Let him live?

Scott84 · Apr 25, 2020

This little guy just popped up on my glass today. Must have came in on on of my corals. I don’t mind him sticking around if he won’t bother anyone. Suggestions?

NB Reefer · Apr 25, 2020

Asterina starfish. Good. If they get too "plentiful" harlequin shrimp love them!!!

Scott84 · Apr 25, 2020

NB Reefer said:
Asterina starfish. Good. If they get too "plentiful" harlequin shrimp love them!!!

Great! I like the idea of keeping him in there and letting it take its course. And I don’t mind adding in a shrimp to take care of over abundance if it comes to that. Thanks!

vetteguy53081 · Apr 25, 2020

I do not allow these in my tank nor trust them as some may eat algae but my experience has been eating zoas which they can and Will.

kapnkush608 · Apr 25, 2020

They always end up with a taste for zoas. The first few might not but a year down the road your looking for harlequin shrimp to wipe them out because they just ate $500 in frags.

Sisterlimonpot · Apr 25, 2020

I say get rid of him, they get out of control quickly....

Pablopufferfish · Apr 25, 2020

Sisterlimonpot said:
I say get rid of him, they get out of control quickly....

I agree.

Daddy-o · Apr 25, 2020

KILL IT!!! They are the reason I cant grow Zoas.

xxkenny90xx · Apr 25, 2020

I love those little guys! And they love my zoas....

Scott84 · Apr 25, 2020

Ok, maybe I’ll have to sacrifice him....I don’t want to risk losing my one semi large (in my opinion) zoa colony. Now I’ll have to hunt him down

vetteguy53081 · Apr 25, 2020

I had a colony of bam Bam zoas reduce in size and could not understand why. One day I decided to take a closer look, and found one the size of a penny, I KNOW this was the issue as they are growing back nicely

Mikeltee · Apr 25, 2020

Take it out immediately. If you want algae eaters get snails. Starfish reproduce at a crazy rate. Sure you can buy a shrimp to eat them but he will die once they are gone.

Cwentz758 · Apr 25, 2020

I’m battling an infestation of them. In the past two weeks I’ve removed over 100. My GSP is falling apart and my Coraline algae is struggling ( they munch on that too)
Get them out before they multiply. We hunt every morning me and the wife and pick out as many as possible.

LARedstickreefer · Apr 25, 2020

I’ve had these in plague numbers and never ever seen them on my zoas. I’ve never seen them do anything but eat algae.

Phildago · Apr 25, 2020

They're great and I have never once seen one hurt any of my zoas. I wish I had more, I'd get a harlequin shrimp.

Alexispr2000 · Apr 25, 2020

Well, they did kill some of my zoas reason why I got a harlequin shrimp. He did a great job and got rid of all of the start fish...ALL of them, yes, sand sifting, asterina and any other starfish on the tank. Because I like the harlequin and I'm grateful for a job well done with the asterina I decided to keep him but it cost me $10 every two weeks on a new chocolate chip starfish or a sand sifting.

Daddy-o · Apr 26, 2020

I didnt believe at first then I watched as a couple devoured 5 polyps of Mean Green Zoas

Scott84 · Apr 26, 2020

I appreciate all the opinions. I think just to play it safe I’ll try to remove him next time I see him. I do like the idea of keeping critters but I have one zoa colony that I paid a decent penny for and would hate to see it go.