What is a good, hardy, reef safe starfish that doesn’t eat fish?

[Zionas]

I’m looking into getting a starfish as part of my CuC plus I find them really interesting to have alongside fish, corals, shrimps etc. However, I’m not too familiar with starfish as a whole and I’d like to have a species that’s hardy, easy to keep, does not hurt other livestock especially not corals and fish.

Also I heard starfish are more demanding than a lot of fish when it comes to tank maturity / tank conditions but not sure if that’s true.

If the salinity of my tank water is within 0.001 of the LFS’s water can I just float acclimate?

 

[j.falk]

Mini brittle star.

 

[Super Fly]

Mini brittle star.

This or any of the Brittle/Serpent Star fish... pls keep in mind that as part of the CUC, they will eat dead fish that end up on bottom of tank.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Brittle and serpants are safe. Starfish generally dont go out and hunt fish, but many can unintentionally damage coral

 

[IKD]

This is just my experience, but my large green brittle star went after my smaller fish (clowns, anthias, firefish). He would search crevices at night. Most of the time they could get away but I did lose a firefish when he dropped down on him into his hideout.

if you have a large and mature tank, linkia starfish are peaceful and fun to have.

 

[User1]

This or any of the Brittle/Serpent Star fish... pls keep in mind that as part of the CUC, they will eat dead fish that end up on bottom of tank.

Negative ghost rider. Not any of the brittle star fish. You do not want a Ophiarachna incrassata for example. See below for more details. This is not just a random search thing and look what I found. I actually owned one in my 100 gallon mixed reef years ago. One night in passing I decided to check out the tank after lights out. Interesting enough I saw mine do what is talked about below. Raised on its arms/legs up near the back wall of the tank and some rocks. Pretending to be a cave or darker area for shrimp or fish to call home (or pass under). Wrapping its arms/legs around it to the kiss of death.

Peppermint 0 Ophiarachna incrassata 1

So no, not any of the brittle / serpent star are safe.

Giant Green Brittle Stars of DEATH!! When they ATTACK--AGAIN!!

With all of the vicious ophiuroid feeding going on, I am recently reminded by a neat paper written by James Morin at UCLA from the 198...

echinoblog.blogspot.com

 

[Super Fly]

Negative ghost rider. Not any of the brittle star fish. You do not want a Ophiarachna incrassata for example. See below for more details. This is not just a random search thing and look what I found. I actually owned one in my 100 gallon mixed reef years ago. One night in passing I decided to check out the tank after lights out. Interesting enough I saw mine do what is talked about below. Raised on its arms/legs up near the back wall of the tank and some rocks. Pretending to be a cave or darker area for shrimp or fish to call home (or pass under). Wrapping its arms/legs around it to the kiss of death.

Peppermint 0 Ophiarachna incrassata 1

So no, not any of the brittle / serpent star are safe.

Giant Green Brittle Stars of DEATH!! When they ATTACK--AGAIN!!

With all of the vicious ophiuroid feeding going on, I am recently reminded by a neat paper written by James Morin at UCLA from the 198...

echinoblog.blogspot.com

Did not know that...

 

[Casket_Case]

Knobby Sea Stars when they’re babies. As they grow they’ll eat stuff

 

[The Night Driving Avenger]

Most of the time they could get away but I did lose a firefish when he dropped down on him into his hideout.

god what a horrible thought, i just had an image of cave diving then some massive giant mutant starfish dropping down on me *shudders*

 

[PicassoClown04]

Sand sifting stars are cool. Also this dude, idk what he is but he’s awesome!

 

[Casket_Case]

Sand sifting stars are cool. Also this dude, idk what he is but he’s awesome!

Dang! I want one! I love sea stars but it’s hard to find reef safe ones.

 

[PicassoClown04]

Dang! I want one! I love sea stars but it’s hard to find reef safe ones.

I caught him myself down in Florida

 

[Casket_Case]

I caught him myself down in Florida

Lucky! I’m excited to go down and catch some stuff. I used to live there but when I lived there I was too young to own an aquarium and about a year after I moved to Georgia I started getting into Reef aquariums. The irony

 

[User1]

Did not know that...

Neither did I Sometimes we learn the hard way (we, me in this case). I had a few fish missing but never really connected the dots until as I said one night in passing. I do know there are reef safe brittle star fish but I personally stay away from anything with a serpent tag

 

[PicassoClown04]

Lucky! I’m excited to go down and catch some stuff. I used to live there but when I lived there I was too young to own an aquarium and about a year after I moved to Georgia I started getting into Reef aquariums. The irony

If you’ve got a bunch of shallow sea grass flats in Georgia I’m sure there’s gotta be some cool critters in there. Found this guy drying up on the beach so I stuck him in a ziplock bag of water and brought him home

 

[NashobaTek]

Chocolate chips are great, but I have been told they are coral eaters as adults

 

[Zionas]

Among the serpent and brittle stars which species are the safest overall and won’t get too big?

 

[Casket_Case]

If you’ve got a bunch of shallow sea grass flats in Georgia I’m sure there’s gotta be some cool critters in there. Found this guy drying up on the beach so I stuck him in a ziplock bag of water and brought him home

Eh... not much... you can get some hermit crabs, snails, bivalves, et cetera. But not stuff like you can in Florida... in Florida I’ve seen arrow crabs, spiny lobsters, cleaner shrimp, lots of small aquarium fish, starfish, seahorses, macroalgaes, snails, hermits, conchs, the list is endless. Georgia is pretty protective over their wildlife too, the only thing I’ve been able to get and have seen are Blennies, barnacles, sargassum, and live sand dollars from a friend that was gonna dry them out... so I saved them.

 

[Casket_Case]

Among the serpent and brittle stars which species are the safest overall and won’t get too big?

I had a red and black brittle star and he ate five fish... don’t recommend those ones. The particular species was ‘Ophicoma Wendtti’ I believe

 

[The Night Driving Avenger]

Eh... not much... you can get some hermit crabs, snails, bivalves, et cetera. But not stuff like you can in Florida... in Florida I’ve seen arrow crabs, spiny lobsters, cleaner shrimp, lots of small aquarium fish, starfish, seahorses, macroalgaes, snails, hermits, conchs, the list is endless. Georgia is pretty protective over their wildlife too, the only thing I’ve been able to get and have seen are Blennies, barnacles, sargassum, and live sand dollars from a friend that was gonna dry them out... so I saved them.

we get quite a few cool local critter in the north of scotland, my reef tank has a shore crab,2 common blennies, 3 common gobies, 7 sand shrimp and 2 beadlet nems in it and everything lives with my coral and exotic species perfectly, the crab will even eat out of my hand lol . theres hermit crabs and squat lobsters out there but i haven't run into any yet.