ID This starfish ?

[lejeune981]

I've got hundreds of small 6 legged Asterina starfish in my reef... but I have this one 5 legged starfish that has cought my eye for the last year and a half... because it was a little bigger... coloring a little differant.. and it only had 5 legs.... fast forward 18 months... and it's quite larger than the other Astrina... but I can't quite figure out what kind he is..
I've never seen it munching on any coral.. and it moves quite fast..
Star fish is just shy on 1 inch diameter and about 5/16 inch thick..and growing bigger every day..


any help is greatly appreciated

 

[DSC reef]

Looks to be an asterina. It's rare but we've pulled some out of the tank almost as big as my thumb. The majority however are pretty small.

 

[lejeune981]

Looks to be an asterina. It's rare but we've pulled some out of the tank almost as big as my thumb. The majority however are pretty small.

I've been told Astrina before... just the size always threw me off... online they say Astrina only get to be 1/2 to 3/4 max..

But I'm sure there are 1000 different breeds of Astrina..

I'm quite curious to how big this guy will get!

It's never dropped an arm or anything to reproduce like my small 6 legged Asterina do..
It's kinda cool... it will deisapear in the rock work for months at a time... then when I do see it again... it's always way bigger!!!

 

[3mm3]

Wow that guys a monster!
Like the sally lightfoot too

 

[lejeune981]

Wow that guys a monster!
Like the sally lightfoot too

That's my small sally!!

 

[lejeune981]

I wish they ate aptasia... hopefully my file fish starts putting in work.. I tried berghia... that ended up being a waisted 150 bucks :-/

 

[DSC reef]

I wish they ate aptasia... hopefully my file fish starts putting in work.. I tried berghia... that ended up being a waisted 150 bucks :-/

That's strange, I've heard such good things about them. Filefish were hit and miss for us. We had one for a couple years that did awesome in my wife's tank then went rogue. That's the hobby though.

 

[3mm3]

That's my small sally!!

Coral and fish look great!
I purchased burghia and they cleared the entire display but I forgot to put some in the sump..... so now I am having another crop of the little pests. I have an ora filefish in quarantine will be going into display very soon I hope they work!

 

[lejeune981]

I put half my berghia in the fuge/sump.. along with 10 eggs swirls (at least there was supposed to be 10 egg swirls in the bag)
And the other half of the berghia in the display.. it was about 3 months ago now... I noticed like 3 aptasia disappear the next day or 2 after introduction... but since then my aptasia problem has quadrupled.. even in the fuge with no predators...
Sally light foot crabs will eat berghia according to the site..
So maybe the ones I put in the display were turned into expensive treats..

But I had hoped the ones in the fuge would take off.. but no such luck..


If the file fish doesn't take care of them... I'll try a copperband butterfly... but I really don't wanna loose all my feather dusters too..

Or I may try berghia.. again... and hope for the best

 

[Crabs McJones]

Agree with Asterina, I've heard horror stories bout them munching on coraline so I try to take them out when I see them. But otherwise harmless

 

[lejeune981]

Agree with Asterina, I've heard horror stories bout them munching on coraline so I try to take them out when I see them. But otherwise harmless

I've got a pincusion urchin... lil dude is a coraline seeking missile lol... I don't have much coraline already because of him...
But I have seen Astrina get to a fresh patch and munch it away as well