Let him live?

[Scott84]

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]

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

 

[Scott84]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[Pablopufferfish]

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

I agree.

 

[Daddy-o]

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

 

[xxkenny90xx]

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

 

[Scott84]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[Scott84]

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.