Anybody have those little Asterina stars in their tank? They're reef-safe aren't they?

[powers2001]

I know Indo-Pacific Sea Farms sells them but it's a two day shipment from Hawaii. I thought they might make for a cleanup crew. IPSF also sells micro-brittle stars. AFAIK they're reef-safe and excellent scavengers. I thought if the Asterinas got too prolific just get a Harlequin shrimp.

 

[blaxsun]

Apparently they like zoas.

 

[moz71]

There are actually two different types and need to post a picture. I have dozens in my tank and don’t bother anything. The other type can eat some corals zoas. One is actually called something else but in asterina family. The safe ones are more deformed shape meaning arms are different sizes. Bad ones there are almost perfectly simetrical

 

[MaxTremors]

First, the starfish commonly referred to as ‘asterina’ are not in the Asterina genus, they are in Aquilonastra. Second, despite the claims, there has never been any actual proof that they eat corals, and considering how common they are and how often people claim they eat corals you’d think proving it would be easy. I’ve had multiple different species over the years, in every tank I’ve ever owned, both white and darker colored species, and none of them ate any corals. They will eat dead tissue and film algae, which is an explanation for what people think they’re seeing when they say that they eat corals (meaning the coral was already dying, or looked irritated as the starfish removed the film algae off of it. As far as I’m concerned, until actual proof is shown that they eat zoas or any other coral, this will be filed in the same category as Valonia releasing spores when popped and Aiptasia releasing spores when disturbed.

 

[Miami Reef]

@i cant think

 

[powers2001]

First, the starfish commonly referred to as ‘asterina’ are not in the Asterina genus, they are in Aquilonastra. Second, despite the claims, there has never been any actual proof that they eat corals, and considering how common they are and how often people claim they eat corals you’d think proving it would be easy. I’ve had multiple different species over the years, in every tank I’ve ever owned, both white and darker colored species, and none of them ate any corals. They will eat dead tissue and film algae, which is an explanation for what people think they’re seeing when they say that they eat corals (meaning the coral was already dying, or looked irritated as the starfish removed the film algae off of it. As far as I’m concerned, until actual proof is shown that they eat zoas or any other coral, this will be filed in the same category as Valonia releasing spores when popped and Aiptasia releasing spores when disturbed.

I would like to have them for a CUC thinking they could be hawkfish and Sixline wrasse proof since those two fish are hard on snails and hermits.

 

[i cant think]

I know Indo-Pacific Sea Farms sells them but it's a two day shipment from Hawaii. I thought they might make for a cleanup crew. IPSF also sells micro-brittle stars. AFAIK they're reef-safe and excellent scavengers. I thought if the Asterinas got too prolific just get a Harlequin shrimp.

Don’t worry, just look at this monstrosity:

That’s not even all of them, they’re EVERYWHERE. Even my 4’ tank has a bad population. But hey, they’re totally reefsafe and they’re actually good - I think of them as picking food for when my fish get hungry throughout the day. They add a ton of microfauna for fish to eat, especially wrasses, mandarins, basically any and every finicky fish. I have a juvenile Blue Star Leopard Wrasse in my nano (Temporary) and she eats some of them, I also have a Pink Streak Wrasse in there and he also loves to nibble the legs. In my 4’ I have a Copperbanded Butterflyfish, Radiant Wrasse, Jade Wrasse, Indonesian Lubbocki Fairy Wrasse, Black Margin Fairy Wrasse who all love to go after these, the fairy wrasse mainly go for them if they’re loose in the glass.

 

[damsels are not mean]

I would like to have them for a CUC thinking they could be hawkfish and Sixline wrasse proof since those two fish are hard on snails and hermits.

I don't think they clean much. They hang out on algae but I have never seen a visible difference in coverage. I think they mostly eat invisible bacteria.

Those fish aren't so hard on snails though, and hermits are far from necessary for a CUC. I consider them purely ornamental tbh. Generally the sixlines will only eat small snails. So larger ones like turbos, trochus, ninja stars, should be safe. Good chance that ceriths are as well for the most part. I don't think hawkfish can eat snails at all. They don't have the hardware for it. Again maybe small ones but most are fine.

My personal experience with a sixline and CUC was they didn't have issues. But I never had small snails. And the only hermit I had were the scarlet reef hermits which are larger than the common blue legs.

 

[i cant think]

I don't think they clean much. They hang out on algae but I have never seen a visible difference in coverage. I think they mostly eat invisible bacteria.

Yes, this is my experience, they don’t eat any film on my tank, the bristletooth tang I have in my 4’ does the better job at algae patrol than the starfish do. They show no dent in the algae, only my snails and algae patrolling fish will do a dent in the film.

 

[Waynerock]

Some types might or might not eat Zoa. Or sit on Zoa and eat the detritus around base and look like they are eating Zoa. I don’t think anything has been proven. I got em so do all the people I know. No one has had Zoa’s get eaten. I feel they are an important part of the CUC and I don’t mess with them. Numbers will wax and waine based on how dirty your tank is. If you want em gone get or “rent” a harlequin shrimp. It will decimate the stars in record time them starve to death. You can also just pull em off the glass at night to help keep numbers in check. I will stress though that they might OR might not eat Zoa but they 100% help with clean up crew. Not a problem for me

 

[Guttersnipe]

Apparently they like zoas.

I used to think they were harmless till one day they all of a sudden developed an appetite for my expensive zoas. Now I pull them out every time I see them.
they are all bad at this point.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Nightmare
Had one take down a bam bam zoa colony of 80.+ heads and grew to size of a nickel

 

[SchrutesReefs]

Most will say they’re harmless, but their duplication rate isn’t worth any amount of cleanup they may do.

 

[Stoney]

Asterinas definitely eat zoas, but like someone mentioned earlier maybe it's a specific variation. I had to pull them off my zoas daily for awhile. Open polyp one day, asterina covering it the next, and half of it is missing once I pull it off.

I know its anecdotal, but how would someone prove it without a doubt? I could take pictures of the stars on top of zoas, but I'm guessing people would say they were just eating algae.

 

[ZoWhat]

Apparently they like zoas.

Asterinas usually only eat the dead flesh off of zoas.... it may appear your zoas are being eaten by them... but its usually the zoas are dying from some other cause and the Asterinas are just finishing off the melting zoa

 

[blaxsun]

Asterinas usually only eat the dead flesh off of zoas.... it may appear your zoas are being eaten by them... but its usually the zoas are dying from some other cause and the Asterinas are just finishing off the melting zoa

See post #12.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Asterinas usually only eat the dead flesh off of zoas.... it may appear your zoas are being eaten by them... but its usually the zoas are dying from some other cause and the Asterinas are just finishing off the melting zoa

Took down my bam bam zoas and as soon as I removed this and some other asterinas, they grew to about 34 heads over a few months

 

[damsels are not mean]

Might be 1 or 2 species that eat zoas but mine certainly don't and I think I have 2 species. They rarely even approach the zoas TBH and spend all their time on the same algae films the copepods congregate on. Considering how rare the cases of actual coral eating are with how prevalent asterinas are they seem to be very rarely a bad species.

 

[Big E]

The ones I have had decimate coraline algae..............I hate them because they allow a substrate for pest algae to grow instead of the coraline. This is especially sucks if you have small frags starting up a Acro system. The acros base will get stopped as it battles the algae/coral interface thus using up all it's energy that it would otherwise use for growth.

It's not just acros this will happen with.................. any coral you prize that needs to encrust to grow is going to suffer.

Coraline algae is wimpy so corals easily kill it to make way.

 

[frankieg2293]

ok for the people who believe this star is bad, is it hard to eliminate this star completely?