Seapant Star

[FlyTekk]

I ordered a Serpant star from reef cleaners. There they say it wont grom more than 4" and will hang out and clean the live rock.

On live aqauria it says these guys can grow to over a foot.

Also he hangs under my rocks. Never gets on them. Unless he does at night and returns to the same nook every morning.

Another concern of mine is that i have a barebottom. I thought he would be in and out of the rocks. But since he is down below im woried if he's supposed to live in a sand bed. A creature of that size were to die in my tank and id be screwed. He's about 4" now. But a FOOT???? No way.

I do notice that where he's hanging every day.... under the rocks.... he is exactly on 1 of 2 places where detritus collects on my barebottom tank. I usually syphon those 2 spots with air line every 2-4 days or so. But now im wondering if he's eating the crap thats collecting there. He keeps one arm on the detritus while the rest of his body is in under the rock but on the glass bottom.

Smart starfish? Or Inevitable death and nuked tank.

The tank is currently a 30g and moving to a 75+ soon.

 

[rbtwo4]

smart starfish bro. if he does grow just trade him to ur lfs or another member on MR

 

[Imbarrie]

+1 they are easy to lure out with a small piece of seafood.

You must make sure these guys eat.

 

[albano]

I have a couple of Serpent stars w/ legs about 10-12" each...rarely come out from under rocks

 

[motortrendz]

i hav a few also, barely ever see them, even when theyre big theyre intertwined in the rocks, and are fine, yours just found a sweet food suply.. its smart not leaving it..

 

[Imbarrie]

I had three, and they would come out of the rockwork anytime you put meaty in the tank.

They were pretty cool but I didnt know if I could trust them.

 

[FlyTekk]

Wouldnt trust them?

 

[Imbarrie]

Its the spikey green ones that have the worst reputation but I have read online a lot of reefers dont trust any of the larger stars. Unless they feed them often.

I had a ribbon eel who lost a few inches of tail in a couple days and died. I could not rule out the seastar, it was either those or a flatworm.
I removed both and my new ribbon eel is fine.

 

[FlyTekk]

Well for starters are you guys telling me mine wil grow to over a foot? Cause reefcleaners said 4"max. Which is where he is now. Also im worried about no sand in my tank. Some animals i thought needed to injest some sand etc and continuiously sift through sand or they would die.

 

[MIKE NY]

Is it a serpant or a sand sifting star? A sand star needs a sandbed to feed from and is a about 4-5". If it's a Serpant they don't and are fine with BB. What color is it if it's a Serpant?...I had a red which was close to 15" across and had it for over ten years along with a gray striped which I still have and is over 12 years old now and about 12" across. The greens are brittle stars which are far more aggressive at catching sleeping fish. They are excellant scavengers, but you may want to target feed it once a week with any meaty foods. If you see the arms out in the current or it moving around alot during daylight hours it's a sign that they are hungry. There is a member over on RC who is an expert with these animals and when I first got mine we PMed for a few years so I can learn more about them.

 

[FlyTekk]

http://reefcleaners.org/index.php?p...category_id=4&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=34

Its actually shipped 4"and max 6". Still not 12"+ please.

 

[rbtwo4]

u just need to feed it if u dont he will grab a fish if they arent careful i think.

 

[FlyTekk]

Wow i just couldnt imagine a starfish without a sting or chemical attack being able to grab hold of a fish and chompin it down.

 

[rbtwo4]

lol believe it bro

 

[MIKE NY]

There are so many different species of serpants there is no telling how large it will get. Although I never had mine touch a sleeping fish, I do suspect it of taking an occational hermit or snail even though I never actually saw it. I would feed it once a week using a long skewer with any meaty food like silversides etc..just to be safe.

 

[bizzarro]

I have one and it hasn't eaten any fish. My damsels and goby sometimes sleeps next to it depending on where it goes in the tank. The one in this link is much bigger than mine and mine always stay hiding during the day.

http://echinoblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/giant-green-brittle-stars-of-death-when.html

Since I've been dealing with algae I feed the tank very little now and don't see trying to eat fish or other things. I already had it for more than a year now w/ any fish death.