Are brittles active?

[mr. bojangsjang]

I am on the search for a suitable sea star for my seagrass tank. I was reading that brittles would be a good option. I do not want serpents although very pretty, they are not active and hide under LR. How active are you brittle stars? Are they out and about clinging to the glass and stuff or do they hide?

 

[pooh1989]

My green brittle star is always hiding in the rocks during the day. He only comes out at night and I've never seen him on the glass. He doesn't seem to have the sticky arms to do that. He's still cool though. hehe

 

[ophiuroid]

Brittlestars are nocturnal, and healthy one's will hide during the day for the most part...only extending an arm or two out but rarely if ever exposing the whole animal (perhaps except at feeding time). They are more active at night.

They do not have the "suction cups" on their tube feets like other seastars that allow them to climb the glass. Sometimes they can wedge themselves along thing that are on the glass ( a magnet cleaner or so), but can not just hang there alone.

 

[Rsk8r4lif]

I had a brittle star that would be out all the time, i mean sometimes he would hide, but even during the day he would be out and running around. He got too big though and started eating all of our fish at night, so he got brought to the LFS.