Starfish? Yes or no

[Bubbagump69]

I want to hear everyone's thoughts on adding a starfish to your tanks. Is it a good or bad idea? Which are problematic? Do they mess with your corals?

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Brittle and serpent stars are great

 

[sfin52]

Brittle or serpent stars are good the others take a very mature tank and even than its hit or miss.

 

[Redfoxtang]

Agreed with above. I like brittles for left over food, they will devour it! Some like sand shifters as they stir the sand bed but I have found they get lazy!

 

[NashobaTek]

Brittle,serpant I have even had chocolate chips and love them all.

 

[Sosuke]

Chocolate chip starfish eat corals as they grow older but in a fowlr tank they can do well. +1 to Brittle and serpent stars, they are the best species of starfish to be kept in our tanks as most of them aren't as sensitive as most other starfish in this hobby. Brittle and serpent stars won't mess with corals because their diet consists of detritus and uneaten fish food.

 

[muzikalmatt]

Brittle stars, especially micro brittle stars, are great! I probably have over a hundred in my tank (started with just a few hitchhikers) and they are great at cleaning up the detritus and excess waste within the rock work where the rest of your CUC can't get to. Their population will equalize based on the amount of food available. They are really fun to spot feed as well. Just put some mysis near their outstretched arms and they will grab it and pull it in to eat.

I had a really cool 6-legged red fromia starfish for about 10 months in my tank, but it eventually melted away. It was heartbreaking to watch and I won't get another one as a result. They are generally difficult to keep long-term, even in a mature reef tank, so I would not recommend them even though they are widely available and generally cheap.

 

[Billdogg]

I'll add my two cents. All of the Brittle and Serpent Stars are reef friendly EXCEPT the green brittle and Red Serpent, Both of them get quite large and WILL hunt for fish at night. Although it's fascinating to watch, when all of a sudden you realize that they are about to eat your favorite fish it will quickly become something other than fascinating.

IMHO, with very few exceptions, sand sifting stars should be left in the ocean. In all but very large, well established systems they will quickly devour all the beneficial fauna in your sandbed, then slowly starve over a period of months.