Carnivorous serpent star

[vlangel]

OK, so I was doing a water change this morning and I spotted my large red serpent star high tailing it across the front of my tank dragging something behind him. Here it was one of my feather dusters. He was making for his lair where I wouldn't be able to get to him easily so I had to make a quick decision... do I try and rescue the feather duster and maybe risk injuring both creatures or do I let nature take its course. I rescued the feather duster, (hopefully, still don't know if it was injured!). I've had this serpent star probably 4 years and he never went after anything, not even the peppermint shrimp. I know big brittle stars will eat corals but I always thought the serpent stars were more docile. I guess the saying of 'if they can fit it in their mouth, they probably will' applies here. He has gotten rather large but his red coloring is awesome. I just can't part with him. I'll try throwing a few more shrimp pellets in the tank.

 

[Chichas01]

Serpent stars don't eat corals. I think you are safe in that regard. As for the feather duster, was it dead? If it was dead/dying and rotting then the starfish was probably attracted to that.

 

[vlangel]

The feather duster looked fine early this morning, with his "so called fishing net" out. Do they do that if the worm has died?

 

[vlangel]

Well I'm happy to report that both the serpent star and my feather duster seem fine today. Perhaps my serpent star has turned rogue! I plan to drop more pellets in the tank. I have 3 serpent stars in a 46 gallon system so perhaps they are a bit hungry since I'm careful about feeding this smaller tank. I used to have a 90 gallon so I could feed more liberally then.