Originally Posted by tangs123
from what i read, they can eat SPS corals first so if you see a decline in these species then i would reccomend u take the starfish out,
they will reproduce when all of their six legs are the same length
I have some SPS corals and they do NOT eat it. There are SEVERAL species in this hobby and VERY few eat SPS corals and you would KNOW it if it was a problem. Not all have 6 arms...the number and size of arms is of little use as an identifying feature. Even seastar experts have problems with this group.
This sort of alarmism does not help,and pretty much only garf hypes it, so far as I can tell.
These are not animals that go from eating bacterial/algal films on the glass to suddenly eating SPS corals. They are specific in their dietary choices. This is an important concept to understand.
LOTS of people have these stars with SPS corals and have no issues. I had them for YEARS with no SPS corals at all...the reproduced in this tank.
Unless you can prove that you have this problem, DO NOT waste your time trying to remove these seastars. You might as well not bother to continue in the hobby. They are cryptic and reproduce well. You are unlikely to get them all unless they do congregate on your SPS corals in which case....you have the problem species.
There was a thread on another board that basically made this same claim. They saw some Asterina underneath a Montipora that was showing tissue loss. They ASSUMED it was the stars. Guilt by association! It was the only coral in a total SPS reef that had this problem. And when they looked further, indeed it was NOT the stars, but an Monitpora eating nudibranch.
All in all, the actual number of instances of them eating corals is VERY low relative to the number of people who have them. I does happen, but simply because you have these stars does NOT mean they will eat SPS, soft corals or anything you desire. Most will cruise the glass and rockwork, esp at night. They do not wander aimlessly hoping to find a coral.
