Any drawbacks to brittle stars?

[VanIsleReefTherapy]

So, I recently got my first coral, a pipe organ GSP on a mature rock from someone's ancient tank, coraline and all (Yay!) and my first hitchhikers (yay?). So far, after a dip in RODI, I have seen a 1cm bristleworm and a mostly cream-coloured banded brittle star the size of the palm of my hand when spread out. (How can something that big live in such a tiny hole?! Wow!). I think there's at least one more in there because it waved at me once the rock was in my observation tank.

Bristleworms don't inherently bug me. I let centipedes crawl on my hands at the bug zoo, and I was excited about the star because I love stars and have learned through research that most are best left in the ocean.

To my surprise, a lifelong reefer at my very helpful and supportive lfs almost begged me not to leave the star in my tank because it could overpopulate a new tank with no competition cycled dry rock). Okay, micro brittles do that, but is there any reason I don't want 100 micro brittles waving at me from my rocks or turning my night time tank into an alien horror flick?

It's not red or green, so will this thing grow up and leave my (future) crustaceans alone? I've got it in the bag of water from the lfs overnight. The GSP is in observation, along with a new hermit of unknown species.

Help? TIA!

 

[VanIsleReefTherapy]

So, I recently got my first coral, a pipe organ GSP on a mature rock from someone's ancient tank, coraline and all (Yay!) and my first hitchhikers (yay?). So far, after a dip in RODI, I have seen a 1cm bristleworm and a mostly cream-coloured banded brittle star the size of the palm of my hand when spread out. (How can something that big live in such a tiny hole?! Wow!). I think there's at least one more in there because it waved at me once the rock was in my observation tank.

Bristleworms don't inherently bug me. I let centipedes crawl on my hands at the bug zoo, and I was excited about the star because I love stars and have learned through research that most are best left in the ocean.

To my surprise, a lifelong reefer at my very helpful and supportive lfs almost begged me not to leave the star in my tank because it could overpopulate a new tank with no competition cycled dry rock). Okay, micro brittles do that, but is there any reason I don't want 100 micro brittles waving at me from my rocks or turning my night time tank into an alien horror flick?

It's not red or green, so will this thing grow up and leave my (future) crustaceans alone? I've got it in the bag of water from the lfs overnight. The GSP is in observation, along with a new hermit of unknown species.

Help? TIA!

 

[Reefer Reboot]

Wow, a month and no answer? Brittle star have spiky/hairy arms (like yours) and are considered reef safe. Serpent stars have smooth arms and can be a bit dicey.

 

[youcallmenny1]

They'll reach out and touch you. Depending on your feelings about alien spiders on your hand...

 

[VanIsleReefTherapy]

Wow, a month and no answer? Brittle star have spiky/hairy arms (like yours) and are considered reef safe. Serpent stars have smooth arms and can be a bit dicey.

Thanks for the response. Unfortunately, when I put it back on its rock, it decided the bare bottom would be better and was attacked by the hermit crab.

I saw another one waving at me a few days later, though. An older fellow who is well respected here was concerned about my tank getting over-run. Thus my question, why wouldn't I want a ton of them, aren't they good?

No one else has shared his concern.

 

[VanIsleReefTherapy]

They'll reach out and touch you. Depending on your feelings about alien spiders on your hand...

Kinda cool in theory... tweezers got involved in practice.

 

[Reefer Reboot]

Thanks for the response. Unfortunately, when I put it back on its rock, it decided the bare bottom would be better and was attacked by the hermit crab.

I saw another one waving at me a few days later, though. An older fellow who is well respected here was concerned about my tank getting over-run. Thus my question, why wouldn't I want a ton of them, aren't they good?

No one else has shared his concern.

Is the one in the video a micro brittle star? To me it looked bigger than a typical micro one. The population of the micros are pretty dependent on how much food is available to them. Over feeding can lead to a large number of them. Some people just can't stand the sight of them but I find them to be a natural part of the biomass. I always check my filter socks before cleaning them and put any that I find back in the sump. It all depends on your tastes.

 

[VanIsleReefTherapy]

Is the one in the video a micro brittle star? To me it looked bigger than a typical micro one. The population of the micros are pretty dependent on how much food is available to them. Over feeding can lead to a large number of them. Some people just can't stand the sight of them but I find them to be a natural part of the biomass. I always check my filter socks before cleaning them and put any that I find back in the sump. It all depends on your tastes.

I thought it was rather larger too. Fully extended, it was almost the size of my palm and the oral disk was the size of my pinky nail.

Research seemed to indicate that there are multiple species of "micro brittle" stars. I dunno. I was pretty sad about it, but happy to see signs of another. The first one spawned when it hit the water and the other one did so after a water change. Maybe there will be babies!

 

[Reefer Reboot]

I thought it was rather larger too. Fully extended, it was almost the size of my palm and the oral disk was the size of my pinky nail.

Research seemed to indicate that there are multiple species of "micro brittle" stars. I dunno. I was pretty sad about it, but happy to see signs of another. The first one spawned when it hit the water and the other one did so after a water change. Maybe there will be babies!

Cool! And if you do get too many you could always take them to a LFS for some possible credit (or ship them to me!)

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Thanks for the response. Unfortunately, when I put it back on its rock, it decided the bare bottom would be better and was attacked by the hermit crab.

I saw another one waving at me a few days later, though. An older fellow who is well respected here was concerned about my tank getting over-run. Thus my question, why wouldn't I want a ton of them, aren't they good?

No one else has shared his concern.

I think they are awesome clean up crew and I've never really seen anything bad happen as a result of having a ton in your system. They are great little scavengers! - Raven

 

[SlugSnorter]

Kinda cool in theory... tweezers got involved in practice.

Bristles have painful bristles, so watch out around them

 

[sfin52]

I think they are awesome clean up crew and I've never really seen anything bad happen as a result of having a ton in your system. They are great little scavengers! - Raven

Agree as long as there's enough food. If you have a bunch they will let you know when they are hungry may have to feed a little more to make sure your cuc is feed