Starfish?

[GWHouston]

This was in my 60 cube.

 

[ZachR32]

looks like a big asterina. asterinas can potentially eat coral, i remove them if i ever see them just to be safe

 

[Florida Sunshine]

I actually wonder if it is Asterina. All of mine have at least one uneven leg. I have never seen a 6 leg perfectly shaped one before.

 

[GWHouston]

I’m curious how it would have been introduced unless it was long ago and they grow slow. Many places to hide too.

 

[DSC reef]

That looks like a large asterina to me.

 

[DangerDave]

That looks like a large asterina to me.

It does. @Florida Sunshine Give him some time, he’ll rip himself in half and be just as odd shaped as the rest of them!

 

[H@rry]

It's an Asterina. I have them and never think they harm any coral. You may see them at the base of a coral where they're feeding on algae on the bare skeleton. That's why some people think they eat coral. As far as I can tell they eat algae (but as small as they are they can't be much help in that area). I have the 5 leg and the 6 leg variety. You seldom see a 6 leg with all the legs the same length as they split in half at that point and you see the ones with 3 long legs and 3 short legs. If you get more than you want a Harlequin Shrimp will eat them. Make sure you don't have any large Wrasses as the shrimp will be a snack for them.

 

[GWHouston]

Thanks @H@rry. I’ll leave them until I see a problem. Will it eat hammers? Gotta take the hammers out if yes. Everything else is not a problem.

 

[DSC reef]

I can attest that some will 100% eat coral, especially zoas. Some eat algae, some eat coralline algae. With so many species it's impossible to tell which are bad.

 

[GWHouston]

Thanks for all the reply’s for help. I’ll observe and report.

 

[H@rry]

Will it eat hammers?

I don't have a hammer but I have frogspawn and they don't bother it.

 

[GWHouston]

I can attest that some will 100% eat coral, especially zoas. Some eat algae, some eat coralline algae. With so many species it's impossible to tell which are bad.

Got plenty of coralline in there. No zoas in this tank.

 

[DSC reef]

I actually thought they were cool but the issue was that before we knew they were decimating our utter chaos and other colonies, the tank was infested to a point that manually removing wouldn't make a dent. Eventually got a harlequin and that was a really cool invert. I wouldn't panic, just observe.

 

[H@rry]

BTW, all a Harlequin Shrimp will eat is starfish feet. When all the starfish are gone they will starve unless you can supply more starfish or pass it along to someone else.

 

[DSC reef]

We decided to keep feeding ours since we liked him so much. The harlequin devoured the entire starfish though.

 

[H@rry]

Tomoko has Asterinas and zoas. Maybe she will comment here.

 

[JSB]

Greg,

Those came from Harry's and they never ate anything in my tank, including zoas.

Scott

 

[JSB]

Sorry. Duplicate post

 

[GWHouston]

Greg,

Those came from Harry's and they never ate anything in my tank, including zoas.

Scott

I was wondering how they got there. They’re shy little fellas. Just started seeing them this week. On another note the brittle star has been busy reproducing. I think there are three in there.

 

[JSB]

I was wondering how they got there. They’re shy little fellas. Just started seeing them this week. On another note the brittle star has been busy reproducing. I think there are three in there.

Cool. I love those brittle stars. Sometimes you will see 30 of the asterinas at a time and sometimes zero.