A good creature if there are too many Asterina starfish in the tank! Note: Only eat starfish!

Their highly specific diet is probably the most fascinating thing about this shrimp species. Harlequin shrimp only eat starfish and nothing else. Maybe they'll have a nibble at the Odd sea urchin, but that's it. This is what makes them a bit more challenging to keep than many other shrimp: you'll have to be able to provide a constant flow of starfish.

A few points about this strange diet of starfish:

• Harlequin shrimp only eat starfish legs. This means that you can keep a bunch of starfish in your Refugium and snip off one of their legs for shrimp feeding time; the leg will regrow quite quickly.
• Asterina starfish, a small species that's generally considered a pest, is one of the starfish on the menu. Yay! If any of your reef-keeping friends or your local aquarium shops are struggling with asterina, you can ask them to keep them for you after removal from the tank.
• You can buy starfish in bulk and freeze them.
• Be sure to remove uneaten bits after a few hours to prevent the Aquarium water from spoiling.

Harlequin shrimp hunting behavior is fascinating. Larger starfish might be kept alive for days or weeks at a time while the shrimp feast on their legs.