I have a green brittle star in my tank its been their for over 2 months and has not displaied any aggressive behavior toward the of inhabitents of my tank. Are all green brittle stars bad or is their behavior dependent on the individual specimen? I read some post that claim they are real killers but have not seen any evidence of this myself. Is it only a matter of time before a discover otherwise? 8O
Green Brittle star
- Thread starter Mr.Fish
- Start date
- Location
- Palatine IL
I think my green brittle star ate a few of my Xenias Other corals seem to have been OK in a 180G reef tank
yup I had my green brittlestar eat my xenia and yellow polyps among other things till he bit of more than he could chew and kicked the bucket.
How big is yours? It may get more agressive as it gets bigger if it's a small specimen. My advise would be watch him closely and at the first sign of problems remove him. Unless you have something that your particularly not interested in losing. In that case I would just get rid of him.
How big is yours? It may get more agressive as it gets bigger if it's a small specimen. My advise would be watch him closely and at the first sign of problems remove him. Unless you have something that your particularly not interested in losing. In that case I would just get rid of him.
My green brittle star became very predatory towards fish,even though I kept him well fed,under actinics he could be seen forming a basket trap shape with his arms,needless to say he is now in the sump.For the first year it was ok but has it grew it's temperament changed.I now have two brown brittles and have had no probs.
my lfs, inland reef in nashua NH, has two giant green brittles i mean huge like ten inch long arms and they have had them in their display tanks since the dawn of time. tom says they have never had any trouble at all with them. the trick is to keep them fat and happy, they feed them silversides and everything seems happy. from what i have seen that tales of these guys causing caos is greatly exagerated. maybe mattm can chime in here since they are his animals.
Many people keep these animals with no problems, including large specimens; others do have problems. I strongly encourage regular spot feeding...but not necessarily every day as the animal will grow very large, very fast. That is success in nature...grow big and reproduce. Some animals are more successful than others, and will make use of any available resource. Sometimes what some people feed works fine, sometimes it does not. There is no guarantee. But it does not condemn all the animals, and does not mean that anyone is wrong. Each animal is different, by definition, as they are wild. It is important to feed them and keep and eye on things. Perhaps Mr. Fish will not have any problems with them, just as I have not (and I believe many people have not, considering the number who keep them). If there is a very valuable specimen (shrimp, small fish) that you do not wish to lose, you may be better off with another species of brittlestar.
The green brittlestar is a known predator in the wild. This is scientifically documented. We should not be surprised that some specimens retain this behavior in captivity. It is not the fault of the animal that people who sell it are misinformed or don't bother finding out what they actually eat. Unlike most species of seastars and brittlestars, we know full well what their diet consists of in the wild. They are not considered to be obligate scavengers, and should never be sold as such.
If it is a problem, it is your responsibility to return it to the LFS for a more appropriate home. No animal is disposable simply because it was trying to survive and doing what was instinctive (eating while being locked up in an all you can eat buffet). I always cringe when people raise the red flag about an animal and say to toss it or get rid of it, which implies a degree of irresponsibility (tossing it in the toilet...) whether intended or not. Just wanted to clarify that; we need to clarify that whenever we give such opinions. Just a pet peeve due to the number of people who commonly do flush animals. When I worked in an LFS, that was something I heard commonly. We just need to watch what we say. Some new people may not be as responsible as posters here and may misunderstand.
Having said this, this species displays remarkable behaviors for an animal that does not have anything that we would consider to be a 'brain." Many would agree that brittle and serpent stars are some of the most fascinating creatures that we can keep.
I keep 5 specimens in a 15g which all have very distinct personalities- when the food comes out- ranging from very shy to quite aggressive. The rest of the time they don't mess with anything. Is this temporary? Maybe. Will I get rid of them if they do mess with things? No. I made a decision to keep them- there is plenty of info out there on them to be informed, and there is a risk with any animal we put into a tank. Regardless, they are popular critters with visitors.
It would seem to me if they were commonly reported to eat Xenia, such that it was a major risk with them, that people would be running out to add them to their tanks!
I think each has a very different personality and personal taste so we are not so lucky. Again, it is a clear example that each animal is different and we can't condemn the lot. But they would be a handy weed wacker....
As others have said, just keep an eye on them.
The green brittlestar is a known predator in the wild. This is scientifically documented. We should not be surprised that some specimens retain this behavior in captivity. It is not the fault of the animal that people who sell it are misinformed or don't bother finding out what they actually eat. Unlike most species of seastars and brittlestars, we know full well what their diet consists of in the wild. They are not considered to be obligate scavengers, and should never be sold as such.
If it is a problem, it is your responsibility to return it to the LFS for a more appropriate home. No animal is disposable simply because it was trying to survive and doing what was instinctive (eating while being locked up in an all you can eat buffet). I always cringe when people raise the red flag about an animal and say to toss it or get rid of it, which implies a degree of irresponsibility (tossing it in the toilet...) whether intended or not. Just wanted to clarify that; we need to clarify that whenever we give such opinions. Just a pet peeve due to the number of people who commonly do flush animals. When I worked in an LFS, that was something I heard commonly. We just need to watch what we say. Some new people may not be as responsible as posters here and may misunderstand.
Having said this, this species displays remarkable behaviors for an animal that does not have anything that we would consider to be a 'brain." Many would agree that brittle and serpent stars are some of the most fascinating creatures that we can keep.
I keep 5 specimens in a 15g which all have very distinct personalities- when the food comes out- ranging from very shy to quite aggressive. The rest of the time they don't mess with anything. Is this temporary? Maybe. Will I get rid of them if they do mess with things? No. I made a decision to keep them- there is plenty of info out there on them to be informed, and there is a risk with any animal we put into a tank. Regardless, they are popular critters with visitors.
It would seem to me if they were commonly reported to eat Xenia, such that it was a major risk with them, that people would be running out to add them to their tanks!
I think each has a very different personality and personal taste so we are not so lucky. Again, it is a clear example that each animal is different and we can't condemn the lot. But they would be a handy weed wacker.... As others have said, just keep an eye on them.
and boath types ,,,green and brown sargent,,,would box trap fish i lost a lemon peel and a few others to these hunters,,,i kept mine well fed also,,,,,,,,,i realy liked them though,,it was cool to drop in a silver side a watch them go running for it......I had a huge green carpet annenome i held responsible for some drifting deaths to..
I've had a green brittle star for about a year. He was small when I bought him, but is large now. He seemed to get more agressive the older he got. I do feed him bits of shrimp often. He is a hog, as he will steal food from various corals that I feed. He definantly will happily catch and eat any fish he can. The only time he is successful at this is when the fish is sick. I do not have to worry about a fish dying and rotting in the tank. He will not let this happen. I placed a small sebae anemone in my tank a week ago. Two days later I caught the brittle star trying to drag him under a rock. He's now banished to the sump until I can bring him to the LFS. Anyone ever have problems with them eating clams. I've only tried one small maxima in my tank. It died a few weeks later after not opening fully for a couple days, then his shell was suddenly cleaned out completely. I'm sure the brittle star ate his remains, and always wondered if he had anything to do with the clam dying.
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