Serpent Star attacking feather duster?

[evenkeel]

I recently purchased two feather duster and placed them on the sandbed. When I returned from work, I noticed my serpent star had moved the one feather duster and appeared to on top of it. I quickly moved the feather duster to the top of some rocks and out of the reach of the star. It appears there was no damage to the feather duster because he was out later that night. My question is: Is this normal for a serpant star to go after inverts?

 

[leigh]

i have three serpent stars in my tank and 6 feather dusters (though 2 of those are burried into live rock) and i have never seen my serpent stars go after a feather duster! (knock on wood). Do you spot feed your serpent star? Could he be hungry? What type of serpent star is it? ie is it a green serpent star? And remember, if he really does like the taste of feather duster, no where in your tank is unreachable for a serpent star. The only place mine don't go is near the BTA
-leigh

 

[evenkeel]

I believe it's a red serpent star. I do spot feed him/her about silversides once a week. Because this is my first experience with feather dusters I wanted to find out if there would be a problem between the two. The star could have been at the wrong place at the wrong time for me to catch him.
How often do you spot feed your stars?

 

[leigh]

I spot feed them really anytime i see them--i figure if they're out and about they're probably hungry.
Really though I defer on giving further (potential) misinformation on this...Ophiura is the resident starfish expert--if I were you I'd sit on the question until she pipes in with some input.

 

[ophiura]

I see no reason why they would do this unless the worms were ill (or stressed) and the star was hungry. But simply because they are on top of something, does not mean they are eating it. Tube worms are 'structure' of sorts, and serpentstars are drawn to structure. I have kept both and never had problems, but do remember that the feather dusters will also require specialized foods (if you are not already using liquid diets, phytoplankton, etc).

 

[evenkeel]

Thanks for your replies.
It seems it may have been an overreation on my part, but I wasn't sure of the compatibliity of stars/inverts. Everyone appears to be living in harmony now.