does anyone know if a harle serpent would fit in my 12 gallon? I did some research and found varying sizes. What exactly do you feed serpents? I would love a serpent for my tank, I find them really cool.

What about Harle shrimp? will they fit in my tank and would they eat a harle serpent? I know they eat stars, so I'm not so sure I will get some because I don't necessarily agree with it.

BTW, I'm leaving for key west, on Sunday, I'm planning on doing some snorkeling and diving so :fingerscrossed: for cephs!!!

Serpent do well in almost any tank and are one of my favorite scavengers but Thales has recently mentioned that any star is likely to be eaten by the Harle shrimp (including serpent stars). The serpents come in a variety of colors but are nocturnal and will be most active at feeding time or at night (mine come out to feed but are not usually active during the day). Except for the green variety (and there are two of these but I would recommend against them unless you know how to tell the difference), they are harmless, entertaining scavengers. One of my neighbors insisted she could see my Mercs one day because she saw a red serpent arm moving in the tank ;>).

The red serpent stars are well worth the extra expense if you can find one. They are gorgeous. Really add a lot of color to the tank, usually too big to completely hide.

The reds are my favorite too and one lives with Sisturus and Medusa in the 15 gallon. Ken (sealifeinc.net) has some red brittle stars in right now (including some nano sized) and I have asked him to save me one as these look to be a brighter red than the maroon color of my serpents. Another colorful star is the red knobby that is a bright orange but care must be taken not to put it in with clams and watch it carefully with inverts (leathers, polyps have all been fine). Very showy and an excellent octo clean-up critter.

Serpent do well in almost any tank and are one of my favorite scavengers but Thales has recently mentioned that any star is likely to be eaten by the Harle shrimp (including serpent stars). The serpents come in a variety of colors but are nocturnal and will be most active at feeding time or at night (mine come out to feed but are not usually active during the day). Except for the green variety (and there are two of these but I would recommend against them unless you know how to tell the difference), they are harmless, entertaining scavengers. One of my neighbors insisted she could see my Mercs one day because she saw a red serpent arm moving in the tank ;>).

Not me! I think I said they don't eat serpents - at least that's what I meant to say! :grin:
Mine don't bother the serpents at all.

Oops! Thanks for the correction Richard. I had kind of a hard time with the cute little shrimp eating the linkia and must have let that impression override what you actually wrote. Normally, I would have looked it up but the impression stuck:oops:

I'd wondered the same about the shrimp. That's good to know. I'm tempted to put some in Alayna's seahorse tank... they're so.... unreal in appearance. Like cartoon characters.

No problem D!!

I love the harley's - awesome little predator. Feeding is a little annoying though!