Baby Serpent Stars? (pics)

[psusocr1]

are these baby serpent stars?? i have about 100 of them in my tank, their everywhere, yet i never have had a serpent star ever in my tank??
how big do they get? will they stay this small or grow liek the regualr serpents?
thanks

 

[stanlalee]

probably hitchhiker brittle stars. pretty common and they easily reproduce.

 

[oceanists]

I thought Serpents only had 5 arms .... i think thats all mine has ... i also read that the 6 arm star fish looking creatures are bad

 

[oceanists]

yeah those are bad , i would start scooping them out if you have corals

 

[zman2205]

idk about them being bad, i have had hundreds of them in my tank with no damage to my corals (capnella and zoas). i have had zero problem with these guys, they just sit in crevices in rocks and filter feed.

 

[stanlalee]

the star lady Ophi-whatumacallher will probably see this and clear things up.

 

[pat713]

:notsure: I've never heard of a 6 armed star...

 

[ophiura]

This is a hitch hiker brittlestar that has 6 arms and reproduces by splitting. Considered highly desirable and will not grow larger.
The six armed seastar are Asterina stars and the are NOT all bad or a danger to corals. RARELY are they a danger...if you have a problem, you will know it. But most are not issues and they can not be identified based on number of arms. I have "6 armed" asterina stars and they do not bother corals in my tanks.

 

[psusocr1]

o.k so these are benificial? or just whatever?

 

[pat713]

So, bag them up and send them to everyone!

 

[feixjai]

i have a bunch on them also in my tank whenever i moved my corals from my sandbed i see them all the time.

 

[oceanists]

Originally Posted by ophiura
This is a hitch hiker brittlestar that has 6 arms and reproduces by splitting. Considered highly desirable and will not grow larger.
The six armed seastar are Asterina stars and the are NOT all bad or a danger to corals. RARELY are they a danger...if you have a problem, you will know it. But most are not issues and they can not be identified based on number of arms. I have "6 armed" asterina stars and they do not bother corals in my tanks.

thats why we have an expert here .... to clear these little issues up ... sorry for the misinforation but i had started a thread and i thought somebody told me it could have been a pest but idk sorry

 

[ophiura]

"Could have been" is the active phrase....in some cases Asterina stars may be a problem, but it is not comon relative to the number who have them.
But as for these brittlestars...I have never heard of any problems at alll.

 

[monalisa]

Just so happens that I have a pic of one of my asterina stars. This one is about the size of a nickle. My tank has a lot of these little guys, not all that big, and I haven't seen a problem at all with them. I think they're really cool. As a matter of fact, my daughter and I have been thinking of scooping some out of my tank to put in hers...
Notice the little one to the left of the filter siphon...five legs...some have three, some four...very irregular.
Lisa :happyfish

 

[alyssia]

Originally Posted by feixjai
i have a bunch on them also in my tank whenever i moved my corals from my sandbed i see them all the time.

Me too. They are everywhere in my seahorse tank.