Today I saw something I have not seen before. I was topping off with RO slowly, so I don't believe this to be the cause, when I noticed that there was a large number of tiny brittle stars coming out of every where. I found it curious and at the same time I thought it was a sign of a problem. However other than the temperature being 76 degrees the other parameters were normal. Now my temp has been at a constant 76 to 77.5 for two months now so I don't believe that to be a cause either. Then I noticed another curious happening some of the brittle stars started expelling a cloudy liquid which I could only imagine to be either eggs or sperm. I've seen this before with snails and limpets, but never with brittle stars. The stars i speak of are the tiny ones that are found in substrate and rock crevasses. Has anyone seen this type of event, or can clarify the event. I will try to post some pics later, hopefully I caught the event.
Brittle star spawning ?????
- Thread starter Alex
- Start date
Yes, what you witnessed was a group spawning. I have seen my micros do it a few times. Interestingly enough Mine tend to gather together on one side of the tank (not sure of your tank size) and I've noticed it due to all of the little arms sticking out of the rocks.
Mine seemed to do it a day after a water change.
It is an interesting event to watch :starfish:
Mine seemed to do it a day after a water change.
It is an interesting event to watch :starfish:
lol, what a great description of how they look when spawning! :lol2:
Why do this? wouldn't the added larvae provide an excellent coral food?
- Location
- Staten Island
Just curious...how often do these stars spawn. I noticed that I had one about 1 year ago. I last counted at least 7 of them in my tank. They rarely come out but I know they are there because of their tiny arms protruding from the rocks.
Not sure but I would say often enough that I have a large number. This was the first time I witnessed this behavior.
I was speaking about the tiny brittle stars.
How many full sized brittle stars do you have in there that the glass looked frosted??
I've seen my tank look like it was filled with skim milk after the bristleworms spawned, but just 2 star-fish?
Not touching that last sentence..lol
- Location
- LONG ISLAND
Micro jizism
Can't we all just get along..:hug: :hug:
In a world were a man can walk in to his wife's closet and try on any garment and make it his own, are we not just tossing pink lace hats onto a brush fire. To prolong and nurture the hate that has kept so many a men out of a woman's walk-in closet, that I say is wrong. let's just wear what we wish and smoke what we will, that we can better grow as humans in this cold cold world....:tongue1: :biglaugh: LMAO
BTW buddy, I saw the perfect matching fur for your outfit....LMAO
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