brittle star question

[budhorse775]

I have a large brittle star in my tank. His disk is about the size of a Oreo cookie and with his legs extended it's about 8-10 inches. I just cought him up and was thinking of throwing him in my fuge. There is a couple of pieces of LR in there with some LS. What do you think?

 

[Monkeyfish]

If it's green or yellow good idea otherwise, if it's not bothering anything, I'd leave him alone. They're good "janitors."

 

[smoney]

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but I have one that is pretty huge, he is black with like red little feet and it is pretty bit chen. I heard they eat small fish is that true?

 

[Genin]

from my understanding the hunter green or yellow variety are the ones that may prey on small fish. I bought a green one without being knowlegdable enough and saw it go after my green clown goby at the time. he went back to the lfs real quick!

i also heard that a good way to estimate if it is a predator is how it moves. ie, if it is a predator then when it is scared or has to move fast it almost runs like a dog, while the non-predatory ones will still move normal.

 

[budhorse775]

Mine is a black one. I put him in my fuge yesterday and looked for him today and he weaseled his way into the return section over a 6in baffle

 

[ophiuroid]

They should definitely have an area in their to hide, otherwise it is not a major issue to keep them there.

The green is a known predator in the wild. Others are not but it is because we don't study them enough, IMO. I have heard every species in the hobby implicated in some way. But keep in mind that many are unfairly accused of things they did not do, because it is easier for us to think everything is healthy and things are killed as opposed to dying.

Also keep in mind that there are over 2000 species of brittlestars, so it is impossible to know exactly what you have.

I expect it is Ophiocoma wendtii, but that is a guess. This species, IME, is pretty passive. But that is my experience. I would assume it is innocent over guilty.