I need help identifying this little guy

[Le Dirk]

I recently found him chilling on the side of the glass when I went to feed my fish. I know it’s a starfish but what kind of starfish is it? Should I worry about it?

 

[Sirspeedy77]

If there’s one there’s likely to be several more. They will eventually overrun your tank. Some species of those kind of stars can be aggressive to corals. I believe the term is asterina stars

 

[Wolf89]

Asternias. The vast majority are reef safe and are great clean up crew members

 

[Coastie Reefer]

Asternia. Some people love them some people hate them. They “can” explode in population but usually keep themselves in check based on food supply. “Some” May eat zoas and other coral but those aren’t extremely common and if I recall correctly they tend to be a darker brown color and not the more common grey color.

 

[Auquanut]

Yep. Asterinas. If you remove them when you see them, you can probably keep their numbers down. Some folks love them, others hate them. They can be a nuisance if they overpopulate.

 

[Le Dirk]

Asternia. Some people love them some people hate them. They “can” explode in population but usually keep themselves in check based on food supply. “Some” May eat zoas and other coral but those aren’t extremely common and if I recall correctly they tend to be a darker brown color and not the more common grey color.

How can I tell if this species will attack coral, I don't have any yet but I plan on getting some soon

 

[Wolf89]

How can I tell if this species will attack coral, I don't have any yet but I plan on getting some soon

theres no sure fire way to tell without experimentation. In my opinion, the danger of these little guys is waaaaay overblown. Very few of the many asterina species eat coral, and those bad apples lead to everyone purging asternias from their tanks, when they are in fact extremely helpful.

 

[Le Dirk]

theres no sure fire way to tell without experimentation. In my opinion, the danger of these little guys is waaaaay overblown. Very few of the many asterina species eat coral, and those bad apples lead to everyone purging asternias from their tanks, when they are in fact extremely helpful.

But how would I control their population growth? I went to feed my fish when I got home and now the little fella’s gone

 

[jlts21]

What is that!! A R2R guide to common new tank hitchhikers.

One of the greatest things about starting a reef tank is getting your live rock in and admiring all the diversity within it. The rock comes to life different creatures. This is a guide that I, along with a very well known critter identifier @KJ , have put together for the new reefer on what...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Pickwun]

My little Evolve8 tank has about 2 dozen of them visible at any given time. I only have to use the magnet scraper about every 2 weeks now. Everybody who visits thinks they're cute.

 

[Wolf89]

But how would I control their population growth? I went to feed my fish when I got home and now the little fella’s gone

Theres no need to control their population.

 

[X-37B]

Theres no need to control their population.

Yea until you have several hundred in your tank.
They multiply like rabbits lol.
Mine eat coralline and dont bother corals but I do not have any zoas.
In my 120 I started removing them about 2 months ago. Probably over 200 at least.
I still remove them every couple of days. Last night picked out 15.
Here is what they do to the coralline.
The white spots are from them.

 

[Le Dirk]

Yea until you have several hundred in your tank.
They multiply like rabbits lol.
Mine eat coralline and dont bother corals but I do not have any zoas.
In my 120 I started removing them about 2 months ago. Probably over 200 at least.
I still remove them every couple of days. Last night picked out 15.
Here is what they do to the coralline.
The white spots are from them.

Shoot, I want coralline on the back. I’d try to do something but I don’t know where he went.

 

[Webslinger]

But how would I control their population growth? I went to feed my fish when I got home and now the little fella’s gone

Harlequin Shrimp

 

[flsalty]

Harlequin Shrimp

Which will end up starving unless you buy starfish to feed it.