Brittle star diet?

billy2k1

Member
Can somebody tell me what kind of food is best for a brittle star?.Also,i'm adding calcium,iodine,strontium and manganese.My intention is to start adding some corrals in the future.Is this a good idea?
All i have is 30g tank,wet/dry with 8g sump,protein skimmer,live rock,live sand,a small cleanning crue (5 snails,5 blue leg hermit and a star fish).I will add a hang on refugium 18".
Also have one false percula (nemo) and one bangaii cardinal.
amonia 0
trites 0
trates 5
ph 8.4
specific gravity 1.026 using refractometer.
water temp between 80 and 82 deg. :notsure:
The tank has been running for 4 months.
Any advise will be greatly appreciated.I'm new to this hobbie,lot of readding is all i got so far.
 
S

sinner's girl

Guest
You should research an animal before buying it.
Brittle stars like raw shrimp and other raw seafood, brine shrimp (though hard to feed it to them), algea-sometimes. and whatever it finds in your tanks. They say some will eat small fish, Mine never did (that I saw).
Loved raw, unseasoned salad shrimp-1/3 to 1/2 depending on size of star about once a week. Whenever sinner gets a seafood package, I borrow a few pieces and feed it to the stars.
Levels look fine to me, make sure you are testing for whatever chemicals you are adding!
***) When did he show up? I like this one.
 

1journeyman

Active Member
I wouldn't add any chemicals unless you see a specific need. Water changes provide calcium, trace elements, etc....
 

unleashed

Active Member
all inverts need calcium, so periodic suppliments arent a bad idea.as far as feeding your brittle star they will eat silverslides (small if the starfish is small) chopped squid and such food listed in above post.as far as brine goes its a waste of money to bother with feeding that.as far as brittle stars eating fish .YESS they will eat smaller fish!! I had to remove mine from my reef for that very reason .I had mine for the longest time with no troubles what so ever but the larger they get the hungrier they seam to be .my smaller fish started to just vanish without a trace i removed the star the fish stopped disapearing.
 

billy2k1

Member
Thanks a lot guys for your advice.So far everything looks good in my tank.I hope it stays that way.Got to go,my brittle star is waitting for something to eat
 
S

sinner's girl

Guest
If you keep the the star feed, then he's less likely to eat your fish.
They are very easy to train for hand feeding, once you put the food in the tank, he should come out. Hand it to him, soon, he'll come to you. My used to stand on two legs, wave the other three to get the food, which meant I didn't have to put my hand all the way into the tank.
 

1journeyman

Active Member
Originally Posted by unleashed
all inverts need calcium, so periodic suppliments arent a bad idea....
They are if you aren't measuring your additives.
 
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