Little white starfish

[mlott132]

Noticed a few little white starfish munching on my zoa's:mad2:. Other than manually removing them, is there any predator for them?

 

[Dmorty217]

Harlequin shrimp will eat them, but they will also eat any other starfish you have in your tank

 

[m0nkie]

+ for harlequin shrimp.. but you will need to start buying chocolate chip starfish for them to eat later..

there has been a few proven cases of Linkia starfish eating asterina stars... but not sure if your tank can support a Linkia long term.

Are you positive it's the asterina stars?? I have seen some around the base of my zoa frags, but never seen them munch on one

 

[mlott132]

Will they go after my brittle star as well?

 

[mlott132]

+ for harlequin shrimp.. but you will need to start buying chocolate chip starfish for them to eat later..

there has been a few proven cases of Linkia starfish eating asterina stars... but not sure if your tank can support a Linkia long term.

Are you positive it's the asterina stars?? I have seen some around the base of my zoa frags, but never seen them munch on one

I have seen them on a polyp and within an hour the polyp is gone.

 

[jkubec]

I have tons of them and never seen them mess with anything.

 

[m0nkie]

I have seen them on a polyp and within an hour the polyp is gone.

there are many many types.. people say the browner ones are harmful. So far mine hasn't done any damage. I'm kinda hoping it can multiply faster so I can try a Linkia starfish..

 

[m0nkie]

Will they go after my brittle star as well?

I don't have a harlequin shrimp so I can't say from experience. But I love shrimps and did tons of research. most of times harlequin will leave brittle stars alone. They eat the tube feet of starfish. Brittle star lack tube feet.

Bongo shrimp on the other hand will eat exclusively brittle star

 

[mlott132]

Will the harlequin eat any prepared foods? Just wondering the possibilities after it eats all the stars.

 

[m0nkie]

Will the harlequin eat any prepared foods? Just wondering the possibilities after it eats all the stars.

afterwards, you buy a few chocolate chip starfish, toss it in.. and wait for it to die

they only eat star fish..

 

[Crooked Reef]

I have seen some people keep starfish in their sump and tear a few legs off that will grow back to feed the shrimp. You could research that. I don't have any idea how many starfish it would take to keep one fed in this manner though.

 

[Timfish]

I'm always happy to see Asterina spp. starfish in my tanks. Great scavangers and algae eaters, I'd leave them.

 

[mlott132]

I'm always happy to see Asterina spp. starfish in my tanks. Great scavangers and algae eaters, I'd leave them.

But their eating all my zoas

 

[aujosh84]

There have been many threads here discussing asterina stars. The consensus is 99% of the time they are harmless algae eaters, but there are very few cases of asterinas that will eat zoas.

 

[Dmorty217]

But their eating all my zoas

They do seem to have a taste for zoas, the ones in my tank would do the same thing but the zoas always grew back. There is another starfish that I can't think of the name of that will eat them, but I have yet to see one for sale online anywhere

 

[Mark9]

there are many many types.. people say the browner ones are harmful. So far mine hasn't done any damage. I'm kinda hoping it can multiply faster so I can try a Linkia starfish..

Found a brownish one on my clam, it was very suspicious as it never left the clam.
I removed it just to be safe.
Just seemed odd it never left the clam.