Starfish Help!!

[kcbrad]

Hi,

Well, I'm totally ecstatic, but also very worried because I have NO idea what to do! I bought some new live rock yesterday and noticed tonight that I have a hitch hiker star fish. It is very small and white. How do I care for it? Will my scarlet hermit crabs eat it? Is it safe to have in my tank? I have 5 astrea snails, 4 scarlet hermits, one clown fish and one springer's damsel.

Any information about how to care for my new pet star fish and any other information would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!!

 

[bingme]

toothpick...

Hi,

Well, I'm totally ecstatic, but also very worried because I have NO idea what to do! I bought some new live rock yesterday and noticed tonight that I have a hitch hiker star fish. It is very small and white. How do I care for it? Will my scarlet hermit crabs eat it? Is it safe to have in my tank? I have 5 astrea snails, 4 scarlet hermits, one clown fish and one springer's damsel.

Any information about how to care for my new pet star fish and any other information would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!!

Hate to say it because you sound so enthusiastic but that looks like the pest variety to me. I would stick it with a toothpick and get it out of there before it reproduces. In my experience, those little white guys end up eating corals. Now since it seems you have not gotten the full reefing bug yet, it might be ok to keep it around and enjoy it. If/when you are planning on growing corals, buy a nice and productive starfish to enjoy thoroughly. Good luck. Hope that wasn't too harsh.

 

[returnofsid]

That's an Asterina starfish. very rarely a problem. while there's a few reports of people having issues with them, the vast majority, including myself, have tons of them and never had any problems at all.

 

[ajnweb]

I'll second returnofsid.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

They eat algae including coraline.
Many hate them as ugly pests, I love them as food for my Harlequin shrimp.
They do not eat coral and reproduce by division, and do so rapidly in a high nutrient environment

 

[fatboyt123]

My sister has tons of those in her 55 never had a problem with them.

For you that have had them for awhile and seen them have you ever seen a full one with all its legs?Everyone i have seen for the past 1 1/2 years i have never seen a full starfish.

 

[cross]

My sister has tons of those in her 55 never had a problem with them.

For you that have had them for awhile and seen them have you ever seen a full one with all its legs?Everyone i have seen for the past 1 1/2 years i have never seen a full starfish.

i have one, the only one i have seen in my tank. it has like 6 or 8 legs. but its not as white as that one, its more of a tan color.

 

[kcbrad]

Thanks for all the replies guys! I am bummed about it eating my coraline algae, but other than that I'm excited! Hopefully he figures reproducing to be a waste of time and will be my one and only! Haha.

 

[Chichas01]

I doubt they will eat your coraline. I had them in my 40 gallon and my back wall was covered in coraline. If that was true, I should have had thousands.