Any good starfish for a 15gal?
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Stomatopods17
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Careful with asterina, they're either pest or multiply like rabbits.
Some species eat coral, most don't, but a good ratio can make that a risk to take and there's no proper way for us to id the difference between the coral eaters and the regulars, you kinda have to figure that one out yourself via your coral. If you ever had a freshwater planted tank with a snail outbreak, you can expect the saltwater equivalent with asterinas, that's why harlequin shrimp are common to collect as they are pest control for them and get rented a lot.
I remember housing about 10 or 20 in a 30 gallon mantis setup to breed for feeders for harlequin shrimp, it was maybe 2 months and there was a countable hundred on the front glass.
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Reality is a serpent starfish or a small species of brittle is your only bet. Non-long spine urchins can work too, just not pencils. Linkias and fromias barely do well in larger systems because their feeding requirements are less in our control and more hoping the natural food sources build up to last them until we get bored. Knobby, chocolate chips, etc all get massive and eat everything that chooses to exist (i lost the same mantis trying to house feeder chocolate chips with it.. i expected something to happen but I never placed bets on the stars
).
Serpent is doable, you can target feed it and they don't get that huge, they spend most of their time under rocks and you never see them until you throw some food in and then they skip around the tank really fast like a cartoon.
Some species eat coral, most don't, but a good ratio can make that a risk to take and there's no proper way for us to id the difference between the coral eaters and the regulars, you kinda have to figure that one out yourself via your coral. If you ever had a freshwater planted tank with a snail outbreak, you can expect the saltwater equivalent with asterinas, that's why harlequin shrimp are common to collect as they are pest control for them and get rented a lot.
I remember housing about 10 or 20 in a 30 gallon mantis setup to breed for feeders for harlequin shrimp, it was maybe 2 months and there was a countable hundred on the front glass.
___
Reality is a serpent starfish or a small species of brittle is your only bet. Non-long spine urchins can work too, just not pencils. Linkias and fromias barely do well in larger systems because their feeding requirements are less in our control and more hoping the natural food sources build up to last them until we get bored. Knobby, chocolate chips, etc all get massive and eat everything that chooses to exist (i lost the same mantis trying to house feeder chocolate chips with it.. i expected something to happen but I never placed bets on the stars
).Serpent is doable, you can target feed it and they don't get that huge, they spend most of their time under rocks and you never see them until you throw some food in and then they skip around the tank really fast like a cartoon.
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efish
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Thanks for the info! I'm picking up some micro brittle stars and a tuxedo urchin to combat my gha soon thanks for your input!Careful with asterina, they're either pest or multiply like rabbits.
Some species eat coral, most don't, but a good ratio can make that a risk to take and there's no proper way for us to id the difference between the coral eaters and the regulars, you kinda have to figure that one out yourself via your coral. If you ever had a freshwater planted tank with a snail outbreak, you can expect the saltwater equivalent with asterinas, that's why harlequin shrimp are common to collect as they are pest control for them and get rented a lot.
I remember housing about 10 or 20 in a 30 gallon mantis setup to breed for feeders for harlequin shrimp, it was maybe 2 months and there was a countable hundred on the front glass.
___
Reality is a serpent starfish or a small species of brittle is your only bet. Non-long spine urchins can work too, just not pencils. Linkias and fromias barely do well in larger systems because their feeding requirements are less in our control and more hoping the natural food sources build up to last them until we get bored. Knobby, chocolate chips, etc all get massive and eat everything that chooses to exist (i lost the same mantis trying to house feeder chocolate chips with it.. i expected something to happen but I never placed bets on the stars
Serpent is doable, you can target feed it and they don't get that huge, they spend most of their time under rocks and you never see them until you throw some food in and then they skip around the tank really fast like a cartoon.
