Tiger Serpent Star -- Bad Citizen?

[ostrow]

I got one of these:
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+528+735&pcatid=735&N=0
from an area hobbyist exiting the hobby. Very well known on RC, standup guy. He reports never having had a problem and I have zero reason to doubt him.

I added the star to my display on the 4th. I noticed the last couple days that it has been aggressive in the extreme. I witnessed it take out a medium mexican turbo snail, and last night a tongan nassarius snail. They were clearly not dead animals it was eating. The nassarius popped up out of the sand, unfortunately for it the emergence was near one of the star's legs. The star caught the shell with the tip of one leg, which seemed to attach to the shell, and it then pulled the snail in, coiling the leg around the shell. The snail was trying to flip itself free, but failed. Lunch.

There are many large-ish empty shells near the rockwork where the starfish seems to hang out.

I worry for my fish ... radiant wrasse, green wrasse (both very large, over 5 inches), 2 solarensis wrasses, and a new blue spot jawfish. The latter has not been seen since added, a couple days before I noticed this star's behavior.

Is this at all normal for the star? Are my fish safe? Anything I can do (no idea how to catch it to remove from the display if I had to....)

Help!

 

[philter4]

I have kept this species, not the same color form, but the same sp and the only thing I could think of is it isn't getting enough food so it is activly hunting whatever it can catch. It has the potential to catch and eat a fish so be careful, but I feed mine lots of shrimp and scallops every day. I also give them spectrum pellets every third day or so. I have several big serpent stars, mostly reds and guady, but a few tiger striped. When they are really hungry they feed like an octopus, grabbing the shrimp in their arms and dragging it to the body and mouth. I would think that once you start feeding it enough it will stop eating your other tank inhabitants.

 

[ostrow]

Man, I overfeed my tank. And it is new to the tank. Hmmm... Thanks though. What shrimp do you feed it????

 

[philter4]

Frozen human shrimp, and shrimp that I collect in the sargassum weeds. It is amazing how much they eat. One thing you can see is how they feed. I have noticed that when they are not very hungry they put an arm over the food and sort of walk it to the body, kind of like a wave. If they are hungry the grab it and wrap the arm around and drag it to the body like an octopus. If you are feeding and you notice how they feed it may help determine if they are eating enough.

Good luck with it.

 

[ostrow]

Frozen human shrimp???!!!??? What the hey is that?

Or do you mean, frozen shrimp meant for human consumption? I can put that in my reef? I'm not a crustacean eater, so any guidance on what exactly I should look for that would be safe ... and do I need to rinse it or anything?

 

[billyWhite]

Haha, I would love to see a frozen human shrimp