Is a Serpant Starfish safe to add to my tank?

[reefer4life]

Hi All,
I just purchased a serpant starfish, along with some other specimen for my reef tank through saltwaterfish.com. I have come accross some other forums in which people talk about serpants eating other fish and corals and in general being pretty preditory. In some cases they were refering to a Green Serpant, whereas mine will be the white with black. Is this the case? I thought they were supposed to be an excellent reef species? Can someone shed some light on this? Thank you!

 

[bang guy]

I've only heard of the Green ones being a problem.

 

[gwh57]

I have had one in my tankj for over a year, and he just lays around in the botton of the tank. He is no problem.

 

[hatessushi]

Originally Posted by gwh57
I have had one in my tankj for over a year, and he just lays around in the botton of the tank. He is no problem.

Same here

 

[nigerbang]

I havent had a problem outta mine yet..Neat little guy...When I feed him he tried to climb up my arm...hmm are we talking about Brittle Stars?

 

[hatessushi]

He's talking about the serpent stars which are actually a type of brittle star. I have both a green serpent and a green brittle star and haven't had any problems with either one.

 

[ophiura]

The species should not be a problem, but I do recommend spot feeding when possible.

 

[ophiura]

I won't, BTW go off on my standard rant about why people call them brittle versus serpentstars which is totally meaningless, random and has no biological significance (or behavioral significance) whatsoever.

 

[hatessushi]

I figured they were pretty much the same since the 2 I have look different but live side by side and do everything together. I hope I don't baby ones.

 

[reefer4life]

Thank you all for your input! An update, I received my shippment from SWF.com and everything was excellent! The Serpant Star, although a bit shy, is a very cool addition to my reef. When I feed the fish, he will move out from under a rock and start grabbing some food, then back under he goes. I am sure that in time, he will emerge a little more. My cleaner shrimp like to walk over his arms, star doesn't seem to mind.

 

[ophiura]

Originally Posted by Reefer4Life
Thank you all for your input! An update, I received my shippment from SWF.com and everything was excellent! The Serpant Star, although a bit shy, is a very cool addition to my reef. When I feed the fish, he will move out from under a rock and start grabbing some food, then back under he goes. I am sure that in time, he will emerge a little more. My cleaner shrimp like to walk over his arms, star doesn't seem to mind.

Actually, brittlestars are nocturnal, and generally will not be out much during the day. This behavior is normal. Actually I would be worried if it was out in the open during the day.
I have about 10 brittlestars in my 45g tank. Most are quite large, but I would challenge anyone to find them. Maybe the big greens will be fairly obvious, but the rest will only extend an arm or two out.