Gaint Olive Green Serpant Brittle Star

[Jims]

Hi All recently i bought an olive green brittle star which is huge he is approx 3" disc size and his arms are 12" see picture. sorry about the picture but he likes to hang around the overflow. I have a few questions firstly will he get bigger ? most i have ever found them to grow to is around 7" arm length from web sites. Also how often do they require feeding. I am currently feeding him half a gamma fish ever 2 days whole. Which he devours in around 15 secounds which i was surprised about as i alway thought these creatures to be slow not lightening quick.

Anyway enjoy the picutre i get a better one next time he comes out for feeding.


Sorry could not resist just posting this one to

 

[billsreef]

That is a pretty good sized one at 3" disc diameter. They can move very fast as you've discovered, and they can catch and eat fish such as your clownfish.

 

[aztbs]

These guys are nicknamed "Green Death" for a reason. Is it in the same tank with those little clowns?

 

[Riona]

Holy crud! 5 black and white clowns? Wow, your tank must be gigantic! Wow. . . Please a fts?

And ditto what aztbs said. I've read on other forums about people who feed them until they will not eat anmore and then they still go out and hunt and eat their fish.

 

[Jims]

So far he seems to leave the other inhabitants alone probably because of the size of my setup. But I will probably pass him on as I do not want to wake up to any of my fish missing. Are they really that bad? From what i have read they only go after fish they can fit in thier disc my clowns are just about big enough to be off the menu but i dont want risk it. I might pass him on to local public aquiruim. To answer your question the tank is a custom corner tank 150G with 40G Fug/Sump. Dont keep any corals really except the ones that came with the live rock. Oh something i should say is the pictures make everything look small due to the bow fronted glass. The bubble tip is around about 12" across I rescued him from a shop about 2 mounths back. The clowns love it and took up residence about 5 days after he arrived made him mucher happier and his colour has come back fairly well. I put some more pictures up latter i try to get a picture of the boxing crab and the sap sucking sea slug. They came as hitchhikers so pritty pleased.

 

[vtrider]

kiss your fish goodbye,that thing will catch and eat them. I had one eat a lionfish before

 

[MoonInTn]

From what I understand, they will get a little bigger but I don't remember just how big. I had one also and kept missing fish. Finally caught the guy in action and realized why my fish were missing. He'll arch himself up off the floor and when a fish swims under him he'll drop down and make a quick meal. Took mine back to the lfs, but if you have it in an aggressive tank it might be ok.

 

[billsreef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9498418#post9498418 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jims
Are they really that bad? From what i have read they only go after fish they can fit in thier disc my clowns are just about big enough to be off the menu but i dont want risk it.

Yup, they really are that bad. The oral disc can stretch a bit, so "just about big enough" is still on the menu. They are, however, good scavengers for someone with large fish such as groupers, large angels, moray's etc.

 

[vtrider]

I have a big black one like that too and he ate my royal gramma,I cant get him out of the rocks

 

[erendon]

That serpent star is going to eat your clowns and any other little fish it can catch.

 

[tangyreefer05]

I've read some horror stories online about these, I'd take it out now to prevent loss.

 

[wrasseguy2]

i had one about a year ago..it ate 4 of my prized fairy wrasses and 2 fire fish...it will eat those clowns no doubt..i have a red serpent that does not bother anything i got..if you want a star i would try that or a brittle star i would ditch that green monster

 

[Caleb Kruse]

I had one and heard it ate fish so I sold it to my LFS. Getting it out is so hard, I tried to feed it in a corner and put it in a net, but it was so big it would just stick a tentacle out and grab the food while keeping its body under the rock. So I took him out by moving half of the rock out and then lured him over with some food and caught him with a net. I know you didn't ask about how to get him out yet but figured you would sooner or later.

 

[dc]

 

[Jocool]

I think I have a baby black and white one , a hitchhiker I believe, hes so tiny the disc is half the size of a pencil eraser with arem 2-3 centimeters long, I have 10 gallon with a goby and a clown, about 11 snails a skunk and a porcilan crab. I suppose if he grwos and flourishes Im in trouble.

 

[billsreef]

Jocool,

There's many species of serpent/brittle star. Some stay small and are no trouble at all. With any luck the one you have will be a good one

Debi,

That's a great picture