Population Explosion!

[phoenixrising]

One of the coolest things about keeping a reef is the incredible things that appear out of nowhere! About a year and a half ago, I put half a dozen wee little teeny mini brittlestars in my reef. Never saw them again and frankly sorta forgot about them! Then last night I'm checking out the nightlife about 3 hours after lights out and was AMAZED to find HUNDREDS of these mini stars just cruising around on the glass and rocks! I've spent countless hours peering into the great abyss over all these many months since their introduction into the tank and just now spotted them! What a cool find! I'm thinking maybe I should move some of them to my other tanks. Gee, can they multiply their way out of resources? The reef is pretty mature, and so is the refugium (which I didn't put any mini stars in). The FOWLR is only about 7 months old. Anybody have an opinion on mini stars in the refugium?

 

[phoenixrising]

I'll swap you some for those porceline crabs you have!

 

[tye_c]

I would like some of those mini stars.

 

[ophiura]

These ministars are considered beneficial parts of any tank...sand bed, live rock, refugium, etc. They are all around good beasts

 

[phoenixrising]

Thanks! I'll move some of them over to the other tanks. I have DSB's in all of them but the FOWLR is not yet mature. Don't want the little fellas to starve! They really are cool!

 

[phoenixrising]

Yep, mine have 5 as well. They look exactly like the full size brittlestars except on a miniture scale.
Draxx, yes...I added them on purpose. Didn't know they would appear anyways through the addition of liverock. Too bad Ophiura didn't belong to the BB back then! Could have saved myself some $$. It was the fabled 9 for $99 (supersized so I could get the mini stars)!
BTW...how are all those porceline crabs that I want??

 

[ophiura]

Melody,
Do you have those on the glass? If so it may be something called Staurocladia (think that is it), commonly called 'dots with legs' and will come and go in blooms. They are harmless.

 

[jharring]

I just discovered a bunch of those mini-brittlestars in my tank last night. The "body" is about a millimeter in diameter and with their legs extended they are about the size of a dime. They are also tan in color. Is this there full size or will they grow to a regular size brittle star? What do they eat? Will they eat my pods or are they more of a scavenger?
72 g bow
18 g LR/DSB refugium filter w/ calupra
200 LBS LS
120 LBS LR
2 Cleaner Shrimp
Assorted Damsels
1 Percula Clown
1 Purple tip anemone
Crabs
Snails
and now Mini-Brittle stars