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

TriggerFinger

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I’ve witnessed a massive green brittle star take multiple fish so definitely not that kind. I currently have a red serpent and so far so good but I give it clams to eat so it doesn’t feel the need to hunt *hopefully*
 

Casket_Case

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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.
That’s so cool! I want a spiny lobster in my aquarium but the legal size to harvest is three inch carapace which is way too big for my forty gallon XD
 

Texas Rick

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Here one that I used to have

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OP
OP
Zionas

Zionas

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Cool. I’m leaning towards a Serpent / Brittle Star but I’ll keep in mind not to get the green or yellow ones. Any other colors to avoid?

Also do they need to be drip acclimated and put in very established tanks?

How long can they live for?
 

Pistondog

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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?
Float acclimate is for temp.
Salinity is only 1 component, there are dozens of others, alk etc. I'd still drip or equivalent acclimate.
 

Opus

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My favorite is the harlequin serpent star. I had one for about 7 years. I've been trying to find another one for about 10 years now. Can't find another one that has a bright white color, they are always a grey color.
 

ichthyogeek

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Are Linckia starfish no longer imported into the hobby/considered keepable by aquarists anymore? If not, you could try one of those. There's also the Fromia stars as well that The Night Driving Avenger talked about as well!
 

The Night Driving Avenger

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Are Linckia starfish no longer imported into the hobby/considered keepable by aquarists anymore? If not, you could try one of those. There's also the Fromia stars as well that The Night Driving Avenger talked about as well!
you can still get blue linckia here in scotland so i'd imagine you can still get them elsewhere
 

jreece11

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I’ve had success and enjoyment from Orange and blue Linkia stars and fromia stars.

During no/low light times black brittle stars and banded serpent stars (ophiolepsis superba) have been great.

Agree with everyone else to stay away from green and red serpents. I’ve seen their hunting behavior on the reef and in a tank.
 

Dr. Jim

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I had a black brittle starfish in a 500 gal tank many years ago that caught and killed a fish. I'd be very leery of any brittle (unless you can be sure it is a "mini".)
 

Super Fly

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I stand corrected. I've had a large black brittle star fish for years that was a model citizen then in the past month or so I started noticing all my Nassarius snails were missing/dead. 2 weeks ago I added 10 Nassarius and within a week noticed empty shells, then this past weekend I happened to see my brittle star clutching and eating a Nassarius! :mad: When I researched on Google, it said to keep brittle star well fed or else may start going after livestock. I feed my tank light so this may explain why starfish went rogue, will start spot feeding this guy now. :(
 

BackToTheReef

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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.

Had a similar experience with mine. If he caught a fish hiding in a hole in the rockwork at night it was a goner.
 
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