Tiny starfish!

[jerthunter]

I was just looking at my tank tonight and saw a tiny little starfish on a rock. I see these guys every couple of months but this was the most out in the open I've seen one. Sorry about the picture quality, the day lights were off already and it was hard to focus. I hate to only post one picture so the second is one I took of my clowns on valentines day. I don't know why they like this spot in my tank but they do....
Oh and does anyone know what those starfish eat? Probably just algae?

 

[devilboy]

it looks like an asternia species....

 

[jerthunter]

Yup, that is probably what it is. Whatever it is it came on either live rock or live sand I put in when I started. It is neat when I see them out.. On another note these guys must be fast movers since a few minutes after I took the picture I couldn't find the star anywhere.

 

[chipmaker]

A lot of LFS and folks call em parasitic stars and are dead set on eradicating them from a tank. Harlequin shrimp eat them. I have never seen any problems caused by them in any of my tanks. They can and do reproduce fairly easy, by fragmenting.

 

[jerthunter]

Wow, so I just walked back to my tank and I saw another star on the front glass so I had to take a picture. The first one didn't turn out so well because the lights were already off so I turned on my evening light again to get another picture. From what I understand they are perfectly safe and bascially just another part of a cleanup crew...

 

[jerthunter]

They might not be much to look at but I am rather amazed. Tonight I saw a tiny star on my front glass and had to take a picture. Normally I could go months without seeing one and this is the third time I've seen on in 2 days.