Should I keep these?

G

Gravis

New member
Hi guys!
I bought some live rock for my tank. With them came of course some hitchhiker's!

Are these one's safe to keep?

3b00bf531e0f5a12b0957af6e2ea70d6.jpg
077edef74fb28c1452792a9c21624848.jpg
 
Those guys aren't too bad, but if you plan on have coral, soft or hard, I'd get rid of them for sure. They are a pain in the butt -_-
 
I have never purposely removed any, nor have I ever had a problem that I could associate with having them in my systems. I have a variety of hard corals and soft corals and have never seen an asterina bother anything.

jm.02
 
billdogg said:
I have never purposely removed any, nor have I ever had a problem that I could associate with having them in my systems. I have a variety of hard corals and soft corals and have never seen an asterina bother anything.

jm.02
Click to expand...


Me too, soft coral, lps, sps. No issues. They clean film off glass at night
 
Mine have an issue with zoanthids, a friend of mine's is attacking his SPS.
I didn't believe it myself but I've seen them eating the flesh
 
Different species eat different things. The white ones I had were no problem. But then I got some that were more brown radiating down the arms. They ruined my zoas. But a harlequin shrimp took care them. You should be able to fins some threads on the differences.
 
Should I keep these?

Without knowing what they eat it is a risk.
I love mine though, they came to me on the base of a coral from a very old mixed reef that was full of huge healthy colonies so I had no worries about them snacking on coral.
 
Oh. This is a hard one. I saw some in my old tank today. Haven't had any problems there. Hard to know what to do.
 
Just because your not seeing some of your sps corals stripped down to the bone or a bunch of zoanthids come up missing doesn't necessarily mean that these things are not doing some damage. This can be real easy to miss IMO, especially if you have a large tank. GL

This is not my picture, but you get the idea. :thumbdown

 
U can get a harlequin shrimp he will eat them all up, the only issue once he eats them up u will have to keep feeding him stars or he will starve
 
Asterina stars are generally thought to be good things to have. I've actually paid for them. There are a few people who say that they've caused trouble, but they seem to be in the minority. Besides, there's always a subset of the population who say they've had a bad experience with anything (e.g., waterchanges, seriously, there are some people who say they are not a good idea), so I tend to ignore complainers until there are enough of them.
 
"A few people?" lol

I think a lot of people who say that they haven't had any problems with these things might be flattering themselves. Just because your not seeing it happen right before your eyes doesn't necessarily mean it's not happening. Just as an example, set up a small nano tank and stock it with a variety of corals. Throw a bunch of these stars in it and see what happens. I'd be willing to bet that a lot of people would change their tune regarding the safety of the creatures, especially when they're right up under the microscope like that. If you wanted to see it you just might. GL.
 
The white / lighter tan asterina stars do not eat live flesh.
They are clean up crew members. They eat alagaes and dead or dying tissue.
Not live coral. The ones that eat live coral are larger and generally have two legs that are significantly longer then the rest with a much darker color tone.
The leg thing is not Always correct but their larger size and darker coloration generally are.
 
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