Best sea star to get?

Malifry97 · Nov 15, 2019

tmscott89 said:
Unfortunately no

Oh Dang! How'd It Go?

tmscott89 · Nov 15, 2019

Malifry97 said:
Oh Dang! How'd It Go?

Well I was actually just going to ask about this. Are they similar to fish? As in do they take a few days to get use to the environment before they start exploring? Only reason I ask is after I finally put it in the water last night and he moved around the tank a bit, but I woke up to him being under a certain rock and when I got home it appeared he was under the same rock. When o put a flashlight directly on him I can see some movement but just wanted to make sure he’s ok.

Malifry97 · Nov 15, 2019

tmscott89 said:
Well I was actually just going to ask about this. Are they similar to fish? As in do they take a few days to get use to the environment before they start exploring? Only reason I ask is after I finally put it in the water last night and he moved around the tank a bit, but I woke up to him being under a certain rock and when I got home it appeared he was under the same rock. When o put a flashlight directly on him I can see some movement but just wanted to make sure he’s ok.

Yeah he’ll take a while to get used to his environment like 2-3 days. They are also nocturnal and sometimes crepuscular (they come out at dawn and dusk)

tmscott89 · Nov 15, 2019

Malifry97 said:
Yeah he’ll take a while to get used to his environment like 2-3 days. They are also nocturnal and sometimes crepuscular (they come out at dawn and dusk)

Awesome. Thanks for the info. Best picture I got last night since tank is kinda dirty and it was dark.

Malifry97 · Nov 15, 2019

tmscott89 said:
Awesome. Thanks for the info. Best picture I got last night since tank is kinda dirty and it was dark.

Nice he really is pretty

tmscott89 · Nov 15, 2019

Malifry97 said:
Nice he really is pretty

Thanks! Hope it works out great!

Malifry97 · Nov 15, 2019

tmscott89 said:
Thanks! Hope it works out great!

Yea! Keep me updated

tmscott89 · Nov 16, 2019

tmscott89 said:
Awesome thanks for the info! Would you say you feed more shrimp or silverside? Or just try to keep it pretty balanced.

Ordered some silversides today. Just curious how much do you feed just one sea star? And how many times a week?

Bryson.bobby · Nov 16, 2019

I personally don’t feed my green serpent star. Just let it wander around and eat left over food

Malifry97 · Nov 16, 2019

tmscott89 said:
Ordered some silversides today. Just curious how much do you feed just one sea star? And how many times a week?

I like to feed 1-2 times a week

Daddy-o · Nov 16, 2019

We have 4 different varieties of serpents in one of our reefs. They are so cool. One is about 18 inches across. We tweezer feed them a single chunk (big enough to be a meal but small enough that they can eat it) every other day.
Cheers! Mark

Terri Caton · Nov 16, 2019

I have 3. Different kinds. All very well behaved. I don’t know the names of any of them. But this one actually has a star on it.

One is red. One is called a sand star I think. And this one.

User1 · Nov 17, 2019

xxkenny90xx said:
Serpent and brittle stars are great but they don't go on the glass. I've heard the green ones can eat fish though. I have an orange serpent that looks awesome. Go to the grocery store and get some cheap raw seafood (the stuff I buy is called seafood medley from winco)

You are correct - it is the Green Brittle - Ophiarachna incrassata - that will eat small or otherwise unsuspecting fish. They are great scavengers but what you will notice is that they also hunt at night. The way they do it is stand on their tentacles for lack of a better word and pretend to be a tunnel or cave pass through. When something passes under they collapse and wrap the fish in its arms and consume it.

The green are pretty obvious though. There are other serpent stars that are safer so I say avoid the brittles.

Bryson.bobby · Nov 17, 2019

saf1 said:
You are correct - it is the Green Brittle - Ophiarachna incrassata - that will eat small or otherwise unsuspecting fish. They are great scavengers but what you will notice is that they also hunt at night. The way they do it is stand on their tentacles for lack of a better word and pretend to be a tunnel or cave pass through. When something passes under they collapse and wrap the fish in its arms and consume it.

The green are pretty obvious though. There are other serpent stars that are safer so I say avoid the brittles.

I’ve never noticed this with my green serpent. However, I have witnessed it attack my ill pufferfish when it was laying on bottom.

User1 · Nov 17, 2019

Bryson.bobby said:
I’ve never noticed this with my green serpent. However, I have witnessed it attack my ill pufferfish when it was laying on bottom.

I had this book marked - it is older so may not be relevant. I used to own one and like you didn't have any issues. However, I came across this page and so quickly removed it. I wasn't sure if it was going to get my fish that slept in various rocks at night or just what may happen to pass under it. Figured it would be better off safe than sorry later should something happen.

Giant Green Brittle Stars of DEATH!! When they ATTACK--AGAIN!!

With all of the vicious ophiuroid feeding going on, I am recently reminded by a neat paper written by James Morin at UCLA from the 198...

echinoblog.blogspot.com

tmscott89 · Nov 17, 2019

Malifry97 said:
They don’t eat algae, detritus and other foods. Silversides I can get here

Bio-Pure Frozen Silversides

Silversides are a long, slender, brightly colored minnow, that are a perfect diet for larger fish that have a predatory instinct like Lion fish, Anglers, Eels and more. Silversides contain extremely high protein and fat content making them an ideal food for large marine fish. Two Sizes Available...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

And shrimp are raw and unsalted from the grocery store

I didn’t notice any unsalted shrimp today while at the store. Is it somewhere specific? I went to Walmart and Kroger both and it was just regular frozen shrimp but nothing labeled unsalted

Malifry97 · Nov 18, 2019

tmscott89 said:
I didn’t notice any unsalted shrimp today while at the store. Is it somewhere specific? I went to Walmart and Kroger both and it was just regular frozen shrimp but nothing labeled unsalted

No it’s not normally labeled unsalted sorry for the misunderstanding, just make sure it doesn’t have like old bay or anything

tmscott89 · Nov 18, 2019

Malifry97 said:
No it’s not normally labeled unsalted sorry for the misunderstanding, just make sure it doesn’t have like old bay or anything

No worries. Just wanted to make sure

Malifry97 · Nov 18, 2019

tmscott89 said:
No worries. Just wanted to make sure

Yeah cool beans!

tmscott89 · Nov 19, 2019

Malifry97 said:
No it’s not normally labeled unsalted sorry for the misunderstanding, just make sure it doesn’t have like old bay or anything

Fed my tank my first silverside today. Cut it into thirds and gave two 1/3 pieces to random spots for hermit crabs to eat. Have the other 1/3 to the serpent sea star and all of it is gone. Sea star immediately snagged it, glad to see it’s healthy and eating