unidentified starfish

[Priscila]

Just to throw it out there I started doing this for about a month now. Well I was arranging my live rocks I came across the starfish... I have no idea how it ended up in my tank although I did buy live rocks off of a few friends that had its established tank and I don't know if it might have just been a hitchhiker....
Can anybody please help me identify this starfish it's not big, it's rather small

 

[James M]

asterina starfish...good guy

 

[Crustaceon]

Warning: The more you have, the more people with harlequin shrimp will ask you if they can have them.

 

[Priscila]

I only spotted one... does any body know how long it take for them to reproduce?
I really wanted a harlequin shrimp... mayb I can put them in my sump and throw a few In my tank once a whole for the shrimp.

 

[Priscila]

asterina starfish...good guy

Do they eat corals?

 

[S-t-r-e-t-c-h]

Asterina is a genus of starfish with many species. Some eat coral and others don't. I'd lean towards caution with that particular one.

The safest usually have more than five arms, sometimes with varying size of the legs. Any that look more like stereotypical 5 legged starfish could be a problem. I'd either sump or give back to a LFS, personally.

 

[James M]

Do they eat corals?

What he said ^^^^

 

[ReefJake123]

They are not good for your tank I have them they eat coralline algae and will eat some corals every once in a while

 

[Orko]

I remove them when I can they can grow to large numbers .. I would remove to be safe ..

 

[Oshengems]

Be careful there’s a strain that eats corals I believe they are the darker ones, but yes good clean up crew and when ever you can take some out don’t feel bad they will be all over your tank my Multibar Angel is always nipping them

 

[FREAKINRICAN69]

I have a bunch of those? I’d it best to just remove when you can or get something to eat them.?

 

[ReefJake123]

No matter the shade of them they are all coralline eaters and personally I love coralline algae so I get rid of them they are nasty jerks

 

[ReefJake123]

Remove if possible and get a harlequin shrimp if they get more populated

 

[James M]

I would advise against a harlequin shrimp. Unless you plan on buying starfish after

 

[Crustaceon]

A harlequin shrimp would have to be a on a “rental” basis unless you have an absolutely MASSIVE amount of asterinas. Consider them like mandarin dragonets when it comes to feeding, except more voracious.

 

[Waters]

I only spotted one... does any body know how long it take for them to reproduce?
I really wanted a harlequin shrimp... mayb I can put them in my sump and throw a few In my tank once a whole for the shrimp.

If you spotted one....you probably have 50 lol. They reproduce like crazy, dropping legs which then turn into new starfish. I keep them as members of my CUC since my fish eat any normal tank cleaners like snails and crabs. I have never had any issues with them eating any of my coral...they are in a SPS dominate tank.

 

[Crustaceon]

If you spotted one....you probably have 50 lol. They reproduce like crazy, dropping legs which then turn into new starfish. I keep them as members of my CUC since my fish eat any normal tank cleaners like snails and crabs. I have never had any issues with them eating any of my coral...they are in a SPS dominate tank.

I have to second this. I also have a ton of coralline algae and they don’t seem to put a dent in it. I counted over 50 of them on my rockwork last night.

 

[FREAKINRICAN69]

I would love to get that shrimp but hate the point of having to kill a nice starfish to sustain it alive! :(

 

[Crustaceon]

I would love to get that shrimp but hate the point of having to kill a nice starfish to sustain it alive! :(

There is the practice of periodically “trimming” a leg off of a starfish to feed the shrimp and letting it regrow. That’s a little bit better than killing a nice starfish outright.

 

[FREAKINRICAN69]

There is the practice of periodically “trimming” a leg off of a starfish to feed the shrimp and letting it regrow. That’s a little bit better than killing a nice starfish outright.

I agree.