Scythanith's 10g Nano (March 15 Update)

[moldrik]

Originally Posted by Scythanith

Pretty sure this little guy will make this tank his home. And we will find it a couple of playmates, they act totally different when they are in groups!

How hard is it to take care of a harlequin shrimp? Does it feed on anything other than starfish? In order to have one/two, would I need some sort of tank where I breed starfish ( they are kind of expensive to keep buying as food ).
________
ios games

[Scythanith]

Harlequin shrimp are very easy to take care of. Clean water, a good overhang and/or cave for them to hide in when neccesary, and a steady supply of starfish. I have never seen any I've owned eat anything other than starfish. I've fed linkia, chocolate chips and astrea. I've heard if you get a large population of astrea's (little ones in sumps and on the glass of many established tanks) they can survive on just those. I've fed my old pair a 6" linkia and they would have found it, flipped it, and started eating it within 5 minutes. I used to feed every two weeks when I first had them but I think that was too far apart. I had them for almost 2 years before they died (within a week of each other) but I was fairly new at the game back then and didn't look to see if there was a cause other than maybe starvation. I've felt bad about that ever since.

For the new batch I have 5 chocolate chips in my mantis tank and we cut off a leg every week to feed the shrimp. So in theory one starfish can last a little over a month, but we are trying to give the starfish enough time to regrow their limbs before the next limb harvest. I don't know if that is enough so we may supplement the Harlequin with a full starfish once a month. They can finish off a leg in a matter of a day. Right now mine is in the frag tank and I am concerned my nutrients are getting too high (new algae growth) so I'm looking forward to getting him into the 10gal. But we do have a BK mini 180 coming for the frag tank to help control the nutrients as well as large water changes for now.

Watching a group of the Harlequin shrimps march along through the tank hunting is hilarious. Their cryptic movements and camoflauge make them a beautiful addition to any tank that you don't mind them killing every single starfish in. I tried adding many at once hoping that the shrimp would only take one at a time..... nope, they piled them up and started eating them all.

They can breed in reef aquaria, though it can be very difficult to rear the young through metamorphosis and get them to a juvenile size. just having a successful mating pair is a sign that your providing a stable environment for the critters.

I hope that answered the question!

P.S. thank you Colby for the constant food supply!

Here is my first pair in a 5gal with a single NO T5, and an aquaclear mini filter... that's it. I had them for over two years.

[karazy]

im going to be setting up a 5.5gallon in the future and i would really like to have one or two of these.i am going to do the false wall, so instead of 16 inches of length i'll have12. would this be ok for a harlequin, and also is there any advantage to having a pair other than mating

[Scythanith]

They can get a good inch long so you won't want to crowd them. A 5g would be tight but as long as you keep the water quality up you should be fine. Water quality will be an issue since you're throwing in starfish which are being consumed... pretty messy process.

But then again who am I? I'm not claiming to be any sort of expert and I'm sure there are people out there that could give you much more reliable info than I can.

[pastout]

the 2 i have are in a 10 gallon with a fale wall works out to about 8 gallons of water space and they are with a sexy shrimp a cleaner shrimp and a pepermint shrimp the olny realy major movement they do is for hunting. they polish of sandsifters like there is no tomorow. the olny real space you need in a tank for them is enough floor space to lay a satrfish on dont worry about room for it to move around they dont last that long the harlequins are preety efficent hunters. well my female is haha the male just hopes she lets him have a bite

[karazy]

okay, kool. i think i will just get 1 then if i get them.
and i do have another tank with a sump so cutting of a leg weekly shouldnt be too hard if i get maybe 3 chocolate chips

[JDigital]

Contest Reminder:

**Updated FTS and Budget Required today (Nov 15/08) to remain in the contest**

[sphelps]

[Scythanith]

Thanks Buddy!

Looks like I have a small cyano outbreak I need to deal with! I'm not going to get livestock in it until I get home from work and that may be well into December... damn.

Did you notice my false wall moved back some. I don't know why it let go but it shifted back some. Doesn't really matter though, it 's still doing its job.

I can't wait to get some life into there!

[workn2hard2day]

Very nice looking setup.