Reef safe starfish
- Thread starter saltydogz
- Start date
chipmaker
Active Member
They are perfectly fine to let in the tank and will not hurt anyhting. They do get to large numbers in time as they seem to propagate pretty quick, but are eay to pick out of tank. I just thinned out the asterina's in our one tank a few weeks ago and removed over 200 of the things........over a 2 week period of time as I seen them.
watertite
Member
Bought some live rock from my local aquarium shop. They have quite a few beautiful reef tanks. I selected a few and brought them home. Installed in my 55 gallon and I have seen since(over a period of months)2 such starfish a small one and another about the size of a nickle crawling on the live rock, eating algae I believe. Wonder what species myself.
mrsdorothy
Member
Chipmaker, the next time you get ready to thin them out, send me an email. I will pay postage for some for my tank. dladyd0522@cs.com
fishieness
Active Member
id never heard of a species that eat zooanthids. however, the blueish ones do eat acro polyps suposedly
ophiura
Active Member
Originally Posted by reefkprZ
just some new info I came accross todaywhile most asterina star are harmless there are a few species that eat zoanthids it is really hard to tell what species they are, so if your zoos start dissapearing you'll have an Idea who the culprit could be.
THis is the first I have heard of zoanthids. Also note people jump to conclusions that this star is causing problems, often because it is in the wrong place at the wrong time. I participated in a thread where someone was certain it was eating their montipora because it was the only thing they saw, so they started removing them. Well upon closer look it was the montipora eating nudibranch that was causing the damage, and the star was just there. They WILL hang out in between zoanthids and such because they are feeding on surface films. There are some species that are KNOWN to eat SPS, one that someone produced a clear picture causing damage to a leather...and mostly causing damage to coralline algae.
They are also likely to eat corals that are dying for other reasons.
But there is a whole lot of the classic "mythinformation" out there about these. They will not SUDDENLY start eating them, they are either coral eaters, or not.
just some new info I came accross todaywhile most asterina star are harmless there are a few species that eat zoanthids it is really hard to tell what species they are, so if your zoos start dissapearing you'll have an Idea who the culprit could be.
THis is the first I have heard of zoanthids. Also note people jump to conclusions that this star is causing problems, often because it is in the wrong place at the wrong time. I participated in a thread where someone was certain it was eating their montipora because it was the only thing they saw, so they started removing them. Well upon closer look it was the montipora eating nudibranch that was causing the damage, and the star was just there. They WILL hang out in between zoanthids and such because they are feeding on surface films. There are some species that are KNOWN to eat SPS, one that someone produced a clear picture causing damage to a leather...and mostly causing damage to coralline algae.
They are also likely to eat corals that are dying for other reasons.
But there is a whole lot of the classic "mythinformation" out there about these. They will not SUDDENLY start eating them, they are either coral eaters, or not.
reefkprz
Active Member
I agree 100% Ophuria.
this was just information I came across, (substantiated by several highly expirienced reefers who shall remain nameless due to my lack of asking permission to name names) I questioned it at first and after speaking with a couple of them and a few others decided a better safe than sorry approach at least advises caution. I do not want this info to cause panic just the usual be aware of everything theory I operate by.
this was just information I came across, (substantiated by several highly expirienced reefers who shall remain nameless due to my lack of asking permission to name names) I questioned it at first and after speaking with a couple of them and a few others decided a better safe than sorry approach at least advises caution. I do not want this info to cause panic just the usual be aware of everything theory I operate by.
