brittle starfish?

[Gabi480]

really reef safe? I have heard way to many things

 

[fish are life]

i have one in my reef and he only comes out to eat crap on the bottom at night? but that could also be because i have a porcupine puffer that terrorizes him. dont ask me how i am keepin a porcupine puffer in my reef. lol

 

[chrismunn]

ive had a large brittle star in my reef for over 2 years and he's never so much as......well im not even sure what he could do? but he hasnt done a thing! if you think about it, what more can they do but knock down corals from rock formations? the only time i ever even see mine is when i throw some brine into the tank....

in my personal opinion, their perfectly safe

 

[E.Smith]

I have a very large brittle star in my 100gal reef, and have never had a problem. I hand feed the brittle star 2-3 times a week. I have read/heard that if not properly feed that they can catch small fish, and other invertebrates to eat. Ultimately I do not know how reliable this info is being I have never had such problems with mine.

 

[The steven liu]

Personally experience Brittle stars has been 100% reef safe for me. though I need to say reef safe can mean many things, to me, if they don't touch corals, ornamental crustasians, and/or inverts they are reef safe. They might look scary sometimes but they are really shy.

 

[Gabi480]

what did you hand feel?

 

[TWallace]

I got one in a reef cleaner package yesterday. After acclimation, I dropped it onto the sand in front and it immediately ran for cover under some rocks. Haven't seen it since. How do you feed them if you never see them?

 

[Gabi480]

opps I mean what do they eat, and how did you get to hand feed?

 

[SVTour]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6861967#post6861967 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TWallace
I got one in a reef cleaner package yesterday. After acclimation, I dropped it onto the sand in front and it immediately ran for cover under some rocks. Haven't seen it since. How do you feed them if you never see them?

Usually tossing in pellets that sink to the bottom will bring them out.

 

[SVTour]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6862486#post6862486 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gabi480
opps I mean what do they eat, and how did you get to hand feed?

If you want to hand feed, use pellets like I stated above, or place brine or mysis in a baby medicine feeder or turkey baster and slowly spray at there feet. They will be able to take over from there.

Mine has the abiliy to stick its arm in the hole of the 2 litre bottle that I place over my sun coral for spot feeding. Quite impressive actually.

 

[OnTheReef]

I feed "Crab Cuisine" pellets from Hikari. Both the hermit crabs and the brittle stars thrive on it.

 

[Gabi480]

thanks

 

[E.Smith]

My brittle star's central disk is about 2" in diameter. So hand feeding him is not a problem. I feed Oncean Nutrition frozen food, usually formula 1 or VHP cubes. Before feeding the cubes I let them thaw out completely untill they are very soft. This makes it easier for the brittle star to ingest the entire cube w/o making to big a mess.