Harlequin Shrimp
Scientific Name : Hymenocera Elegans, H.Picta
Origin : Indo-Pacific, Hawaii
Temperament : Peaceful, Shy
Temperature : 72F - 82F
Maximum Size : 3 Inches
Diet : Carnivore (Starfish)
Difficulty : Hard
Reef Safe : Yes
Tank Size : 10 Gallons
The Harlequin Shrimp is considered to be one of the most beautiful marine aquarium shrimp to enter the trade. There is no other marine shrimp that looks quite like the Harlequin Shrimp does. They are the flowers of the shrimp family with their lovely purple to blue markings across a white body.
They are a peaceful and very shy shrimp that prefers to remain in its cave of choice most of the time. Unlike most other ornamental shrimp that we come across in the hobby, the harlequin shrimp is a slow moving shrimp that cannot be considered an agile species.
They are also known as the harlequin dancing shrimp for the way they move their two large pincers about even when stationary. There are two known species, Hymenocera Elegans and Hymenocera Picta. They are seperated only by location as Elegans is found throughout the Indo-Pacific while Picta is found in Hawaii. Beyond that, the differences between are not veyr clear but some have found that picta tends to have more purple and orange on its markings.
It is thought by some that they are both the same species that have migrated over time. Generally a reasonably priced shrimp, expect to pay from $15 all the way up to $30 for a specimen depending on size. Prices will of course vary from location to location. In South East Asia for example, these shrimp can fetch as low as $7 per specimen.
Specimens come in sizes ranging from half an inch all the way up to a full 3 inches. They are not a very mobile shrimp and ar largely site attached. Meaning they remain in a specific area, mainly their cave of choice. When feeding on a starfish, they will never leave it and will remain with it until it is fully consumed. Because of their size, they can be kept in aquariums as small as 10 gallons.
The harlequin shrimp has a difficulty rating of hard not because they are sensitive or even adapt poorly to life in captiviy. Their difficulty lies primarily with their diet.
They will only consume one food item, the starfish. There have been some reports of them eating sea urchins as well. Without these prey items, they will slowly starve to death in captivity. While the shrimp itself may be reasonably priced, their prey items are not. A typical harlequin pair may consume a whole starfish in less than a week. As such, their monthly food bill may amount to quite a bit for such a small aquarium shrimp.
Once they have detected the presence of a starfish, they spring into action and hunt it down. The first thing they upon contact with their prey is to flip it over. They then drag the live starfish back to a location of their choice for slow feeding. They will also keep the starfish alive throughout the feeding process as a dead starfish will eventually melt. A melting starfish can seriously deteriorate your aquariums water quality so you must keep an eye on the condition of the starfish. At the first sign of it dying, remove it immediately.
You want to feed a hardy starfish to your harlequin shrimp. Stay away from linckia starfish as they are generally not known to be hardy and will almost always die prematurely. The best species to feed is the chocolate chip starfish. They are large, meaty and hardy.
Fed often enough, a pair of harlequin shrimp will breed continually for you. Females are almost always larger than males and the sexes can be told apart by observing their abdomen area. Flip the harlequin upside down and look at the plates covering their abdomen. If the plates are colored, the shrimp is a female. Males have no color on the plates whatsoever. Two specimens of equal size should be obtained for the pairing process. Females may not always be receptive to males and if the female is much larger than the male, she may attempt to kill him. This is less likely to happen if they are off the same size as the female is unlikely to overwhelm the male with sheer strength.
Back to Aquarium Shrimp, Home.
