Is this brittle starfish safe?

[Reefer Dan]

I was looking at my tank in the dark and I came across this big boy trying to climb the glass. Is this one of the reef safe ones or do I need to worry about it hunting fish and banish it to the sump?

 

[betareef]

I'll be curious to hear if there are any brittle stars that cause trouble. I thought they were all safe. We'll see what others report.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

The Green Brittle Stars can be deadly to an Aquarium, as most are Furious Predators . Used to call them Green Death.

 

[kevgib67]

@ISpeakForTheSeas ?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

@ISpeakForTheSeas ?

Yeah, there are a handful of brittle star species that may be predatory, but the only one really seen at all in the hobby is the Green Serpent Star, Ophiarachna incrassata - as SteveMM62Reef mentioned above, they have sometimes been called The Green Death because they have been known to prey on other things (like sleeping fish) in a tank.

To date, I have not yet seen any other brittle star species cause problems in a tank, so, OP, unless you have incredibly bad luck, the brittle star you've got should be fine.