Brittle star question

[Lionheart513]

Hi I have a 125 n came with a decent size brittle star from the color I see I think it's a blk one. Couple days ago I'm startling to notice there r couple babies around too. The thing is will they eat my fish ? Or hurt my coral or bad in my tank cus to n quiet honest they r cool but freak me out. Any input or experiences would b greatly appreciated thanks in advance

 

[ritter6788]

The babies are probably mini brittle stars. Hitchhikers on live rock. They won't get much bigger than they are now. The other could be a brittle star or a serpent star. The green serpent stars will attack and eat fish. The brown hairy ones are normally just scavengers. Do you have a pic of the one you have?

 

[Lionheart513]

The babies are probably mini brittle stars. Hitchhikers on live rock. They won't get much bigger than they are now. The other could be a brittle star or a serpent star. The green serpent stars will attack and eat fish. The brown hairy ones are normally just scavengers. Do you have a pic of the one you have?

Ill get one when I get home

 

[Lionheart513]

that's the one can anybody tell me if they are harmful

 

[spscrazy]

that one is good in the reef tank won't hurt anything just a scavenger

 

[Oceanslayer18]

As oong as he can scavange for leftover algae and food your fine. However all starfish are mostly csrnivorous in the wild and ive seen multiple account of brittleb stars eatting wrasses and small fish. Local to my area some stores will not carry them anymore, serpents yes not brittle

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

I have the same type of brittle star in my 55 reef. It does not bother a thing. I rarely see it since it is nocturnal.

 

[Timfish]

Definitely beneficial. I feel like I need to come to the defense of Green Brittle Stars. Over the 25 years I've been keeping marine tanks I've had long term experinece with about 2 dozen of them. Never have I had one catch a fish niether has there been an unusual deathrate associated with tanks that have them. I do have one account from a friend where a Royal Gramma tried to hide in the legs of a Green Brittle Star and it did wrap it's legs around it and he had to rescue it. This is countered by my observations once of a Mandarin blithly hunting beneath a Green Brittle Star and the Star made no attempt to catch it. They are scavengers and if they find a fish that is dead or close to dead I would expect them to try to eat it, this is what they are supposed to do. This link is of three Green Brittle Stars feeding in a tank, you can see how slow they are compared to the Flame Hawk, Jhnsn Brittlestars eating 12 02 08 B - YouTube you can even see one of the arms caress the Flame Hawk and it easily swims away keep in mind this is while the Green Brittle Star is actively hunting. I unfortunately do not have a video of another observation of a Green Brittle Star brushing a Watchman Goby which lasted longer and also made no attempt to catch the goby. I'm not saying a Green Brittle Star can't catch and eat a fish but to put it in perspective the odds of a Yellow or Purple Tang trying to take out one of it's tankmates is significantly higher than 1 in 24 and the odds of a BTA killing off $100 or more in corals is my experience says is 100 percent in a reef tank.


Jhnsn Brittlestars eating 12 02 08 B - YouTube

 

[Pappy]

Had one til it tried to eat my fire fish and stole all the mysis when I fed fish. Plus they know all your coral over. Would recommend getting rid of.

 

[DaveMorris]

I've always looked at brittle stars as just another vital part of the scavengers that are needed to keep a tank clean. I too have had them in my tanks for years and have never witnessed one going after a fish or doing anything to my coral.