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Shawn_epicurious

Shawn_epicurious

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My tank is now 8 months old. I have not put any new livestock in it for a little over 4 months.... today, this guy pops up outta nowhere. It looks like a long legged starfish. Is he a good guy or a bad guy? I have him sitting in a bowl of tank water right now. He got picked up by my mag-glass cleaner
C194F6DF-B21F-4F7B-8A21-9DCEDF87746F.jpeg
 
Ecoscape Reef Rock
Most people look to acquire those little guys. I know I did. I traded a fish for some coral to a local reefer. He had a 300 gallon reef tank and these mini stars were everywhere! I had him collect about 30 or 40 (took just a couple minutes because they were “caked” onto the bottom of every frag plug) and I took them home to my 30 gallon reef. They have populated well in just a few months. There’s also threads on here with someone who had them in a personal tank and he sold so many and had a waiting list until his stars were depleted so much that they weren’t replenishing very fast.
 
Tidal Gardens
JasonK84 said:
Most people look to acquire those little guys. I know I did. I traded a fish for some coral to a local reefer. He had a 300 gallon reef tank and these mini stars were everywhere! I had him collect about 30 or 40 (took just a couple minutes because they were “caked” onto the bottom of every frag plug) and I took them home to my 30 gallon reef. They have populated well in just a few months. There’s also threads on here with someone who had them in a personal tank and he sold so many and had a waiting list until his stars were depleted so much that they weren’t replenishing very fast.
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Very cool! He made it back in my tank : ) I was afraid I hurt him. But he crawled under the rock almost right away.
 
Shawn_epicurious said:
Fed regularly? I probably am...? Does he have any special needs?
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They are scavengers, so any food that hits the sand. You can spot feed they meaty foods every other day. Should keep it happy.
 
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Flippers4pups said:
They are scavengers, so any food that hits the sand. You can spot feed they meaty foods every other day. Should keep it happy.
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Since this is the first time I’ve even seen him, I’d guess he is eating ok : )
 
How big is yours - some can get quite large - I know I had one that was over 6 inches - every time a piece of food went into the tank - the long arms come out to grab it
 
MnFish1 said:
How big is yours - some can get quite large - I know I had one that was over 6 inches - every time a piece of food went into the tank - the long arms come out to grab it
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It’s hard to describe his size. His main body is about the size of a pea... if I had to guess, I’d say his widest armspan is... 2 inches... maybe a little more.

I have also started thinking that I have seen this little guy before. I have seen... tentacles coming from under rock that suddenly disappeared back under the rock. I just didn’t know what it was ( It was in the back of the tank ) I am pretty sure he came in on my live rock.
 
ReefBot Lab, Automated Water Tester
The micro brittle stars I have are all very small. In fact, the only time I see one that is not just an arm sticking out of the rocks is when I take a rock out to clean it and it falls out. They are only about an inch from arm tip to arm tip. You may have gotten lucky and got a bigger species of brittle star. I still wouldn't worry too much about target feeding it. It should be able to scavenge enough food to survive just like a bristle worm.
 
sp1187 said:
Extremely dangerous.
You will awake in the middle of the night with it on your forehead massaging your temples preparing to strike.
I advise packing it up and shipping it to me.
Oh.... and some scotch.
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Yeah me too. I agree. Very detrimental to YOUR tank, not mine. Ship any others you find to me as well, so that we don’t have to worry about your tank. I’ll also take bottle of scotch to go with.
 
Ecoscape Reef Rock
sp1187 said:
Extremely dangerous.
You will awake in the middle of the night with it on your forehead massaging your temples preparing to strike.
I advise packing it up and shipping it to me.
Oh.... and some scotch.
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....so that’s who drank all my scotch last night! Silly Brittle Star!
 
stanleo said:
The micro brittle stars I have are all very small. In fact, the only time I see one that is not just an arm sticking out of the rocks is when I take a rock out to clean it and it falls out. They are only about an inch from arm tip to arm tip. You may have gotten lucky and got a bigger species of brittle star. I still wouldn't worry too much about target feeding it. It should be able to scavenge enough food to survive just like a bristle worm.
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Sounds like I got really lucky!
 
Vette67 said:
Yeah me too. I agree. Very detrimental to YOUR tank, not mine. Ship any others you find to me as well, so that we don’t have to worry about your tank. I’ll also take bottle of scotch to go with.
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Images of Alien.... Imma have a Brittle Star comin’ outta my tummy next huh?
 
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Reef by Steele, Pods Starting @ $12

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