Red Brittle Stars ok with Jawfish?

[Marcellina]

I ordered a nano red brittle online and thought it would be a little bigger than a paperclip (thats what the photo showed) I received 2 and they look bigger than I expected maybe 4 or 5 inches across.

I am nervous about putting it in my tank bc I have a jawfish. I have heard of the green ones eating sleeping fish that go into burrows what about the reds?

I have a 29 gallon tank with a yellow goby, 2 ocellaris, firefish, jawfish and neon blue goby.

 

[KathyC]

Brittle stars don't eat fish, serpent stars and the ones that might eat fish (and they get huge too).

You may have issues trying to keep 2 brittles fed in a tank of your size..can you re-home one of them asap?

Have a link where they came from?

 

[Marcellina]

i got them from sealifeinc.net

I will put one up for sale and keep the smaller one in my tank. I went over my order and it looks like my mistake. I must have forgotten I put one in the shopping cart and added the other. I was expecting maybe like a silver dollar. These are like 4 inches. very red and pretty though.

http://sealifeinc.net/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=37&products_id=199

 

[KathyC]

I figured it was from there - they have some interesting stuff!

Good plan

 

[Marcellina]

They really do and Ken always puts ina few free things as well. I love all their ricordeas

 

[ScorpionSys]

The only brittle stars that are know to eat fish are Green Brittle Start "http://reefsources.itgo.com/features/gallery/images/greenbrittle.jpg"

All other stars are pretty much considered safe as far as my research told me. I have a huge black brittle star with a diamond goby and a algae blenny the blenny has slept within 2" of the star and it is fine ^^

Most I see of my star these days is a tentacle sticking out from the rock lol.

Here is some great reading on them

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/brittlestars.htm

 

[Marcellina]

Thanks Scorpionsys. I acclimated it and its in the tank and I am watching it. Its such an amazing creature pretty fascinating to watch. THe color is amazing such vibrant red!

I did do research before buying it and I have been holding off buying one until now bc I wanted a small one. I just got nervous when I saw that it was bigger than I was expecting.

 

[Keith P]

"the average size we send has a body that is about1/4"" in diameter with arms that are about 2" long"


Yours are bigger than "average".

 

[DHaut]

I have one of those as well. Understand that they are "nano" because they are young. They will grow out to full size eventually. I don't think they are a different sp. of brittle.

 

[Marcellina]

I assumed nano really meant a 'baby' one. I wanted one for the 29G bc I have so many nooks and crannies in my LR with detritus that is hard for me to get to. Plus that they are really cool looking

I *hopefully* will be upgrading to a bigger tank maybe by summertime depending on my hubby - so by the time it got to the above aveage size I thought it would be in a bigger tank.