Green monster that ate all of the peppermint shrimps.(pics)

[carsimex]

The green brattle star fish is finally got caught.
Here are some pictures of it in a mason jar.

 

[Chemical_Whore]

well those pics are WONDERFUL, sorry to hear about the feeding habits of the guy in the glass, I would love to have him in my tank :?

 

[Anonymous]

Not after he eats some of your fish

Incidentally, your sally lightfoot will gladly catch and eat any small fish you might have when it gets larger as well.

 

[Anonymous]

I have the same monster in my 69 gallon. He has eaten every shrimp ever put in my tank along with any new fish. My four existing fish are smart enough to stay out of his way!
Unfortunately, he is everyone's favorite. Guests love to see him come out at feeding time.

mitch

 

[wade1]

For all this talk of serpent stars eating fish and shrimp. I have never yet seen one of them catch an active and healthy animal. I can mentally picture one catching something asleep or too small, but in general, they can't cling all that hard to moving objects.

Shrimp are notoriously bad at surviving when first introduced to a new tank, ESPECIALLY peppermint shrimp.

I'd like to hear some firsthand proof that these buggers are eating small residents of tanks. Anyone?

Wade

 

[Chemical_Whore]

they might just be eating on the ones that are sickly or the weaker of the herd, so to speak, they might be doing you a favor, or telling you to watch your tank a bit better..... butthen again it could be getting them at night time when they are sleeping

 

[Anonymous]

I have the identical guy in my tank. I feed him regularly with Prawn. We affectionately call him "Big Nasty". I also have 2 cleaner shrimp. So far, he's been fine. Just make sure he stays "full".

~wings~

 

[Anonymous]

For all this talk of serpent stars eating fish and shrimp. I have never yet seen one of them catch an active and healthy animal. I can mentally picture one catching something asleep or too small, but in general, they can't cling all that hard to moving objects.

Shrimp are notoriously bad at surviving when first introduced to a new tank, ESPECIALLY peppermint shrimp.

I'd like to hear some firsthand proof that these buggers are eating small residents of tanks. Anyone?

Wade

I had a red brittle do the 'tenting' thing on several occasions. Whether it actually caught anything or not I don't know - I banished it to my sump years ago.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

I'd like to hear some firsthand proof that these buggers are eating small residents of tanks. Anyone?

Wade

Wade, I don't have firsthand knowledge myself, but have heard of others reporting that their green brittle did eat their fish.

Calfo and Fenner's book on Reef Inverts says this about green brittle stars:

"Unfortunately, because of it's large adult size, and exceptionally adept skill at catching and killing small fishes, a strong warning must be proffered to aquarists keeping this species. In hunting mode O. incrassata will pose motionless in an arched back formation. The stiff posture creates an attractive hiding place for unsuspecting small fishes to fall prey to death from above when the starfish drops down upon them. When hungry, this brittle star has also been known to attack shrimps, bivalves (including expensive tridacnids!) and quite a few other animals. The aggressively opportunistic and predatory nature of the Green Brittle Star makes it the only Ophiuroid brittle stars unsuitable for reef invertebrate aquariums."

 

[nice1bruva]

i have seen a green brittle star 'hunting and catching' first hand.
when i set up my reef a couple of years back i started to lose fish overnight....
tank was cycled properly and all parameters were fine.....10ppm nitrate the most worrying parameter....everything else 0.
i lost 3 fish in a week and was getting pretty frustrated by it all and never found any tracesof the missing fish?
:x
then i decided to do a 3am search with a red torch....
as i was searching i notised that my green was stood up on it's legs(almost on tip-toe) and formed a 'cagelike' shape with itself...i was watching a little curious as one of my percs wandered half asleep under it's legs and it dropped like a stone.
GOTCHA!!!!
put my hand straight into the tank and litterally prised the clown from it's grasp....the clown survived none the worse...the green was then relagated to the sump.
it was only then that i realised that i started to lose fish a day or two after adding the (large) green brittle star.
so YES.....they are definetly predators!!!
very good with the 'cage' method of trapping as well!!!
:?

i will never keep a green brittle star in a show tank again.

 

[Ben1]

I also had this green brittle star catch and eat fish at night. I didnt see it but they woud dissappear at night. It makes sense fish are realy dumb at night. I gave it away for free and replaced it with two banded serpant stars, not brittles and havent ever had a problem with them. They stay a bit smaller as well.

 

[wade1]

Aside from nice1bruva's response, its all the same then. Everyone loses fish and claims it is due to the serpents, and we've all seen their tenting behavior. I just don't believe they can hold onto anything but the smallest fishes really. I would imagine some would be much more at risk during the night (which is possibly why we don't see it happen).

Just trying to find real first hand knowledge/visual identification of the purported threat.

Wade

 

[nice1bruva]

belive me wade....that clown needed to be released.
in the previous 6 days since adding my (LARGE) green brittle i lost an algae blenny,another perc and a damsel.
if i'd had a camera to hand i would have taken photos.
mine was a very good hunter!!!
8O

 

[leftovers]

I had green star with 12"+ legs for years in my tank and never lost a fish or shrimp....in fact it was rare anyone ever saw it after it took to the rock...it used to come out when feeding then stopped ithink it got tired of losing the ends of its tenticles to fish feeding.....eventually when the legs hit 16" and it kept knocking things off the rock at night it gave it up to a larger tank....I had some 13 fish in the 155 and none ever became a meal. Had 2 cleaner shrimp and the would walk all over the star and the BTA as if they were just food storage sites....I have to side with wade....

 

[Marco1]

Believe it or not, several years ago I lost a few fish to a Green Brittle Star and these were established not new introductions. I have seen them at night actively hunting and they can catch and hold on to fish that are perfectly healthy.

 

[pbyrmartin]

Well that is enough proof for me.
My Brittle star is coming out of my tank the next chance I get.
I think I lost over twenty fishes to this monster

I always knew it was him but I never saw him do it.

I would like to have some small fish in my tank for a change.

Every small fish I put in the tank turn out to be a meal.

Healthy fishes don't just die like that.

 

[fishinsouthga]

what happened to the pics?

 

[Anonymous]

Hey, would this guy go together with a predator tank? With a huma huma, lionfish, marine betta, and an angel? (Not my tank, a friends).

~wings~

 

[wade1]

Trigger might find it tastey, but I honestly have no idea. The rest would certainly ignore it.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Wade, I'll relay that info.
~wings~