I've read posts which said these little guys ate corals, and some posts said that they are harmless. Which is it? I added a xenia frag last week and this little guy must have come with it. I'll leave him in the tank if he's ok (about 2.5mm right now).
Asterina starfish ok with xenia?
- Thread starter manowar669
- Start date
I personally think they're cool....apparently they are usually relatively harmless, but in some cases can multiply so readily that they become an infestation.
I saw one in my tank the other day....I hope he makes some friends.
I saw one in my tank the other day....I hope he makes some friends.
Thanks for the reply.
I wanted to add that the LFS where I got the xenia frag has a huge (1000g+?) display tank on the floor which has hundreds of these little starfish, and tons of corals. These starfish apparently get no larger than about an inch (12.5mm) in diameter. The corals in the tank don't seem to be ravaged, so I'm hoping/guessing that this type is harmless. The tank is a 3g pico, so I can't afford too many of them. If I see more, I might have to pull him.
I wanted to add that the LFS where I got the xenia frag has a huge (1000g+?) display tank on the floor which has hundreds of these little starfish, and tons of corals. These starfish apparently get no larger than about an inch (12.5mm) in diameter. The corals in the tank don't seem to be ravaged, so I'm hoping/guessing that this type is harmless. The tank is a 3g pico, so I can't afford too many of them. If I see more, I might have to pull him.
There are different ones, some do eat corals. Some don't. If you have one you'l get lots more, they reproduce by fission.
they dont seem to be harmful, i have a few and dont do anything wrong to my corals and i know lots of people that have them too
Well, now there's 2 of them. Either I just didn't see him, or the 2nd one came from the first. Is that possible? It's only been about 6 days.
Yep...they clone themselves fast. Oh, and by the way the troublesome ones I think are more prone to go after SPS not softies.
I have about a lot of these guys in my tank. So far they haven't touched any of my corals. I have seen a few cruse over my corals to get to the other side of the tank but no harm has ever come to them. Mostly the stars prefer the algae filled rocks. And they can multiple fast. But they split. I have seen this process. They usually find a spot on your tank and can split in half in a matter of 4 hours.
i dont see any issues regarding it munching on corals, its more than happy with live rock and as a scavenger..
What is a worry with this species is the alarming rate at which they can reproduce..Either pull them out manually, or get a harlequin shrimp to act as pest control...
Niko
What is a worry with this species is the alarming rate at which they can reproduce..Either pull them out manually, or get a harlequin shrimp to act as pest control...
Niko
Yeah, I thought of this. I can pull them, and toss them into my 46 FOWLR, and then add a harlequin if the population gets too large. My fiancee loves the shrimps (all crustaceans actually). I'm sure hermits are ok, but would a harlequin fight with cleaner shrimps, an arrow crab, porcelain crab, or emerald crab?