harlequin shrimp

C

Catjuggler

Premium Member
Hi I have a pair of harlequin shrimp and i would like to open a discussion on them. I love my pair, they swim around the tank and seem to like me and notice when im around. There tiny but they don't take any bull from there other tankmates and they seem to respect there space. There beautiful addition to a tank and it seems not a lot of people have them. I would love to hear any ones stories that have to do with them. I'm new to the hobby and anyone's experience would be greatly appreciated. My big female likes to hang upside down from a branch of hammer coral and swing her claws around and my tiny male like to just follow her around. She is so much bigger then him but if something comes close the male jumps in front and wards them off(what a gentlemen). Ill post some pics as soon as i can. It would be awsome if anyone could share any links,photos or any info on these beautiful creatures
 
had one for a long time then started feeding him satrfish i bought 2 weeks later he died
should have left well enough alone
 
Im sorry to hear that, I feed mine a chocolate chip star every 3 to 4 weeks. they seem to enjoy this feeding the most, I tried to feed them every 2 weeks and they kinda ignored the starfish for about a week
 
When i first got them i had a bad case of asterina stars, within 2 weeks they were all gone.i planed my whole tank around these guys(no coral banded or strawberry crabs ).there tuff but i didnt want them to stressed
 
so my female molted and now she is gone(4 days). I think someone got her while she was weak. i plan on getting a new female after the male gets done eating if the old one doesn't pop back up. I plan on putting them in there own tank away from the other shrimp and crabs. If anyone has a female they want to get rid of let me know. I should be replacing her in the next week.
 
Aww! I'm sorry to hear that. I hope she turns back up. Is it very hard to get a pair? If you order them individually that is. Or tell the genders apart? I've sort of wanted to get a pair. Once every 3 weeks doesn't seem to terribly difficult to feed them. What happens if you buy two and get the same sex? I have to make a trip to the lfs today. I'll ask if I can bring one in for store credit if that happens.

I have to do a bit more research to know what I'm getting into before trying some though.
 
@Jaguar wrote:
Aww! I'm sorry to hear that. I hope she turns back up. Is it very hard to get a pair? If you order them individually that is. Or tell the genders apart? I've sort of wanted to get a pair. Once every 3 weeks doesn't seem to terribly difficult to feed them. What happens if you buy two and get the same sex? I have to make a trip to the lfs today. I'll ask if I can bring one in for store credit if that happens. I have to do a bit more research to know what I'm getting into before trying some though. said:
Hey thanks, i hope she does too she was almost 3 inchs and my fav pet besides my dog. You can order a pair for about 60 to 70 bucks or you can get them both separate and sex them. The male's abdomen will be clear or yellowish in color, lacking any blue spots. The female will have obvious blue spots under her abdomen. just dont get a female thats is too big for the male because they will fight and dont get a male that is bigger then the female. With feeding every 2 weeks if you want to breed and once a month if you just want healthy harlequins. If you get 2 that is the same sex they will kill each other in a small tank, if you have a 90 or bigger they may find separate territories. same goes with 2 pairs you must have a least a 90 but most likely only something over 120 would work for 2 pairs from what i heard.
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I've only seen pairs run $80+ but individuals run $30. My lfs has small containers that float to keep smaller shrimp like sexy shrimp. I think I'll make some when I'm ready to give them a try and seperate them into these so they are contained and I can examine to see what I have and try to put a pair together someday. That's a good article. Thx for the link. I read it once because the kresial tank is like one we use for some types of seahorses.
 
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