Starfish?

[jwt1603]

I'm pretty new to this. Started with a 16G Biocube about 6 months ago. Set it up based on the recommendations of a LFS. Which have all pretty much turned out to be wrong. Learning the hard way I guess. Anyway, I've changed stores of course and I'm in the process of setting up a RSR 525XL now, taking my time and doing it right.

The question I have is about the critters and stuff that are coming out of the live rock in the Biocube. (I'm using dry rock in the big tank set up). I've seen bristle worms, pods, and a few other things. Now I'm out of town on business and my wife just fed the fish in the Biocube. While feeding them she saw something on the glass and texted me a picture of what sure as heck looks like a small starfish on the glass. She says it's a bit smaller than a dime. Appears to be a whitish color.

The questions I have about the starfish are:

Is it bad for the tank?
Any special food for it?
Will fish / inverts hurt it and will it hurt fish / inverts? Tank has a goby with a pistol shrimp, firefish, a peppermint shrimp and a CUC.

Thanks for any info!!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Text us the pic of the possible sea star.

 

[jwt1603]

 

[reef lover]

Asternia

 

[jwt1603]

Wow, that was easy to post. First pic I posted here!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Nice !! We will now expect more , and a build thread.lol.

So..... toss it. Not bad but in numbers , ugly.

 

[jwt1603]

Asternia

Google search doesn't define as good or bad. Says a Harlequin shrimp will eat it but the shrimp will die once it eats all of them in the tank. Since it's only a 16G tank and it doesn't seem like there are many of them do I just wait and see what happens? I don't want to buy a shrimp knowing it's going to starve to death soon.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Google search doesn't define as good or bad. Says a Harlequin shrimp will eat it but the shrimp will die once it eats all of them in the tank. Since it's only a 16G tank and it doesn't seem like there are many of them do I just wait and see what happens? I don't want to buy a shrimp knowing it's going to starve to death soon.

Just toss em when you see em.

 

[jwt1603]

Nice !! We will now expect more , and a build thread.lol.

So..... toss it. Not bad but in numbers , ugly.

This came in as I was typing. I won't be home for at least a week and a half. Can it wait that long? My wife helps with the tank when I'm gone, she even defrosts the mysis shrimp and puts in the Red Sea A and B for the corals but asking her to "kill" something probably won't go over well.

 

[jwt1603]

As far as a build thread for the 525, I'll have to figure out how to do that. It will be pretty boring since I'm new and starting out slow and just doing basic things until I get comfortable with it. I'm so new that an Inkbird controller on the heater in the Biocube was a big step for me. Pulling the lid off and putting an AI Prime on it and programing that was an even bigger step. I've been reading the controller threads and an Apex, or similar, sounds great but it's pretty intimidating for a newbie.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

8 years in, I don't have a controller and don't really want one.
IMO, it's not that precise a science. Like a puppy.
The more complicated you make it , the more complicated it is.


Yea it'll wait.

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

I hate those sea stars so much. They would latch on to my zoas and iritate them.

 

[SaltLifer]

Google search doesn't define as good or bad. Says a Harlequin shrimp will eat it but the shrimp will die once it eats all of them in the tank. Since it's only a 16G tank and it doesn't seem like there are many of them do I just wait and see what happens? I don't want to buy a shrimp knowing it's going to starve to death soon.

As long as there's only a few, you could just deal with them individually like @saltyfilmfolks suggested. However, if they end up taking over, you could always get a harlequin shrimp and then trade it back to the LFS for store credit once it gets rid of them. Or if you want to hang on to it you could buy a cheap seastar every once in a while to feed it (I don't think I would have the heart).