlot13]

did he ever learn to eat those asterina starfish???

[FUGU!!!]

I thats cool! maby once there all gone you could hollow out his shell and put him on display!

[jeremai]

You don't have to 'train' it to eat the asterinas, just don't feed it any other starfish - when it gets hungry enough, it will find food.

[aquaman590]

Do you have a method for culturing the asterinas, or do you just have enough "spares" floating around?

I give you credit for keeping these guys. They're gorgeous animals and I wish I had the resources to keep 'em.

[ricomike]

I don't know if this goes for all sea stars nor whether its in any way ethical. But if you cut off a sea stars leg and include at least a part of its central disk it will be able to regenerate into two seperate starfish. That's for whoever was asking about starfish propagation I believe it was aquaman. I suppose if they're going to be eaten anyways there should be no moral obstacle to practicing this form of propagation.

[aquaman590]

I don't know if this goes for all sea stars nor whether its in any way ethical. But if you cut off a sea stars leg and include at least a part of its central disk it will be able to regenerate into two seperate starfish. That's for whoever was asking about starfish propagation I believe it was aquaman. I suppose if they're going to be eaten anyways there should be no moral obstacle to practicing this form of propagation.

Oh wow. I forgot starfish could do that! Sounds like it would work well enough. Question is whether or not they regenerate fast enough.

[zoos]

You can always just feed him cholochate chip stars, there only like $5.

[CGNano]

Starfish don't regenerate nearly fast enough for the leg thing to work.

[DementedLullaby]

Starfish don't regenerate nearly fast enough for the leg thing to work.

 

Gotta agree, and most probably end up dying anyway because of stress and nitrates.