Just noticed some hitchhikers in my tank

[MeTrzan]

Ok well tonight I noticed a 2 things that I have not seen in the time my tank has been setup. First off I have seen about 9 of these little starfish that look like the Asterina Anomal

but only have 5 legs, and less than 1 cm in size. Are these the same thing or are they ok. I've only seen them crawling around on the live rock and not on any corals.

Second thing is I have seen 2 of these Purple & orange crabs

running around in my tank and they have been coming out when I feed my fish and nothing has been missing. Can anyone ID either of these hitchhikers??

 

[Bcollins111900]

Stars are ok. The crab, looking at the claw shape is a bad crab. Dbl check with other people but i am pretty sure.

 

[dc]

Agreed. Asterini starfish seem to be continually splitting so it's pretty common to see them with an odd number of legs.

Most hitchiker crabs are bad, and very hard to id. I'd remove them.

 

[Sk8r]

Any crab with that size claws is likely carnivorous, meaning your corals or your fish.

 

[venwu225]

looks like a acropora crab! keep it they are awesome

 

[reefer5060]

possibly a porcelin , by the colors you meantioned

 

[montanaemb]

this is a bad starfish (You will often notice this small starfish on the glass just above the sand. This predatory starfish can be distinguished because it often has two or four shorter legs. During the last year we have been noticing a new starfish in our reef aquariums and it seemed to be dividing. Several people noticed this type of starfish in their aquariums and they have wondered if they were harmful. Well the small, flat, large body starfish are definitely harmful to SPS corals. )I took this from the www.garf.org web site there is an artical on their web site. check it out.

I put a picture in the photo gallery take a look

 

[dc]

I don't believe that starfish in the picture is the same thing. All starfish that are splitting have shorter or longer legs as they regrow them. Doesn't make them bad.

 

[MeTrzan]

The picture of the starfish is not one from my tank but they look almost exactly like it.

The crabs came in on and pretty much stay in the immediate vicinity of a pink Stylophora and are only about an 1" with the claws outstretched.

Is there any way of getting rid of the stars?? I had someone say that my Pseudochromis flavivertex will eat them is that true or should I get a Harlequin shrimp to rid them from my tank since I dont have any other stars in there.

 

[dc]

Pull them out if you don't like them. Getting a Harlequin will mean you have to keep on the hunt for starfish constantly when the little ones are gone. I have hundreds of these, they have never been a problem.