How big can a Green Brittle Star get

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I had this Green Brittle star given to me by a friend around a year ago. He has become very big, I would say 9 inch tentacle. He is a model citizen as I can tell. I know lots of people say they are bad and kill fish. He seems to slow to me at least for the kind of fish I have. I can't see him getting much bigger then he is.

 

[invertaman]

I had one i bought out of ingorance and it ate everything it could fit into its mouth. I saw one at the LFS and it was 14"

 

[Chibils]

If you plan to keep it, keep it very well fed. They're piscivores and active nocturnal hunters.

 

[jtscuba02]

I had one and it was really hard to tell how big he was. When i moved my tank this time i measured him and he was 12" across. jt

 

[greenbean36191]

They can get almost 2 feet across from tentacle tip to tentacle tip.

They don't need to be fast to kill fish. At night they arch up on their legs and form a net in a cave or near gaps in the rock. They just sit there and wait for sleepy fish to pass under them looking for a place to hide and then just drop down onto them.

 

[tbar]

I do plan to keep him I would say he is about 20" across now. I gave him some frozen shrimp a few times when I first got him. but then stopped feeding him. He gets some of the fish food and not to long ago I saw him catch a bristle worm, I have a lot of bristle worms and think that may be how he got to be so big. I have to Clowns and a damsel that stay over at the end of the tank he is at. Hopefully they are light sleepers or have some other natural defense to stay away from his grasp.

 

[serolis7]

Green brittle star vs Mantis Shrimp. Bet on the brittle star.

 

[bllfish]

I have an orange one that is 10 years old and about 14" point to point. Never bothered anything.

 

[SMOOTHIE]

Is that a serpant and not a brittle?
My brittle (same as pictured top of page) is almost 2ft across and has to be well fed. If any fish gets a cut of any size he constantly hunts it. Molting shrimp---forget about it. In the next month when I am finished with my upgrade he will be going in a doctor's large fish only tank and I won't have to drop in carnivore pellets before bed anymore.

 

[bllfish]

star

star

Wow, you are probably right. I rescued it from a bad situation about 10 years ago and never looked into it. I will have watch it. I have not had a problem so far but want to avoid any. May have to find a new home for it.

Thanks SMOOTHIE

 

[SMOOTHIE]

No no. Yours is a serpant and should be fine. I was refering to the top first thread pic of the green briitle as being a monster. Worst I have seen of yours is the battling corals for food. Feeding brians, sun corals and other carnivoris corals.
Stuart huh? A friend of mine used to own an Irish pub there.

 

[Koshmar]

Does anyone know the proper tank size for a large (over 1ft arm span) green brittle? I can never find a response to this question.

 

[dragonette]

its called 'green death' for a reason... lol

Ill stick with my serpent stars!

I cant believe some of you guys have brittles that big! holy crap

hey bllfish Im in st. lucie

 

[tbar]

He is being fed half a frozen shrimp twice a week now as I think he might of been responsible for my dwindling CUC. Interestingly enough my wife has taken on this task.