Watchman goby sharing hide with brittle star?

[JustinSmi86]

Sorry. Very hard to get pictures. However for about the last couple days he’s been sharing his hidey hole with a small 2-3” Brittle star. Is this normal? He also has not been out nearly as often after the star moved in, could it be he’s trying to protect his territory?

 

[rkpetersen]

The brittle star will probably move on to another location before long.
Or you could tempt it to come out with some food.

 

[JustinSmi86]

The brittle star will probably move on to another location before long.
Or you could tempt it to come out with some food.

No I’ll effects from him being in there?

 

[rkpetersen]

No I’ll effects from him being in there?

Probably not. Green brittle stars can sometimes be fish eaters, but the rest are benign.
And hard to tell from the pic, but yours might be a serpent star, which are very benign.

 

[Barb0713]

Sorry. Very hard to get pictures. However for about the last couple days he’s been sharing his hidey hole with a small 2-3” Brittle star. Is this normal? He also has not been out nearly as often after the star moved in, could it be he’s trying to protect his territory?

Me too. !!! I was confused king to ask this. My watchman and my big brown knobby star are just chilling in a cave now for over a week. The fish comes out in the day , the star comes out at night. And the fish will just sit on its legs. It makes me nervous cuz the fish is small. But, it’s in my bedroom and I am constantly watching. They seem the best of friends ???? Will it end badly soon ? Or will they stay cozy ?

 

[Zodiac]

Give that goby a tiger pistol shrimp, the star wont bother him again.

 

[IceNein]

Yeah, honestly I imagine that an able bodied fish, even one that small, would be able to harass a brittle star into moving on. It must be aware of its presence and if it is still going in the hole, it is unbothered by it.