You and your experiences with starfish!

[Gumbies R Us]

So if you are like my wife @AlyciaMarie you love starfish. However, you always hear stories about them not being "reef safe". So I want to hear from you, as a community, your experiences with these creatures. Do you think they are worth having, or would you never have one again?

 

[Lavey29]

In an established tank they do ok not great. I had mine for 3.5 years. The current serpent star for over 2 years but they are easier to keep.

 

[bluemon]

Assuming this extends to Asterinas as well:

I was always on the boat of Team Asterina Safe.

When I saw posts of people claiming them eating corals, I just told them "your corals were already dying, and the stars were just cleaning up the dying thing like they do as detritovores and scavengers"

But then recently, I saw them chomping on a perfectly healthy zoa. Then I saw a couple on the base of a few of my smooth skin SPS chomping away. So now I have a harlequin. I believe it's the variant with red and black splotches that are most dangerous.

As for the bigger stars, I just have serpent stars; I firmly believe that 99% of big starfish don't belong in reef tanks: whether it's because they starve (linkia, fromia) or they are not reef-safe (chocolate chip)

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Assuming this extends to Asterinas as well:

I was always on the boat of Team Asterina Safe.

When I saw posts of people claiming them eating corals, I just told them "your corals were already dying, and the stars were just cleaning up the dying thing like they do as detritovores and scavengers"

But then recently, I saw them chomping on a perfectly healthy zoa. Then I saw a couple on the base of a few of my smooth skin SPS chomping away. So now I have a harlequin. I believe it's the variant with red and black splotches that are most dangerous.

As for the bigger stars, I just have serpent stars; I firmly believe that 99% of big starfish don't belong in reef tanks: whether it's because they starve (linkia, fromia) or they are not reef-safe (chocolate chip)

That's what I have heard about asterinas! Some say they are fine but you can get unlucky and have them be the zoa eating ones!

 

[Twitch PhD.]

So if you are like my wife @AlyciaMarie you love starfish. However, you always hear stories about them not being "reef safe". So I want to hear from you, as a community, your experiences with these creatures. Do you think they are worth having, or would you never have one again?

Yes, many, but not all starfish eat coral.

 

[LovinlifeinGuam]

Them being reef safe has nothing to do with it the majority of the time. The fact that their rate of mortality in a very short time period is what should discourage people. Theyre also far more intelligent than most hobbyists seem to believe they are...