I read on some website that their green brittle starfish was a killer. They talked about how his ate some of his shrimp, fish and whatever else he could buy. I can't remember what site it was so I could direct you to it, but I have a green brittle starfish and I have noticed recently that some of my shrimp and fish were missing. I never cought him in the act until this morning when I saw him trying to eat my sandsifting star, who I saved by the way. I had another sandsifting star who I found mysteriously eaten one day, but now I know how that happened. My question is are all green brittle starfish killers/not really reef safe and if that is true are all brittle/serpent starfish not really reef safe either?
Green Brittle Starfish, Killers?
- Thread starter bayondai
- Start date
Green Brittle Stars are definitely NOT reef safe. I had one for several months, till I finally got sick of watching it prey on and eat snails, hermit crabs, emerald crabs, sally lightfoot crabs.......
After I first bought it, I did read that the green ones are predatory, but I had to see for myself how it would do in my tank.
Well, it grew and grew, and kept eating more and more creatures. I even fed it food, and it ate that too. But that never stopped it from its predatory habits. It will sneak up on a creature, hover over it, and wrap its body around the animal so that it cannot escape. It then takes the whole animal, shell and all, into its mouth, digests it, then spits out the shell. You wouldn't believe it till you saw it.
I lost a lot of life and $ to the green brittle star. My advice - remove it asap.
I don't know about other brittle stars, but I have read that they are not the same as green ones, and that they are supposedly reef-safe.
Good luck.
After I first bought it, I did read that the green ones are predatory, but I had to see for myself how it would do in my tank.
Well, it grew and grew, and kept eating more and more creatures. I even fed it food, and it ate that too. But that never stopped it from its predatory habits. It will sneak up on a creature, hover over it, and wrap its body around the animal so that it cannot escape. It then takes the whole animal, shell and all, into its mouth, digests it, then spits out the shell. You wouldn't believe it till you saw it.
I lost a lot of life and $ to the green brittle star. My advice - remove it asap.
I don't know about other brittle stars, but I have read that they are not the same as green ones, and that they are supposedly reef-safe.
Good luck.
My friend had several of these(or a variation of) in one of his tanks... A few months afterwards, he acquired a cuddlefish because they're the coolest things ever. A week or so after it arrived, a brittle starfish grabbed its feeding tentacle, and essentially ripped it off. The cuddlefish died soon after.
In conclusion, no. Not reef safe. Not really safe with many things.
In conclusion, no. Not reef safe. Not really safe with many things.
Mine just went back to the LFS after I had to pull my nudibranch from it's jaws of death. Nudi is fine, I was just in time. Yet another example not to rely soly on your LFS sales people. "Oh no, it won't bother anything except an ocassional very small hermit or snail". Yea right, it even tried to snatch my clown and a yellow tang. These things are octopus in disguise.
I am going to bring him to the LFS so he doesn't kill anything else in my tank. Are all of the brittle/serpent stars going to do the same thing. I guess what I am asking is should I just avoid all of them in my tank? What else can I add to my reef to clean up detritus besides hermets and snails?
Just this green one is known to do it. Must other brittle stars have much smaller central discs and long arms. These are ideal.
My green brittle was banished to the sump. He got weekly feedings of whole cocktail shrimps. Did fine for months until he tried to eat the suction strainer leading to an Iwaki MD70RLT.
My green brittle was banished to the sump. He got weekly feedings of whole cocktail shrimps. Did fine for months until he tried to eat the suction strainer leading to an Iwaki MD70RLT.
reefland":3tfiuvj6 said:
8O :lol: thats pretty funny!!!!
I had one in my 5 gal nano that ate everything even when he couldn't fit any more down his throat. He even ate my yellow polyps an pulsing xenia. No kidding. I tried feeding him freeze dried shrimp but he just wouldn't stop eating. It's amaizing that my yellow asscessor managed to stay away from him. His undoing came about when I was plucking my plague of A. Majano out of my tank(I actually paid money for those DOH!!). Anyway I dropped one that fell off of the rock and it hit his arm and he immediatly stuffed it down. He started convulsing his body trying to get the stinging anemone out of his stomach which took quite some time. his arms started falling off as the day went on and he died the next day. I wasn't to happy about it then but I think it's kinda funny now in a morbid sort of way.
On another note I would recomend that you get that sand sifting star out of your tank. They say they eat detritus but they also eat every other sand dwelling organism to. like pods and micro worms which are better for your tank anyway. I had one and he completely anhilated my sand bed fauna and then died cause there was nothing else to eat. After that there was not even a single pod in the whole tank. So IMHO they are just not worth having.
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