I have noticed numerous baby stars in my tank and i have no clue what they are. guessing they hatched from LR but i have had LR for over a year??? can anyone ID?
starfish I.D.?
- Thread starter joshuacpr99
- Start date
i have the same little stars in my tank i have found about 5 now. i am also wondering what kind they are.
Asterina stars I would remove if you have any coral in the system as they will decimate any coral they can get to. If you are running a FOWLR or FO system I wouldn't worry too much about them as they are generally harmless.
I have to say, thats a very debatable point...Its only certain types of arterina which go for corals, not all are bad..Myself, as well as others have had asterina stars in our reefs for a good while, never had any issues with them..In my opinion, the only time Asterina stars become an issue, is in a nutrient rich enviroment where they can reproduce very quickly...If that happens, then manual removal to keep population in check..
I agree but why take the risk with all the $$$ we put into building up our reefs only to let some stars kill off our favorite corals..... I'd rather be safe than sorry any day and just remove them from a reef tank.
Catpicklesdog
Hindsight is a wonderful thing!
I've got hundreds in my tank. I mostly see them at night, certainly the smaller ones tend to come out at night. I also have quite a few corals and there's been no damage to them.
I too have loads of them in my tank and I have a combination of SPS, LPS and softies. I have had no adverse effects to my reef becuase of their existence. Yoji..if I had made a significant investment in SPS then I might consider moving them to the sump as a precaution, but as Reefscape noted earlier...it isn't all Asternia that are a problem, like most reef life you just have to be aware of what you have and the risks through persistent research. In the end we all make our on decisions based on info gathering.
Germanman
My fish are my babies
i too have many in all of my tanks, as well as the aquariums at my work, and none of them have ever caused a problem. ive noticed that the "coral eating" ones seem to be more greenish and get larger maybe a 1/4in more or so.