View Full Version : Help ID this please
Cantra
10-25-2010, 3:05 PM
This has been hiding out underneath the rock my dad's mushroom corals are on. We're not sure what it is though to me it kind of looks like a brittle star of some sort but I'm not sure if it's good to have in the tank or if we should remove it.
All we ever see of it are those legs, well usually three of them are out but when I took this picture only those two were out.
greech
10-25-2010, 3:22 PM
Definitely an alien of some sort :)
Seriously, it looks like a star of some kind or possibly a spaghetti worm. Maybe put a decent size junk of food or some food in a mesh bag underneath it just out of reach to draw it out of its hole. Looking at night with a flashlight will likely give you a good opportunity to see it as well. HTH.
Cerianthus
10-25-2010, 4:32 PM
Probably brittle/serpent star. I wouldnt worry too much except on mullusks although I had green serpent stars which I think was responsible for disappearance of few small bottom dwelling fishes. They grew pretty fast.
Micro brittle star.. harmless cleaners. My 29G has hundreds of them in it.
Cerianthus
10-25-2010, 7:25 PM
Micro brittle star.. harmless cleaners. My 29G has hundreds of them in it.
Really? reddish/dark banded? Although I had countless such brittles in few sumps in the basement/main displays, I dont recall banded ones as pic shows.
Oh ya.. most of mine are banded. Mine look exactly like this.
http://www.instarfarm.com/index.cfm?type=all&ls=catpg&ic=prod&pid=3
http://www.instarfarm.com/pics/IM005958mbrittlestar2.jpg
Catpicklesdog
10-26-2010, 6:47 AM
I have had a few of the dark banded ones as well. Both at home and at work. No problems with them. :)