brittlestar feeding question [ophiura? :)]

[xnikki118x]

I purchased a small green brittlestar a few days ago, and it seems to be doing very well thus far. It hides, but not all that much, and goes absolutely crazy when I feed the tank, crawling all over the place with my cleaner shrimp to catch whatever the fish don't get first.
Last night I threw some shrimp pellets in for my crabs, as I do weekly or so since they enjoy them, and the green brittle immediately made itself known and just kept scooping up the pellets and bringing them to its mouth. I watched very intently and it was very interesting to say the least, but the more pellets it ate, the bigger and more 'lumpy' the top of its central disc became.
Is this a bad thing? Can it eat itself to death? The central disc was seriously like 1.5x the size it was, it must have eaten like 8 shrimp pellets. You could see the skin stretching and the outlines of the lumpy pellets. I just don't want it to like, explode or anything.

 

[jon321]

im pretty sure it wouldnt eat itself to death, but if it explodes, for the love of god, TAKE A PICTURE!

Jon

 

[guineawhop]

lol, it will be fine if you are that worried just throw it on the opposite side of the tank so it doesn't get them

 

[wax32]

Ophiura has pics of a star that eat a huge shrimp and punctured himself! They are a little nutty.

 

[xnikki118x]

Jon, lol, I'll definitely try to snap a picture of it indeed explodes. I'll borrow my gram's camera if I have to!
wax, do you know if that star lived? Dumb question but it could have survived, lol.

 

[wax32]

Yeah it fully recovered.

 

[xnikki118x]

So I can spot-feed my brittlestar as much as he'll take, and he'll be okay? I've heard that fish can eat themselves to death because they can't tell when they're full, and their stomach literally explodes inside them and they die. This won't happen to my star? I like him a lot, I don't wanna kill him.

 

[elfdoctors]

I have two starfish (including a bright yellow brittlestar) which tend to be secretive. When they are out, I usually know they are hungry. I usually throw a few pellets in their direction (as this is about the only time I use pellets.) If they can get to them before all the other critters in the tank find the pellets, the sea stars will get several of them. This has worked for 18 months without problems. I always find it fascinating to watch them eat like this.
The only downside is that if the sea star does gorge itself, I may not see it again for several days as I have more than 125 pounds of live rock in my tank.

 

[ophiura]

I commonly feed shrimp pellets and they are much loved and handy to feed as well.
They star could cause iteslf some damage for sure. But they do tend to recover from feeding injuries specifically. But I wouldn't go crazy with letting him eat everything . You can try to give him something like a piece of shrimp or something on a skewer to keep him busy and allow the other critters to get some to eat.

 

[teen]

i feed mine soft seafoods like shrimp, squid, and scallops, and its center also expands and gets pretty big. the idea that he could explode never crossed my mind :scared: i usually feed mine about 3-4 times a week, so he should be fine. if u feed urs any type of sea food such as clams, fish,or scallop, mix it up in a cup of ur tank water and pour the water back into the tank, and in about 3 seconds ur star will be out looking for the food, its like he smells it. i think is pretty cool. ophiura said its because they have like a really high developed nerve system that enables them to kind of like smell there food.

 

[wax32]

I can open the ziplock of shrimp in the kitchen and he comes out! OK, maybe that's stretching it.

 

[xnikki118x]

I had a Lhasa Apso named Freeway growing up and he LOVED cheese. As soon as you'd open the crisper in the fridge and rattled the bags of lunch meats and cheeses, he'd come running from wherever he was. I miss him so much sometimes...
I wonder if my star will come out when I pop open the can of shrimp pellets. Hah...actually, he's out and about like 80% of the time. Maybe he's a freak or something.