Question on brittle star size

[velvetchs]

I bought a reef cleaner package in November (I think) that came with 2 brittle stars (from here). I have been spotfeeding them a variety of foods about 2-3 times a week. One of the stars has not grown very much in the past couple of months. However, the second has gotten huge! It came completely out of the rocks where it was hiding tonight. I was shocked. Its disc is about the size of a quarter and from tip of one arm to tip of the arm directly across, it's about 14 inches or so.
My question is: Is this as big as it's getting or will it get bigger? Should I cut back on their spot feeding?

 

[promisetbg]

They do get quite large. If you cut back on his feeding it will look for another source of food...like small fish.

 

[reefforbrains]

they do get huge, but I have never encountered a situation to spotfeed, they come running for tigershrimp peices. Its awesome to suprise someone when you show them the tank and they dont notice a monster in the rocks until you toss in some food, always a shocker to someone not in the hobby. They look like aliens when they get large. they look almost TOO symetrical

 

[cjason3041]

I have had a BS for 2-3 years and he is HUGE...his disk is the size of a silver dollar and from tip to tip he is probably 18 inches...and boy can he move fast when it is feeding time!!!!!

 

[velvetchs]

Thanks everybody. I wasn't sure when I was reading my Marine Invertebrates by Ronald Shimek and he gave a maximum size of 8in in diameter if that was disc size or included arms.

 

[tree]

wow if it was disc size that would be a beast :scared:
We had 2, when one got to be about 18 inches across we took it in to the LFS for credit. The other one is about the same size now, but we have a bigger tank so we'll keep it unless it becomes aggressive.

 

[ginarox]

mine hardly comes out of the rocks,,,,i have had him since july and he still isnt very big,,,have a great day...