[zhenya]

I remember a while back there was a big discussion about them being a coral eaters.I think it started from GARF or something. I have many,many of this miniature stars in my tank and have yet to see any damage done on anything but algae. I turn my lights a bit earlier then usual today just to find atleast 20 of them on the front glass,so I snaped a quick shot. They are mostly nocturnal from my observation and stay hidden mostly during the day. At night I see a whole lot of them on everything that has algae,lake my front and side glass,live rock and even at the base of some corals where they have encrusted but I have not seen any damage at all. It's not to say that some AREN'T predatory in nature and perhaps prey on some corals. I have failed however to see anything in my tank.
What are your experiences with them if you have/had them?

[blown63chevy]

I've had the same type in my tank and like you, have never seen any of them bothering anything, just eating the alge off the rocks and glass. I did get to watch one split once which was amazing. Right there on the glass in front of me, one leg went up and the other decided to go down and next thing you know, I've got two, one-legged starfish. Both survived and grew just fine. Since moving my tank though, I think I've lost just about all of them. I have only seen a few in the tank since moving it. I never did see any of them in the sand though, just on the rocks and glass. They would be all over the glass in the morning when the lights came on and then for the most part, disappear into the rocks during the day. Just my 2 cents.
Ray

[zhenya]

Thanks for the reply,Ray. That is the experience I had with mine as well-out and about at night and early morning and gone on to rocks by lunch That is amaizing that you got to see asexual reproduction,very cool! I'm not sure if they are all identical species or not but I'm guessing that all I have are the same,be it 3,4 or 5 legs.

[MontanaRocknReefer]

I have several of those mini stars in my tank as well. There are some types tht are harmful to corals but am willing to bet yours are safe! I have seen no problems with my corals being bothered by these! Johnny

[rusty]

Thanks for putting my mind at rest. I had the doom & gloom brigade telling me to get rid as they will strip my softies ect.
I have also heard that Harlequin shrimps may get rid of them. any comments?

if so would a Harlequin be compatible with
a cleaner shrimp@

[kevinpo]

The coral eating species seems to be quite rare in the hobby while the algae eating ones are common (lucky for us). Harlequin shrimp will eat them and they are compatible with other ornamental shrimp. I have them in most of my tanks with all different corals and they have never been a problem. I sent some pictures to Dr. Ron and he said they were algae eaters.

HTH,
Kevin

[Penguin]

I've just recently found a couple of these in my tank as well. My experience has been similar to yours Gene. They are visible on the rock in the morning and retreat once the tank light comes on. From what I've read they are usually harmless algae grazers, and only very rarely eat coral. They can reproduce quickly and sometimes reach plague proportions, however.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by Penguin

I've just recently found a couple of these in my tank as well. My experience has been similar to yours Gene. They are visible on the rock in the morning and retreat once the tank light comes on. From what I've read they are usually harmless algae grazers, and only very rarely eat coral. They can reproduce quickly and sometimes reach plague proportions, however.

Indeed, their population usually explodes but in my experience they slowly starve out becouse of it. Today I'll be hard pressed to find two or three of this stars when just a couple of years ago I had literally hundreds of them.

[Samper]

My populations of Asterina and Stomatella varia both fluctuate a bit depending on if I missed a WC or fed too much one week. From what I've seen they are mostly nocturnal but occasionally they are out during the day. As Zhenya pointed out usually on the glass at night and move to the rocks during the day. A good addition to a cleanup crew IMO as I've seen both eating cyanobacteria in the fuge. It was interesting watching the Asterina eat it cause it didn't munch a small spot like a snail would. It had a 1.5" or so string that I guess it ripped away from the wall and slowly consumed it over a period of 20 minutes. Mine are definately not the horrible ones you sometimes read about but I have seen them eat coral tissue. When I got my 75g softie tank it had a few sps in it that didn't need to be there. I moved them over to my nano where they proceeded to lose all tissue over a 2 day period....also caused my chips acro and a small frag of birdsnest to do the same thing. Those two corals were the ones closest to it. Anyway I don't know why that happened but while they were dying and before I could remove them the asterina were eating the dying tissue. I'm positive of that and also that they don't bother any healthy coral I'm keeping. Pretty neat

[CSeaSee]

Like everyone else that posted I also have these little guys with fluctuating populations and have never seen any detrimental effects on my polyps or mushrooms. They, along with a large population of miniature snails, arrived on my live rock and established themselves as the prime algae eaters in my tank. It's fun to watch their populations rise and fall and it's nice to know that something can grow in my tank! :-)