Looking for Red Serpant Star Experience

[Goodair]

Been doing research and getting ALOT of mixed info. I'm looking to add a red serpant (if I can find one) but unsure how it would do in my tank. I got a feather duster and read that it will go for it. Been also reading that green serpants will go for live fish and unsure if this applies to reds, or if it is very unlikely and needs to be starving.

I got a 90g, plenty of live rock, some corals, a eel, marine beta,condi anemone and planning on adding a lion and some kind of wrasse in the future. Also an urchin and trochus snails. Pretty limited on the type of invertabrates I can keep and unsure if a red serpant is a good fit to eat leftover food and see some colorful arms waving out of the rockwork.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I collect (snorkeling in the Florida Keys) and keep a variety of serpent stars. And for the past few years I've had 5 serpents of various sizes in my 40g cube. I have mini white and red feather dusters in my tank and they are not bothered by the stars. I make no claim about the safety of a big feather duster, but my bet would be that it's OK. Green brittle stars are reported to be fish eaters, but I have no evidence one way or the other. Serpent and brittle stars are worthwhile members of a clean up crew IMHO.

I have no idea how a star would fair in a tank with an eel or a lion. And don't count on seeing a lot of waving arms from the star. If it's hungry it may wave an arm at feeding time. But the are far more likely to be out from under the rocks during the night scavenging for food. I just tore down my 40g and replaced it with a 90g tank. I found 2 brittle stars I had added to the tank in the summer of 2017 and had not seen since! They were alive and well and are now hiding out in my 90g tank!

 

[CuzzA]

Green brittle stars are reported to be fish eaters

I think you meant to say green serpent stars, not brittle.

Green serpents were once very common in aquariums and grow rather large. Since brittles and serpents are pretty reclusive I imagine they don't get fed well by hobbyists and therefore have to resort to predation to survive as they grow larger. Hence, they get a bad rap.

Red serpents also get as big as greens and I imagine the same would be true if they don't get fed. They just haven't been given the label as predators because not many people have them.

I have a small Florida orange serpent with a maroon body and feed it a piece of fish once a week. I will usually cut off a fingernail size of hogfish or grouper from my meal prep. I have a very open aquascape where I can always see it so handing it a piece of food is easy. The smaller orange, pink and maroon Caribbean serpents don't get as big as their red counterparts and may be a better choice to avoid predation issues as nutrition demands should be less and tank feedings may be able to sustain it. Nevertheless, I know mine is hungry if it is somewhat out and the body is raised off the sand bed. I try to avoid seeing that behavior.

KP Aquatics sells them. I think they go for about $6.

 

[Goodair]

Thanks! I'll check out the orange, I'm not particularly set on red, I just wanted a invertebrate that wasnt brown or black. Even if I only see it every once and a while, it's something that will be easier to notice at night.

 

[C2cexoticfiahandcorals]

I haven’t had any problems with red serpents I get them from time to time pm if you would like to reserve one as it comes available

 

[Goodair]

I've decided to delay on one until i redo my rockscape to add some pvc tunnles when my eel gets bigger. I'll give you a message after it's done.