Freaky Wierd- Brittle star ATTACK!

[greenbean36191]

O. incrassata certainly isn't opportunistic or lazy. It is an ambush predator. It is well known to attack healthy fish and inverts, even when it's fed regularly.

I think blaming them for the damage done to the other stars may be a little off base though.

 

[Nabber86]

Well based on what I have observed over 2 years is that my O. incrassate is a scavenger rather than a predator. It eats mostly flake food, shrimp pieces, or whatever falls to the bottom of the tank. Except for the purple linkia, it has never attached anything else. I am not saying that it cannot become a predator under the right conditions, but normal mode of operation is definitely a scavenger.

And I would use the term “opportunistic” to describe EVERY organism in my system.

 

[Mr31415]

It is just interesting that as a scavenger it has been documented to eat all those fish I mentioned - I mean it is hard to scavenge a live fish. And I saw it for no reason at all jump on top of my Feather Star and started consuming it.

 

[Nabber86]

Reports of missing fish, while highly exciting, are rare compared to the vast amounts of scavenged food that O. incrassata consumes in a reef tank.

Again I am not saying that they are incapable of predation, it is just that 99.9 percent of the diet of my green brittle star is scavenged food.

 

[dvmsn]

Why risk a brittle star when there are lots of completely benign scavengers available?

 

[donald altman]

I have had one that learned to go to the rooftop of a cave wait for a sleepy fish to settle in the cave drop down over it and eat the fish.

Green brittle stars are the devil

 

[TrojanScott]

I've been told that they won't eat fish unless they are sick. (the fish that is.) I say it's BS. I personally saw my brittle star eating my mandarin goby. (after I'd already lost one quickly.) He was the culprit, no doubt. Just put food in, watch how they come after it! They are VORACIOUS eaters. Once I donated him back to the LFS, I kept my next mandarin for 3 years. Coincidence?

 

[Nabber86]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8408308#post8408308 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dvmsn
Why risk a brittle star when there are lots of completely benign scavengers available?

That's easy, my wife bought it. Along with the linkia, large feather dusters, and the gorgonian that she bought and subsequently died.

I am not saying that it is the right thing to have a green brittle star, but we have one and are stuck with it. So far so good.

 

[Mr31415]

Use a small piece of rope and tie one leg down to a piece of LR far from your fish. Much like a dog on a leash

 

[rockindacheeks]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8404901#post8404901 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by snslarison
I saw a brittle star eating snails in a friends tank. Their pretty brutal once they get a taste for them.

ya that was my tank and that star got the boot mid snack. I have one in my other tank and so far (knock on wood) hes been a model citizen

 

[hahnmeister]

I had a green brittle once. It ate my crabs, ate a 6-line wrasse, and a tang on me.

 

[newb]

yep it ate well in my tank till i could catch him with a pice of shrimp from the store on a stick. put him in my qt tank fed him the next day a large freeze dried krill. have u ever put a pen in your mouth sideways? looked like that. cool process to watch. yeah he got donated to the lfs that next weekend.