Looks like some kinda starfish???

[dakotanut]

What is it? Will it hurt my tank? See my build thread.

 

[dbl]

Asterina star. Some will say not to worry while others leave them. I personally leave them until I start seeing a lot of them, then I'll remove the ones easy to grab. The brown ones are thought to be bad guys should probably be removed.

 

[dakotanut]

Man. Oh well. To late now. Only saw that one. Looking for an actual starfish.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Asterina starfish, I like um. They eat detritus and algae. I've never had a problem with them.

 

[dakotanut]

Now I feel bad for taking it out. Should of asked yall first i guess.

 

[Tahoe61]

No worries, there are hundreds of different types. Some are coral eaters, zonathids and sps. Others have the ability to reproduce quickly and become invasive.

 

[dakotanut]

Going to local fish store tomorrow. I'll see if they have any. Cant cost too much.

 

[Hitmans reef]

I wouldn’t worry about buying any chances are if u had one u have atleast a few more they come out at night heavy but easy to spot all the time once u have seen them a few times like others have said not bad until they get to the point of being invasive at which time I bought a pair of harlequin shrimp and they all ran for the hills

 

[dakotanut]

I read about the harlequin shrimp. If they run out of starfish to eat they starve and die?

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I read about the harlequin shrimp. If they run out of starfish to eat they starve and die?

They ONLY eat the tube feet of starfish. No starfish, no food, dead shrimp.

 

[Jeepguy242]

the ones i find i put in my fuge they keep the bottom of the fuge clean

 

[dakotanut]

I don't have a "fuge". Tank is to small for that. Getting a bigger one at the end of this month. Gradually work my way up to something big.

 

[ectoaesthetics]

As everyone else has stated the family of these guys is pretty broad. I have never had ANY issues with them -however, I purposely add them and ONLY add them from tanks of people I know. Just about everyone that has a reef tank in Monterey Ca has traded a specific species around that we have -never- seen munch on any SPS polyps. So since we know the little guy well we don't hesitate to add them from a friends tank. That being said I don't know that I would be thrilled to see them pop up in my tank unless I knew where they came from and that they were not living under the bases of SPS corals in that tank. They are almost impossible to find and hunt if they are the polyp eating variety as they typically live under the corals.