Taking the Asterina risk!?

Asterina, friend or foe!

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Bitcoin Reefer

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I found 3 Asterinas in my refugium. After hours of reading R2R and watching videos, we decided to move them to the display tank. Are we crazy or stupid or both!? They are a 6 legged variety. White with kind of dark spots towards center on top.

we figure if they start messing with coral, it’ll be an excuse to get a Harlequin Shrimp until he runs out of food and we have to give him away.

Wish us luck soldiers!

3AEEEE88-8A5E-4E25-9389-19817910DEA0.jpeg 564B524D-4123-44AC-AE00-C5C9264B6EAB.jpeg
 

Karen00

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Good luck and keep us posted. I'm sure you'll have a lot more before you know it. ;-) I can't speak to whether they bother anything but I know the few tanks I have seen in person with these guys you could hardly see through the glass there were so many of them. :)
 
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Bitcoin Reefer

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Good luck and keep us posted. I'm sure you'll have a lot more before you know it. ;-) I can't speak to whether they bother anything but I know the few tanks I have seen in person with these guys you could hardly see through the glass there were so many of them. :)
Oh jeeze haha
 

fryman

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I have asterinas that look like that and they seem to congregate on areas with film algae. Never seen them bother coral. I've heard some eat zoas but I think it's a particular variety that's less common.
 

vetteguy53081

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I found 3 Asterinas in my refugium. After hours of reading R2R and watching videos, we decided to move them to the display tank. Are we crazy or stupid or both!? They are a 6 legged variety. White with kind of dark spots towards center on top.

we figure if they start messing with coral, it’ll be an excuse to get a Harlequin Shrimp until he runs out of food and we have to give him away.

Wish us luck soldiers!

3AEEEE88-8A5E-4E25-9389-19817910DEA0.jpeg 564B524D-4123-44AC-AE00-C5C9264B6EAB.jpeg
Dont do it.
I lost the only zoa colony ive ever lost and could not understand why. One night, I had to turn on lights in room and took a double when I found pair of asterina below who at over 100 heads of my bam Bam.
removed them and back to about 55 heads.
These got to size of a nickel

star1.jpg
star2.jpg
 

fryman

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Ya, what is with their mutated look? Do they mostly reproduce by splitting? They always look wonky to me!
Asexual propagation. Basically they spread by splitting themselves or losing a leg, regrowing both parts into two starfish.
 

ISpeakForTheSeas

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Asexual propagation. Basically they spread by splitting themselves or losing a leg, regrowing both parts into two starfish.
+1 to this - it’s called fissiparous reproduction, and they look funny as a result of the difference between the still fully grown leg(s) and the new/regrowing legs. It’s a common reproduction method for some bigger starfish too (such as some Linckia species and Echinaster luzonicus). They frequently look funny too as a result.
 

Kristopher Conlin

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I have had them eat zoas. Specifically the ones that are a dark grey color on top rather then the usual white.
 

Chrisv.

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+1 to this - it’s called fissiparous reproduction, and they look funny as a result of the difference between the still fully grown leg(s) and the new/regrowing legs. It’s a common reproduction method for some bigger starfish too (such as some Linckia species and Echinaster luzonicus). They frequently look funny too as a result.
This is how I ended up with a pair of harlequin serpent stars-- one with three legs one with two. I'm sure they would have regrown eventually...but they were like this for at least a year!
 

Karen00

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Asexual propagation. Basically they spread by splitting themselves or losing a leg, regrowing both parts into two starfish.
That's what I thought. Is that their main method of reproduction or do they reproduce sexually as well?
 

Karen00

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It is their main method of reproduction, but they do reproduce sexually too.
I always wondered how they reproduced so quickly. I went to a fellow reefers house to buy some corals and the first thing he said was "don't ever put these in your tank". He joked that he started with a couple and suddenly they just exploded in number. His was one of the tanks you could hardly see through the glass. All you could see were wonky legged asterinas. Haha.
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

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