Starfish

[sdascher]

Hi All -
Has anyone ever seen "lots" of tiny brittle starfish in the substrate ?? They have the tiny disk body, the legs are brittle and they are white with tiny dark spots or lines up the legs. They range from approx. 1/2" to 1& 1/2 including the legs. My son has maybe a hundred in his tank! I also have them in my tank where we believe that they were first. Any information on these starfish would be appreciated!!

 

[saltyrich]

Yuo are fortunate. If you have that many, they are reproducing in your tanks. They are a very valuable detrivore in the tank. One of the best. Many of us have paid good money for those little guys. Lucky!

 

[sdascher]

Thanks Saltyrich!! I am lucky I guess as I paid $$$ for my other 2 brown brittle starfish that I have in the tank.... I didn't realize that I was breeding others in there! Funny thing is that I have a 125 with a few seen every other day or so, but my son only has a 20 gal. with tons of these babies!! About 4 months ago, I took algae from my tank to place in his as he didn't have any. We believe that is how he got them. Needless to say, we have been removing some of these so that they are not so over crowded. I have identified them, they are Reticulated Brittle Stars. The book says that the disk gets .50 to .75", about the size of the small ones now, so I can only assume that they will grow, legs & disk to a size of 4 to 6" maybe???
Thanks for your reply......
Nothern Va.

 

[saltyrich]

Probably not. The mini-brittles stay very small and are one of the best detrivores going. I'd not remove any and wait and see what happens myself.

 

[ophiura]

It is very unlikely that they are reticulated brittlestars. Large brittlestars do not tend to reproduce in our tanks. The smaller species consist of a variety of forms:
Tiny white one's are Amphipholis squamata a self fertilizing brooding hermaphrodite which reproduces very quickly in our systems.
Some with banded arms (often six arms): Ophiactis spp., these reproduce by splitting, and can also reproduce quickly.
There is no need to remove them from the tank. Their populations will grow to meet the resources available in the tank. If you could provide a picture, I might be able to give you more information. But I am pretty certain that (if there are many many of them and no sign of an adult) they are not the reticulated brittlestar Ophionereis reticulata. Especially if you only have Fiji LR as this is a Caribbean species.