bristle star, harmful?

[whites60]

hello, I have this abnormally large bristle star, its almost too big, its my 90g along with eevrything else , coral, fish, etc, I was wondering if he would ever go after any fish? I mean is it in them to be aggrressive? I have lost a couple of blennies and other fish that liek to hover along the bottom, didnt know if it was a coincidence or not, I know he will eat dead fish but would he go after them if they are just swimming around? any help would be great, thanks

 

[promisetbg]

He will eat them when they sleep:nervous: The star is nocturnal..foraging at night.Bristles and serpents are known to raise up their oral disc and drop down on unsuspecting fish..I would guess this is what happened to your bottom dwellers.Spot feeding the star might help.Their appetite gets quite large as their size increases..and they are opportunistic.

 

[whites60]

That sounds just like him, I do see him quite a bit at night, how would you reccomend getting him out? thank you much

 

[moray345]

get a net and a pot full of water get him out with the net put him in the pot and put him on the stove.........yummmmmmmm
ENJOY,
Moray345

 

[whites60]

Ill net and cook him but ill let you eat it. Being that you are the only one that is responding to my posts do you think you could help me with one other thing, I am not real familiar with this forum yet ,, i just started yesterday but I posted something last night in sick and diseased fish and no one responded, if i don tdo somehing I am going to lose all the fish I have, its terrible, do you want me to right it all over or do you think you can find it?

 

[moray345]

ill find it for you

 

[moray345]

I believe your tang has popeye i know the other disease but its name slips my mnid right now ill try and find it hold on

 

[moray345]

maybe HLLE not sure do you have a camera a pic is worth 1000 words

 

[whites60]

thanks, I will take some pics when I get home, I was reading beths site and looking at the pics she had, I am almost positive they have lymphocytcis(sp) and brooklynella. is there anything I can do for either of these, this is so depressing my tank is rather neww like 6 months, it was doing great coral is still doing good, and this happens, I have lost almost half my fish I know its going to wipe out all of them. thanks for your help

 

[ophiura]

What color brittlestar is it, and what do you feed it? Not all brittlestars are known predators....I have several large brittlestars and have had no issues, even in small tanks with small fish...so the statement that they will eat sleeping fish may be misleading. Some will, but they will most definitely eat dead one's. The green brittlestar is, however, a known predator in the wild, which may or may not display this behavior in captivity, regardless of spot feeding. They should be spot fed regularly, BTW, and not allowed simply to scavenge.
Brittlestars are easy to catch when feeding it. Just take it back to your LFS.

 

[whites60]

its a brownish lblack bristle