Tri-Color Valida killed 2 asterina starfish?

[Scott-CapeCoral]

I looked into the tank a few minutes ago and noticed 2 blobs of nasty slime on my Tri-Color Valida colony. I grabbed the turkey baster and sucked them up and put them in a shallow dish to see what it was. Turns out to be 2 asterina starfish that climbed onto the colony, and the colony retaliated by engulfing them with the nasty mucus ball about the size of a marble. Anyone seen that before? That was a first for me.

 

[BuckeyeTodd]

no...but it would be very helpful if mine did...my mystery wrasse eats all shrimp, so I haven't figured out how to conquer the asternias yet...hopefully my valida will start chipping in

 

[fatkien]

no...but it would be very helpful if mine did...my mystery wrasse eats all shrimp, so I haven't figured out how to conquer the asternias yet...hopefully my valida will start chipping in

trap the wrass out for while before the asteria star population increased.

 

[reefWW96]

@ buckeye todd- i think harlequin shrimp are a beautiful way to eradicate asterinas

 

[klepto]

@ buckeye todd- i think harlequin shrimp are a beautiful way to eradicate asterinas

Indeed they are beautiful. But they are not exactly a low maintenance or easy invertebrate to keep in captivity. (especially once you run out of their food supply) Plus he said that his wrasse is eating shrimp.

Lets not lose track of the threads direction. There are plenty of threads out there about asterina removal.


Very cool about your starfish hungry valida Scott. :thumbsup:
How big is your colony? I have seen this on some larger colonies- usually when snails fall onto the top of the coral. I've never seen it happen with Asterina though.