huge black brittle star, worries?

[TheGreenReefer]

I recently purchased a black brittle star from my LFS. It was advertised as a 'Bali' black brittle star. I made the mistake of only doing limited research before the purchase (all of which seems to say it will be fine). After doing a bit more reading, I'm worried. Will the star eat any of my fish? I had thought that only the green ones were dangerous, but now I've read some differing opinions/accounts on this. This star is huge, 4 tentacles are about 7 or 8 inches long and the other is regenerating and still is around 5 inches. I've been target feeding him to try and keep him fat and happy, but I know that if he's a predator it's just a matter of time before I lose a clown or something else.

 

[nts9]

i think theres one in my sump with at least a 18" legspan that has been in there with a 6 line for at leat 18 mos.

they both have to forage for the most part
i think theres a couple pepps in there as well

the starfish doesnt seem to bother them or at least eat them
it does spaz out when i occasinally put flakes back there for the 6 line, tho

 

[ophiuroid]

Well, it is impossible to know the species from this description. Perhaps Ophiocoma erinaceus but don't trust most of the pics you will see online. But the green is the most likely risk. There is no way to know for sure if it is totally safe, but I would not assume it will be a problem. However, we simply do not know the behavior of most brittlestars in the wild. Realistically, though, the number of people who have brittlestars versus the number who have issues is low...and of these, many falsely accuse the brittlestar of doing something it did not. Most brittlestars, IMO, are of no greater risk than other common animals like hermits, crabs, coral banded shrimp, etc.

There is always a risk, but IMO they are very interesting animals. A lot of things are a risk in this hobby. If you you have a small fish that you prize over anything else then I would not keep ANY species of brittle (or hermit, crab, etc).

And I agree...DO SPOT FEED these animals. While it will not guarantee that they won't eat something, it is totally unrealistic to expect them to simply scavenge. If they react, for example, to flake food, it is realistic to think they are hungry...they can "smell" this food.

 

[TheGreenReefer]

sounds good to me

sounds good to me

They are indeed facinating and useful animals. I'll continue spot feeding him, since I started doing this he doesn't have quite such a 'starved' reaction when I feed the fish. As big as he is (might even be a bit bigger than I said before) I'm sure he needs a good bit of food just to survive, let alone thrive.

Really what I worried about are the cleaner neon gobies that I'm considering adding to my system. They are so small, and it's easy to imagine them getting gobbled up by this monster.

 

[ophiuroid]

I can't deny there is a possible risk there. There is a risk with many of our inverts. It may not be likely, and it is entirely possible that the brittle may be blamed for anything that happens even if innocent. But yes, there is some risk.