starfish everywhere

[MISTERFIXIT]

Hey Guys and Gals,
My 90 Gal has been up and running for about 14 months--doin great.
I have hundreds of small starfish--No I'm not exaggerating--smallest about 1 mm in dia and the largest about 10 mm--tentacle dia.

Anybody ever seen this??It's too cool and I know it's good for the tank!

I had added some sand from the Atlantic ocean,maybe they came from that sand? They appear to be serpent stars some w/black stripes!!Got a pic in My Gallery!

Marc
AKA Mr Fix It

[Reefland]

Isn't it cool to find new critters! The hitchhiker could have come from the sand or the rock, or maybe even from a coral that has been introduced.

[randymon]

Ive had hundreds of these in my tank for a year or more and they havent bothered anything in my tank of softys. They do seem to like coraline algae tho.

[mdrury]

I got a scoop of the grunge from the rock vat at a LFS. I have noticed at least 7 or 8 of those little stars sticking their arms out when I throw shrimp pellets in for the hermits to eat. Really cool to watch them swing their arms around in the water and then retract them when they snag a bit of food.

I wonder if they will reproduce?

[saltjunkie]

they are very good inhabitants!

[jbicb3]

How are the starfish doing? Are they growing? How big will they get? I just discovered several living inside a LR I've had for about 45 days. These look like Serpent Stars, except they are only about 1 to 1.5 inches tip to tip. See post here for details:

I'm afraid to clean my tank!

[zhenya]

How are the starfish doing? Are they growing? How big will they get? I just discovered several living inside a LR I've had for about 45 days. These look like Serpent Stars, except they are only about 1 to 1.5 inches tip to tip. See post here for details:

I'm afraid to clean my tank!

Those little starts stay small and won't get bigger than 1-1.5 inches. The ones you saw are probably mature adults and they do reproduce very well in tanks. I can attest to this as I have literally hundreds if not more in mine. I bought about 5-6 in the detritivore package and their population exploaded within months.
I see them everywhere and if I pic up a clam or coral for inspection they bound to be there in some numbers. I removed all sponges from all the pumps so none of them get stuck on them and simply pass through the pump.They manage to do this pretty well and I find them in the sump, under my powerheads suction cups, etc. They are harmless and quite beneficial members of the detritivore guild.
I am sure that if you saw 4 of them you'll see many more in the very near future.