Unwanted serpent star in my reef.....

[ryebread]

About five or six months ago, I got a small serpent star in with a batch of LR. I thought this was the coolest thing in the world to get a starfish for free. I am now under the impression that this guy is not the greatest thing for my reef tank.
The starfish is a green serpent star that is about three to four times the size of when I got it. Each arm (or leg??) is probably about 4-6 inches long and his center disk is rapidly growing as well. I have quite a bit of LR and corals that I have no interest in moving right now.
HOW DO I CATCH THE STARFISH??
Am I wrong that I should be worrying about the serpent?
Any help is much appreciated.
Ryan

 

[ryebread]

Problem is........
I have tried countless times to lure this guy out and the most I have gotten is an arm or two sticking out from the LR. He is laughing at me........I don't like when he does that.

 

[dad]

I would not worry about it right now but if you are concerned? I would take a peice of shrimp and tie a small fishing line to it.
Once it has it, it will not let go very easily.
Just remember that it will probly put up a fight and you will harm it in the long run.
Be sure you want to take this risk, ok?
Good luck and happy fishing,

 

[katara]

I have two green brittles and they have not been a problem to my reef at all.On the contrary,instead of people always asking me where the fish are for my "fishtank" they ooh & aah over the brittles.Mine have become comfortable enough to be out in the open during the day.Whatever you decide, good luck!

 

[rsd]

My green brittle was a favorite amongst many of my friends too. How ever it soon became a monster when it stretched to over 8" across. It began hunting my fish and I found it even was eating my xenia sprouts as, well as some of my buttons, yellow polyps, and any of my small crabs that didn't put up a really hard fight.... not to mention the disapearance of anything that didn't run away at lightning speed.
Does yours "tent-up"? Mine would move into the open at night and stand on its "tip toes" and wait for something to crawl under it.... then twist in rapidly closing the noose.
Catching it: Late at night... big piece of silversides/shrimp... hold that in one hand and lure it ALL the way into the open. when he gets a good hold of the food lift the food and slide your other hand under him. Nets don't work well.
I missed him the first time and he wouldn't fall for the same trick again... at least not till I didn't feed the tank for three weeks till he got hungry enought to try again.
After being bagged he "puked" in the bag and thats when I learned of the corals he was eating... there they were.... chewed up in the bag.
Good luck.

 

[ophiura]

1) Always spot feed all brittle/serpent stars. Never let them scavenge.
2) The green brittle is a known predator in the wild. The extent of its abilities was not fully understood until they became a mainstay of the trade. Some people have experienced predation in captivity (as it is their instinct), some have not. I keep a large green brittle, 10 inches across at least, in a 15g with 4 other large brittles and a damsel, polyps, and misc snails. I have never had anything go missing, though I only feed once a week (have to keep an eye on water quality). Indeed, I had a dying snail in there (left it as a little treat) and it took more than a day for someone to finally take care of it. Humph. Everyone has a different experience.
3) I hope you will trade him in or put him in the sump. No animal should be killed in this hobby simply because they were doing what is instinctive and had the misfortune to end up in a tank where they weren't wanted.
4) There is no biological difference between brittlestars and serpentstars. It is a distinction made in the trade only. Both have spines, either can be aggressive or not. My most aggressive is a green, next are some serpents (and they might take the title one day), then some more brittles which had to be moved to a different tank so that I could be sure to get food to them. My most finicky, which may in fact be starving, is a close relative of (or just a different color morph of- will tell on post mortem) the green. So there is no easy way to determine personality based on the length of arm spines. The longest spines are found in filter feeders- the most docile.
These guys are some of the most interesting animals available, and display some very unusual behaviors (esp. considering they do not have a brian!).
Try to catch them at night, with a little bait. But don't grab him by the arms, which it will happily cast off in order to escape.

 

[mikegronholz]

Rye ... I'll take him when you catch him....at my cost of course !!!

 

[buzz]

Watch out Rye...if Mike wants him, sleep with one eye open. I still have my BTA under guard from when I talked about selling my 29g. LOL.
heh heh...just kidding Mike.

 

[mikegronholz]

No you're not Buzz, you know how bad I (the wife) wanted him !!! The 20g tank I have sank $400 into now is due to your 29g !!! I am still fighting for the fish. I have been TOLD, there WILL be a large BTA in it. I'm pushing for a maroon glod stripe clown. My wife's EXACT words were "Show me that in Buzz's tank"...no BS (I never should have asked for the pictures !!! )
Note to self, call Bruno and ensure capture this time My offer still stands Buzz....should your tank have an "accident". Knock on wood (I really want NO problems for anyone !!!)
But really Rye, you need/want to get rid of it, my checkbook is open (if I can find it). There's always plastic ...

 

[drew_tt]

when I had (maybe still have) a mantis, I used the inverted pop bottle trap. every time my stars would end up in there and no mantis :s
give it a try
Drew

 

[ryebread]

Thanx for the replies.
I do not plan to kill the star. I just thought that I heard they were not good to have in your reef tank. I had planned on catching him and trading him to the LFS.
After ophiura's explanation of what to look for I think I may give mine a second chance. I will see how it goes.
Mike- I will let you know if I am giving the brittle/serpent the boot.