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-   -   Does anyone sell asterina starfish online? (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2684790)

ChrisnViv 10/06/2018 05:55 PM

Does anyone sell asterina starfish online?
 
We had a tank full of asterina stars, so bought a harlequin shrimp. It ate a large sand sifting star, and has almost finished off the asterina stars. I keep seeing to get a chocolate chip starfish and cut off legs, and feed the shrimp that way. But I'd really rather have it eat the pests! If anyone knows where I can get asterina stars online, please let me know.

Michael Hoaster 10/14/2018 09:56 AM

That's very interesting to hear that a population of asterinas can be wiped out by a harlequin shrimp. I would have thought that they reproduce faster. From your experience, can you estimate how big a population could be sustainable?

I don't know of anyone selling them. I do occasionally see them in tanks at my LFSs. You might try yours. Good luck!

tom g 10/14/2018 04:41 PM

asterias
 
best way is to try local reefers who have em in there tank offer to go and help pick out and see if u can get a steady collection of them ,

mndfreeze 10/17/2018 11:29 PM

If you rely purely on asterina's your shrimp will eventually starve to death because there isn't enough food on each asterina to sustain them for the amount of time spent hunting. People have had them starve to death in tanks with plenty of asterina left to eat. You really need to be providing them larger stars.

Maggie321 10/19/2018 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mndfreeze (Post 25510446)
If you rely purely on asterina's your shrimp will eventually starve to death because there isn't enough food on each asterina to sustain them for the amount of time spent hunting. People have had them starve to death in tanks with plenty of asterina left to eat. You really need to be providing them larger stars.

Yes this 100%... they don't eat the whole star... they only eat the feet. Asternia don't have enough meat to sustain them.
I hear if you keep more than 1 chocolate chip star (like 6 or something) and always rotate which one looses a leg, you'll never have to buy another star. But I am not a expert, in fact far from it. I've never owned a harlequin because I hate the idea of cutting legs off a live star. You can also cut a whole star up and keep it in the freezer feeding 1 leg at a time.

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mndfreeze 10/20/2018 08:12 PM

Some people have issues getting their harlequins to eat already dead/frozen stars also, so that needs to be kept in mind. They are definitely NOT a beginner or even medium level invert. Need to make sure you can afford to buy them a star a week or so.

They are awesome animals but the feeding requirements is what keeps me from getting any, and I love unique inverts far more than fish and coral, lol. I hate seeing people think they are just fancy pest control. I bet a huge number of them die because of that. :(

Calappidae 11/03/2018 04:34 PM

When I was big on harlequin shrimp, I had an asterina population in a separate 30 gallon where the glass was completely covered, intentionally as a backup supply during the winter months where shipping starfish and driving on frozen roads wasn't an option. That system started out with about 50 additions and then kinda ignored it for the next 6 months.

One week of a bad freeze, I would throw 30 in a day. Long story short, that system of stars stopped existing that same week, these shrimp need a lot of them... figure harlequin shrimp only eat the tube feet part of a starfish (which on paper isn't a lot of the animal), then scale the difference between a chocolate chip and an asterina, its impossible to sustain harlequins on purely asterinas. Really think about how many tube feet there are on the leg of a starfish, and you can assume 1 asterina = 1 tube foot, then account for all 5 legs.

Harlequins are either a full commitment to buying the starfish (or rotation method), or a rented service that goes back where it came from when the job is done. Unless you have the literal ocean's worth of asterinas being given to you, its best to work with 1 medium chocolate chip star to last for 2 weeks, or 1 small for about a week, depending how fast or slow it dies, both in cost and results.

ChrisnViv 11/06/2018 02:54 PM

Sorry I've not logged on lately, and see some great responses. I haven't seem the harlequin in about two weeks now, and fear I starved it to death, which makes me really sad because I didn't realize that when the asterina population shrunk, it would take so much more effort to get food. I've also read that trigger fish may kill harleys, true? We have a gorgeous blue trigger that just may have to go back to the store. It killed a goby and if it also killed the harley, I will want to take it out of our otherwise peaceful tank.

mndfreeze 11/07/2018 10:44 PM

I've never owned a trigger but I think they are fairly aggressive/meanie fish when it comes to smaller stuff.


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