Brittle Stars, keepers?

Just looking for opinions on brittle stars in a semi reef with several cleaner shrimp ,peppermint shrimp, two sally's, two emeralds and a plethera of hermits and featherdusters.....what do ya'll think? Am I looking at my shrimp dissappearing? I know the greens can be a big pain, even with fish, but these are the brown. Is two to many? Is one to many?
Anybody have 'em in their reef, experience with em? good, bad, the ugly? Thanks.
Oh, its in a 75 gal bowfront with 82 lbs o' LR and a 3 inch LSB. TIA.
 
I haven't been in the hobby for all that long, but I have them in my tank and have had no probs with them. I have 1 green that's about 8-9 inches spread out and he never hurt nothing. I also have two little brown-black ones about 3 inches across. Never bothered a fish, shrimp or anything. The green one curls up with my peppermint shrimp, but never tried to eat it. Mine eat all the extra food that happens to make it to the bottom of the tank so that's a big plus. Neat little guys. The only downside to having them is the fact that they are nocturnal so don't plan on seeing them out during the day too often unless they sense food.
 

flydan

Active Member
Hey,
I've got two rather large brown/black brittle stars and they haven't been a problem for me. From what I've read, you will have more problems with your Sally Lightfoots.
Dan'l
 
Thanks guys. Sound like they are staying in for now. I actually like the sally's and havent had any problems with them. The trick is to keep them fed so they arent inclined (out of necessity to live I suppose) to tackle snails and other inverts.
I hear the same about the brittles. I have heard several horror stories about the greens but nothing bad about the browns. I have a buddy who actually watched a green drop down and corner his perc.....devoured it in short order. So watch that green as he gets bigger and keep em fed!
Thanks again for the info.
 

billyv

Member
I have two brittles, a 5" green and a 7" redish/brown. I have had the green brittle for about a year. When I brought my red/brown brittle home a few months ago, I put him in the tank that night and woke up to find that my sand shifing star had no legs left! I figured he must have been hungry, and the sandshifter was slow, easy prey (prob not very tasty though). Since that day, I haven't had any further problems with either one. They don't bother my shrimp at all. In fact the shrimp are almost always within easy grab of the brittles, as they both prefer the same dimly lit areas of the tank.
 

ironreef

Member
IME all my small fish I buy new dissapear after a few days. I qtank them for a mo. So i know they are healthy. But they go into the rock my seaserpant live never to come out. So it just depends. Most small fish don't go near its hole. I feed my tank 3x aday but it does happen
 
Top