Asterina Starfish, Find and Seek lol

[WarChief]

Found this little dude in my tank and the wife didnt want me to flush him so I set him out in the bay. See if you can find him in the sand of the bay...

 

[vetteguy53081]

Found this little dude in my tank and the wife didnt want me to flush him so I set him out in the bay. See if you can find him in the sand of the bay...

Asterina while cute can haunt you. They break off a leg and form a new star. Both then break off a leg and form 2 more and so forth. They feast on zoa coral, end up in your plumbing, clog pump intakes and more.
I eliminate them as I find them. I remove by hand or a small 2" brine shrimp net and discard.
About 4 years ago had two that got to a size of a nickel and took down an entire colony of bam Bam zoas. I havent had any in almost 2 years

 

[WarChief]

Asterina while cute can haunt you. They break off a leg and form a new star. Both then break off a leg and form 2 more and so forth. They feast on zoa coral, end up in your plumbing, clog pump intakes and more.
I eliminate them as I find them. I remove by hand or a small 2" brine shrimp net and discard.
About 4 years ago had two that got to a size of a nickel and took down an entire colony of bam Bam zoas. I havent had any in almost 2 years

Thats why its swimming in the Chesapeake bay now. If I happen to see another I will get a shrimp to take care of them.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thats why its swimming in the Chesapeake bay now. If I happen to see another I will get a shrimp to take care of them.

Unless you have many, harlequin shrimp will soon starve unless you go out and buy a chocolate chip star to keep it fed

 

[exnisstech]

I may be wrong but I believe harlequin shrimp is the only one that eats starfish. It is the only thing they eat so it would starve unless you supplement feeding them starfish. Netting the astrina as you see them would probably be better. They appear in all of my tanks eventually.

 

[WarChief]

I may be wrong but I believe harlequin shrimp is the only one that eats starfish. It is the only thing they eat so it would starve unless you supplement feeding them starfish. Netting the astrina as you see them would probably be better. They appear in all of my tanks eventually.

I netted it and took it put it out in the bay. Thats the plan unless it gets out of hand.

 

[exnisstech]

Part of this morning harvest from my 180g

 

[Waters]

If you see one, you have twenty

 

[WarChief]

Part of this morning harvest from my 180g

Thats insane!!!

 

[exnisstech]

Thats insane!!!

That's just a few of the many lol. They are from my oldest system. The glass is pretty much covered in the morning but they tend to move off of the glass when lights come on. I've never had them bother anything but in my 2 other tanks I grab them every time I see them. I have to do it when my Gal isn't home though or she try to shame me into putting them in the 180g vs the trash

 

[WarChief]

That's just a few of the many lol. They are from my oldest system. The glass is pretty much covered in the morning but they tend to move off of the glass when lights come on. I've never had them bother anything but in my 2 other tanks I grab them every time I see them. I have to do it when my Gal isn't home though or she try to shame me into putting them in the 180g vs the trash

My wife made me take it and put it in the bay so it had a chance to live lol