Serpent Stars in Reef Tanks?

[falconut]

I have been trying to decide if I should get 1 for my reef tank. The kind I'm referring to look like this:

I'm just worried that it might eat my fish. I am slowly adding to my cleaning crew and was wondering if it would be benificial.

 

[APBorisov]

I had one in my reef for about a year with no fish problems. I think the key is feeding them on a good schedule so they don't get too hungry. I fed mine about once a week. I had a mix of yellow tangs, perculia clowns, and a few other assortments and he never seemed to bother any of them.

Hopefully this helps.

 

[mr pink floyd]

i have been told face to face of one takign down a weak PBT, it was after acclimation, stressed, it pulled the fish under a rock, but i do haev one, i did notice it slowly started pullign back a rock with somew palys on it that was on the sand

it also stole a zoo rock from me, but i got them back

good scavenger

 

[nate4546]

IMO they are fine I keep 2 in my tank.They can catch fish if they are sick/almost dead but I think any healthy fish should be able to get away if it tryed

 

[vessxpress1]

I have 3 in my 38 gal. I won an auction for 2 of them on ebay and the guy through another one in for free, so I have 3. Don't see them much until you feed the tank and then one might briefly come out. Otherwise, you'll just see maybe an arm of one during the day. Pretty tame though. I can hand feed them if I want to, but I now mainly let them forage for their own scraps. May as well let them clean up the tank.

Never had one catch a fish. By the way they move, I would imagine they have to scavange in the wild much more than hunt. I can't imagine one being able to pull in even a small fish. They move across the sand well, but they just aren't that fast.

 

[falconut]

For those who feed them directly, what do you feed them? I feed my tank frozen mysis, frozen brine, prime reef flakes, hikari S pellets, Formula 2 flakes and Cylop-eeze. Would this be the types of food to feed them or something else? Plus, my fish do a good job of eating the majority of the food prior to it ever touching the bottom.

 

[NoSchwag]

I used to watch mine grab and eat snails from the glass..

 

[hcahan]

We call them no-sea stars. I am always throwing one into my tank, only to have it disapear and then reappear again months later. I think they must do an okay job finding their own food in a large tank. I had one in my nano and it would come out when I fed the fish. I fI gave it a piece of brine shrimp, it would grab it and swallow it whole. Pretty cool to watch but like I said, most of them are "no-sea".LOL

 

[Agu]

I use a wooden kabob skewer to feed my stars chunks of shrimp.

 

[nate4546]

I used to feed mine silversides But I haven't directly fed them for awhile they will be fine with the leftovers from the fish

 

[bkelley02]

And hermit crabs if they're not fed.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8258166#post8258166 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NoSchwag
I used to watch mine grab and eat snails from the glass..

 

[APBorisov]

I use a wooden kabob skewer to feed my stars chunks of shrimp.

I do the exact same thing and they love it. Wherever he is in my tank, he comes running out when he smells the shrimp. You definitely do have to target feed them though.

 

[vessxpress1]

I haven't target fed mine for a long time and they're doing fine. I probably over feed my tank too.

I have some long 'grabbers' that I use to put food down in the tank and move stuff around. All I have to do is put that in the water and there's enough scent left on it that they'll sense it and come out.

If I want to target feed them or show a guest, I'll just grab some thawed out brine, mysis, plankton, squid, whatever.. and put it down by one. They'll come out quick and as soon as the arm touches the food, it kind of sticks to it and it curls the arm up around it and folds it under the body to put the food in it's mouth. Sometimes they'll get tangled up fighting for the food. Any type of meaty food will do.

They look cool when they come out under the moonlights. They need hiding places to stay out of the light during the day. They only come out briefly for food.