Asterina stars good or bad? Your Opinion.

[cjilge]

I have noticed them lately, and have heard good and bad things. Are Harley's the only preditor?

 

[mskohl]

apparently there are multiple kinds of these. I view them all as pests since I can't tell them apart. I have witnessed them eat my zoas., and they were expensive ones too.

In Paul's talk, he said that if you can't support a harlequin, and you want them out, then you would have to manually remove them. I do like his idea of stabbing them with the needle like a clean up crew picking up trash.

 

[Lightsluvr]

Harleys

Harleys

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14569441#post14569441 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mskohl
apparently there are multiple kinds of these. I view them all as pests since I can't tell them apart. I have witnessed them eat my zoas., and they were expensive ones too.

In Paul's talk, he said that if you can't support a harlequin, and you want them out, then you would have to manually remove them. I do like his idea of stabbing them with the needle like a clean up crew picking up trash.

I have a pair of Harlequins in my 120G Seahorse tank, because I saw Asterinas munching on our zoas - there were breeding like crazy. They are now under control and I am actually raising asterinas in a 2.5G tank to keep the Harley's in food. As with all our critters, we named them: Harley and Harlot. :eek2:

We really enjoy watching them...

LL

 

[cody6766]

I've been watching them in my tank and I think they've developed a taste for my zoas. I saw one munching on my RPE colony and that was enough. I'm going to start hunting soon.

 

[Lightsluvr]

Asterina "scooper"

Asterina "scooper"

Somewhere I saw an article about a homemade contraption that is used to harvest asterina stars off aquarium glass. It looks like a blade with a small container. The blade loosens the stars as it is dragged across the glass. Then the stars drop into the container. Has anybody seen one of those?

LL

 

[cjilge]

Lucky enough I've only seen them on the LR looks like they are eating coraline algea, but I'm keeping an eye on them. If I start harvesting you are welcome to them LL.

 

[Krbekk]

I just use a dip net. It works great for most of them.

 

[dugg]

I like mine, but i don't keep any zoas so i can't say if they eat them or not. If i catch them eating anything in my tank they will be on the short list for death lol.

 

[xinumaster]

I use a hose. One end of the hose in the tank the other end in the sump with filter bag. Then just manually vacuum them.

 

[Lightsluvr]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14573785#post14573785 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xinumaster
I use a hose. One end of the hose in the tank the other end in the sump with filter bag. Then just manually vacuum them.

I used that technique for cyano when I had outbreaks...

LL

 

[s2nhle]

It eats my birdnest too.