Harlequin Shrimp

🦐 Harlequin Shrimp Care & Description

🔍 Description

• Common Name: Harlequin Shrimp

• Scientific Names:

  • Hymenocera picta (Pacific form – more white/pink)

  • Hymenocera elegans (Indian Ocean form – more white/blue)

• Origin: Indo-Pacific, including Fiji, Hawaii, and Indonesia

• Size: 1.5–2 inches (3.8–5 cm)

• Lifespan: 1.5–2 years

• Appearance:

  • Bright white or cream-colored body with blue or purple spots

  • Flattened, paddle-shaped claws

  • Elaborate antennae and leg markings

  • Moves with graceful, almost “dancing” motions

🧠 Behavior and Temperament

• Very peaceful and shy

• Territorial toward others of its kind — best kept as a mated pair or solo

• Will spend most of its time in a sheltered spot when not hunting

• Incredible predators — specialized in feeding exclusively on starfish

🧪 Tank Requirements

• Tank Size: Minimum 20 gallons (30+ preferred for stability)

• Temperature: 72–78°F (22–25.5°C)

• Salinity: 1.023–1.025 specific gravity

• pH: 8.1–8.4

• Ammonia/Nitrite: 0 ppm

• Nitrate: < 20 ppm

• Aquascape: Provide lots of live rock, overhangs, and caves for hiding

🍽️ Diet and Feeding

⚠️ Specialized Predator – Diet is Starfish Only

• Feeds exclusively on live starfish, including:

  • Asterina stars (tiny hitchhiker stars – often used as their primary food)

  • Chocolate chip starfish (frequently used in feeding rotation, though these are not reef-safe)

  • Linckia and Fromia stars (can be fed, but expensive and may not survive well in captivity)

• Shrimp will flip the starfish, paralyze it, and consume it slowly over several days

• Must be fed live starfish every 1–2 weeks

• In pairs, feeding demand increases

⚠️ Harlequin shrimp will starve without access to starfish. They typically refuse all other foods, including frozen or pellet foods.

⚠️ Care Considerations

• Not reef-safe for starfish — will attack all types, even ornamental reef-safe stars like Linckia or sand sifters

• Cannot be housed with aggressive fish (e.g., triggers, wrasses, hawkfish)

• Very sensitive to water quality — stable parameters are essential

• Can coexist peacefully with most inverts and reef-safe fish that won’t eat them

✅ Good Tankmates

• Clownfish, gobies, blennies, firefish

• Peaceful shrimp (e.g., cleaner or peppermint shrimp)

• Snails, hermits, corals (non-star-shaped)

❌ Avoid With

• Predatory fish (lionfish, wrasses, hawkfish, triggers, puffers)

• Any type of starfish you wish to keep alive

• Other Harlequin shrimp unless you have a bonded pair

🌟 Bonus Tips

• Feeding rotation: Many aquarists keep a supply of chocolate chip stars in a separate tank and rotate them to feed Harlequin shrimp.

• Asterina control: They are sometimes introduced to tanks with Asterina starfish infestations — but will wipe them out completely, then require supplemental feeding.

• Breeding: They will reproduce in captivity as a bonded pair, but the larvae are nearly impossible to raise in home aquaria.