Starfish... Stay or go?
- Thread starter Jenaleigh1
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Jenaleigh1
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Sorry, for some reason pics aren't working on my app tonight no matter how many times I restart my phone. Here's a link to the starfish species. Saltwater Aquarium Inverts for Marine Reef Aquariums: Brittle Sea Star, Fancy Starfish WHY would anyone want this in their tank?? I feed like crazy and it still kills stuff! It's about 8 inches in diameter and came in on some live rock.
KoleTang
Valuable Member
Well I believe there are a few different species of brittle star and certain ones are more aggressive. But in general, they are scavengers. They will eat the easiest meal. So if a shrimp is easy to reach and it does not have any other options, it will make a meal of it.
Now how do you know it "killed" your invertebrates? The brittle star only cares to eat things, so if your inverts were just dead on the sand then something else is to blame. Also, things like peppermint shrimp are very good hiders. Once you put them in you may not see them again simply because they are so reclusive.
Now how do you know it "killed" your invertebrates? The brittle star only cares to eat things, so if your inverts were just dead on the sand then something else is to blame. Also, things like peppermint shrimp are very good hiders. Once you put them in you may not see them again simply because they are so reclusive.
Jenaleigh1
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I walked in as it was sucking my anemone crab into it's clutches. The crab was totally healthy and was happily filtering stuff just an hour or two before. When I walked in he was barely alive and there was no way to save him because of where the starfish pulled him in. The peppermint shrimp hangs out in a few different places, upside down most of the time, but I haven't seen him in over a week and some aptasia popped up yesterday. There is also a boneyard of skeletons growing under a piece of live rock the starfish likes to hang out in. It's becoming more agressive, more wandering around the tank, more grabbing and eating copepods, etc. I feed ALL the time.
The green brittle sea star will take down other livestock unprovoked. The other types of brittle sea stars are opportunistic scavengers and will prey on dead or dying livestock.
d2mini
5000 Club Member
+1.
Those green ones are freakin monsters.
The brown ones can be a great part of your cleanup crew.
I also have several serpents in my tank as well as some short spine conicals.
HumanMachine
Community Member
Yeah I tend to distrust sea stars in my tank as well, and I try to remove the ones I am able to.
