Please tell me this tiny little critter is ok to keep and love!

[aurora.k]

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Acro eating starfish. I could be wrong others will chime in.

 

[ChiCity]

Asterina

 

[ChiCity]

Not necessarily bad...

 

[rainmaker]

+ 1 on asterina starfish it’s ok but will multiply
Heavily had probably 100 in one of my previous tanks before I got a Harlequin shrimp to rid them from tank

 

[Velcro]

Acro eating starfish. I could be wrong others will chime in.

Lol what? Where do people come up with this stuff...

 

[NanoCrazed]

I think they're cool and have them in my tank on purpose... nibbles on algae mostly

 

[Maritimer]

Asterina stars will multiply to the level at which food is available to them; both what you feed, and the biofilm that covers most surfaces in your tank. Some folks say that dark-pigmented ones may feed on zoanthids, as well.

They stay small, as individuals, but periodically rip themselves in half, each half becoming a new star.

~Bruce

 

[Vincent100]

Nice sized season's greetings montipora
I've a tiny frag of that and it nice to see it

 

[aurora.k]

Nice sized season's greetings montipora
I've a tiny frag of that and it nice to see it

Thanks! My current favorite coral!

 

[aurora.k]

Thanks everyone! Very helpful! I’m going to try my luck keeping it (and it’s future offspring). If I get overrun, I’ll reconsider.

 

[Vincent100]

Yep don't worry about the starfish , iv loads and have aways had them in my tanks
They have never caused a problem

 

[Erica-Renee]

I have many of them in my tank. There numbers come and go depending my Maintenance or lack there off.. Feeding and so on... If You get to many just pluck them out.. I have never had them on any coral. but they do get on rock work.. there most fav food is Coraline algae ,In my tank anyway.
Like with other inverts of they are in your Corals they are likely eating the already at risk or dying or consuming algae growing on and around them...

I am all for Diversity Just ask my wife....

 

[fishbox]

I want some!

 

[Sorcha2]

I have a few in my tank...They're my non-fishy husband's favorite thing in my saltwater tank, lol.

 

[Muttley000]

I leave them also!

 

[jimo12]

yeah, never seen them on my corals i have a fiew from time to time if it's easy to remove ill get it out but doesn't really bother me anymore

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Acro eating starfish. I could be wrong others will chime in.

Huh?

 

[shred5]

Asterina stars Some are bad and some are good...
Your looks fine.. These are what the bad ones I have seen look like:
http://www.garf.org/Star/starfish.html

 

[rkpetersen]

As mentioned, asterinas are generally harmless, but there are definitely some species that will eat zoanthid polyps. They just clamp down over the top of the zoa and consume it. And even the harmless ones can multiply to nuisance proportions surprisingly fast. I have the plain light grey ones in my established tank. Not a huge number; if I keep up with manually removing them, I might not see any for a couple of days.

I recently set up a second tank. I've always wanted a pair of harlequin shrimp, and now I have them in there. They're so cute, the big mama and her little man following her around. They are frighteningly efficient at finding, killing and consuming any and all starfish in the tank. I've been feeding them small chocolate chips, but they consume them ridiculously fast and that gets expensive after awhile. Now I'm just dropping every asterina I find in the first tank, into the second.