I cant believe it!

sid2003

sid2003

Member
The other day I got home and looked at my tank. Low and behold what do I find? :eek: A baby starfish on the side of the glass! The tank has been up for about 6 mos. Suddenly this little guy just pops up out of nowhere. It is so amazing what things you will find in your tank so unexpectedly!

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Any ideas on how to keep him alive? What do starfish eat?
 
kreach

kreach

Active Member
Does your star look like the pic below? If so, it is a white asterina star... usually harmless algae eaters who reproduce by splitting in half. They usually hitchhike in on rocks and such that you add to your tank.
I've got dozens in my tank and have never had any problems with them. They don't require direct feeding and will roam the tank eating algae.
This pic was borrowed from another user's old post on these stars...
 
fishman88

fishman88

Member
hey kreach would you mind sending me 2 i would like to have them in my tank i have algea that they would like here is my e-mail if you can i will give you my address and you can send me 2 maybe 3 if you want i will pay
Sleeprn1@juno.com
thanks alot
mike
 
spsfreak100

spsfreak100

Active Member
Most Asterina stars will consume calcareous algae's, such as coralline , rather than graze on other species of algae. As Roland said, there are a few species of Asterina stars which will consume corals, but generally it's uncommon to see. Have you seen them on the polyps? There may be some out there that will eat polyps, SPS corals, etc, but it is not the common form. Many would argue that the stars may be starving in some systems, and may thus be drawn to eat things they would not normally eat. Others may say that this is an individual issue, and not a species issue. Finally, many would say that the stars are drawn to corals that are weak, stressed or dying due to other issues...something that the stars can most certainly 'smell' and will act on long before we recognize that the corals are ill.
Take Care,
Graham
 
aarone

aarone

Active Member
kreach, do you go to trinity high school???
sorry for spamming in the board, i just noticed you lived around my area.
aaron
 
bdhough

bdhough

Active Member
Those stars will reproduce readily. They split apart by fission. Its not uncommon to see one with three legs. I have a bunch of them in my tank and while im not sure if they are messing with my polyps i don't think they are. Something else is making them disappear. I would think if they ate them they would continue to sit on them till they were gone.
 
sid2003

sid2003

Member
So they will eat my coralline algae? If they do then i dont want it in my tank. I would rather keep the coralline! Its very pretty!
 
kreach

kreach

Active Member

Originally posted by aarone
kreach, do you go to trinity high school???
sorry for spamming in the board, i just noticed you lived around my area.
aaron
Sorry, no I don't... I graduated from high school in 1997. But when I was in high school, I went to Grapevine High. :)
 
bdhough

bdhough

Active Member
Im not entirely sure they eat corraline algae. I have it growing all over my little 12 gallon and its definitely NOT receeding any. I have about 5-10 of those stars in my tank. I have read they mess with corals. Just keep an eye out for him. if you don't notice anything wrong then leave him be. If you can get them to reproduce in vast numbers you can get a harlequin shrimp and keep one alive. He will eat off those.
 
spsfreak100

spsfreak100

Active Member

Originally posted by bdhough
Im not entirely sure they eat corraline algae.
You may notice coralline with pale areas. That is the area where the Asternia has been eating. Coralline wouldn't recede, in this case.
Graham
 
j21kickster

j21kickster

Active Member
im not sure exactly what species eat corals- but when i worked at the LFS we occasionally had a few- they did feed on the corals- it wasnt sick corals they went for they were always corals that were in the tank for a while and doing well- the seemed to strip the outer layers of flesh off- it didnt always kill them but onncaionally one would get infected and die- the ones we had were mostly light brown with a black dot in the center- but as stated not all of them do- but it couldnt hurt to keep an eye out
 
bdhough

bdhough

Active Member
I see what you're talking about SPS. Ill keep my eye out next time i see one. The rate of growth is far outseeing the rate at which they eat. I think they eat algae as well. I've seen them on the glass plenty of times eating away. Is it possible they scrape so hard that they take off the top layer of corralline with the algae that may be on it?
 
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