Tiny Starfish?
- Thread starter kellenr
- Start date
cranberry
Active Member
That looks like a variation of the asterina. But it's different. Any chance I could have one when you find the rest (they're their somewhere) so I could photograph them?
It also could just be the regular variety that just happens to be caught on "film" with his legs looking a little different. Most of th etime the asterinas legs are irregular lengths, but every now and then they just happen to even up.
It also could just be the regular variety that just happens to be caught on "film" with his legs looking a little different. Most of th etime the asterinas legs are irregular lengths, but every now and then they just happen to even up.
kellenr
Member
Originally Posted by Cranberry
http:///forum/post/2706965
That looks like a variation of the asterina. But it's different. Any chance I could have one when you find the rest (they're their somewhere) so I could photograph them?
It also could just be the regular variety that just happens to be caught on "film" with his legs looking a little different. Most of th etime the asterinas legs are irregular lengths, but every now and then they just happen to even up.
This is the only one I've ever seen in my tank. I hope I don't have any more, don't Asterina Stars eat coralline, zoanthids and other soft corals?
Shoot, I should of plucked him out when I saw him, now I can't find it.
http:///forum/post/2706965
That looks like a variation of the asterina. But it's different. Any chance I could have one when you find the rest (they're their somewhere) so I could photograph them?
It also could just be the regular variety that just happens to be caught on "film" with his legs looking a little different. Most of th etime the asterinas legs are irregular lengths, but every now and then they just happen to even up.
This is the only one I've ever seen in my tank. I hope I don't have any more, don't Asterina Stars eat coralline, zoanthids and other soft corals?
Shoot, I should of plucked him out when I saw him, now I can't find it.
cranberry
Active Member
These little guys have gotten sort of a mixed review as far as their "reef-safeness" is concerned. Most people have seen them munching happily away on film algaes. Then there are others who have seen them destroying a leather, acropora or gorgonian. There are two theories circulating about these differing behaviours. One is that there is more than one species and are very difficult to tell apart; one eats film algaes and the other eats corals. But then there is also the theory that they are opportunistic and feed on corals when their supply of algaes are running out. The odds of finding a coral predator are low.
goober_hunter
Member
i started off with about four. now i have hundreds. they are out of control. i know this is going to sound bad, but i have been taking them out of my tank. i have watched them eat some of the corals. not saying that they are all bad. mine have only eaten corals when they become big. only thing i would say is try to keep them under control.
good luck
good luck
funkysean5
Member
you shouldn't worry about them, i have some and they don't do any harm.
cranberry
Active Member
A friend has tons of them in his 180. They don't mess with the coral. Some times they wrap themselves around a coral polyp, but they are just cleaning the surface of that too... they climb off after and leave the polyp intact. I've seen them so this with pineapple sponges where you SWEAR they were attempting to eat it.... same with zoas polyps. But the sponge and polyp were unscathed.
goober_hunter
Member
i watched 2 eat my xenia completely. nothing left. those two went to the trash. you just have to watch them.
loopy101
Member
this critter gets a bad rap i have heard both ways they eat corals and such mostly when they get out of controll in numbers...i myself i pull them out when i see them just to be safe. and if you have one, there are more you just havent found them yet!! i guess weather i am right or wrong i would rather be safe then sorry when it comes to my corals...
aztec reef
Active Member
Just send them to me
This stars are generally harmless, What they are and what they do is a mystery..although there have been reports of some aesteria species eating small polyped stony corals (sps). Another species seem to have an appetite for coraline algea (still, it doesn't even hold a candle to the infamous crown of thorns species) but for the most part they're just scavangers that eat detrius..So if your tank isn't sps dominated, i wouldn't worry about them..To me, they're great candidates that make up the diversed infauna of a thriving ecosystem that we call reef..
This stars are generally harmless, What they are and what they do is a mystery..although there have been reports of some aesteria species eating small polyped stony corals (sps). Another species seem to have an appetite for coraline algea (still, it doesn't even hold a candle to the infamous crown of thorns species) but for the most part they're just scavangers that eat detrius..So if your tank isn't sps dominated, i wouldn't worry about them..To me, they're great candidates that make up the diversed infauna of a thriving ecosystem that we call reef..