tiny little star fish

[teresaq1]

I have at least a hundred in my 4 gal fuge. I have a hob fuge on my 55 gal tank, and today i was cleaning some alge out, lokked at the alge, and it was full of tiny brittle stars. i swished it around in my main tank, and they started falling out into my live rock my question is what do they eat, and is having soo many good for my tank??

 

[teresaq1]

16 lookie lous, and no responce

 

[bigarn]

They're pretty much harmless hitchhikers and require no special care. I wouldn't dump anymore into the main tank though, they can multiply pretty quick.

 

[viper_930]

Brittle Stars
The more detritus or extra food you have in your tank, the more their population raises.

 

[ophiura]

There are primarily two main hitch hiker brittlestars in our systems....
The tiny white Amphipholis squamata. This is about the size of a nickel or so and reproduces well. It is a self fertilizing hermaphrodite, and easily one of the most successful animals on the planet.
Another form has six banded arms and is an Ophiactis brittlestar. They also stay quite small, and reproduce by splitting (3 arms are often much shorter).
They are outstanding and highly desirable scavengers. They will not cause damage.
Some additional pics here - a page from my website:
http://home.att.net/~ophiuroid/html/map.html

 

[teresaq1]

Thanks, they are the tiny white. :happyfish