starfish feeding on snails?

[waterwolf]

This question is about the feeding habits of Bahama, choc chip, crown of thorns, and african stars. I know they will eat sessile inverts but will they eat snails?

 

[col]

I believe so

 

[acez28]

i would think so if they could get to them but i doubt if they would be able to get to them.

 

[waterwolf]

Due to the predatory nature of these starfish I think they would eat the snails if given the chance. Would snails flee or retract in their shell. Retracting in their shells would mean the starfish would make a meal out of them. These are only my theories. Has anyone ever seen one of these stars eat a Mexican Turbo snail?

 

[pmauro]

My choc chip hasn't bothered any of my 100+ snails he mostly cleans up the bouutm and climbs on the rocks, I gie more trouble from my blue hermits.

 

[ophiura]

Yes, they can and will eat snails if they come across any, and are hungry.

 

[waterwolf]

Ophiura, by the looks of your avatar I hope you can help. I need a starfish that is a good meaty scavenger but I also want to protect my snails. What would you recommend.

 

[radioactive]

I have a general starfish and it traps the snails on the side of my tank and eats them . It is very aggressive ..

 

[ophiura]

Waterwolf,
Can you tell me about your system, esp size, LR, water params and fish? This will help!
Brittlestars/serpentstars are generally pretty good, but not for some tanks, and may still need to be fed too...but some individuals may eat snails, or other small things.

 

[waterwolf]

I have a 75gal tank with 26gal sump, DSB , 80lb LR Protein skimmer also and a jewel moray eel, miniatus grouper, 12 Mexican turbo snails. They can be messy eaters and I need a good cleanup crew. I have kept Linkia stars in a reef set-up before without problems, hopefully the aggressive stars are easier to care for. my water is ammon 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 0.2 ppm(mg/L), ph 8.3, phosphate <0.05(mg/L), spec gravity 1.023 I always use RO water too. Just a note, I know the tank is small for the fish but I have a bigger tank that is empty waiting for them.

 

[waterwolf]

Ophiura, any suggestions?