Little star fish??

[LittleDevil]

Hi all,

I just bought some new live rock and I am seeing these little starfish. Some of them have arms missing, some are bigger than others. Is there and concerns with these little guys????


Thanks,
Matt

[Bughead]

Sounds wonderful! These are great little sand stirrers and a nice addition to your system.

[CRE8NKOS]

what do they look like,what color,size,etc

I have heard thatthere are some that will munch on some corals

[icemark]

do they look like this???



Then they are the preditory startfish and generally bad and have been documented eating small polyp stony corals, Xenia , green stars, and several types of soft leather corals

The starfish is Asterina anomala and is common on many reefs in the Indo-Pacific. This fissiparous* starfish is carnivorous on sessile animals including corals. It usually occurs under rocks on reef flats. The mottled coloration makes the starfish very cryptic: you must be alert to find it under rocks.

[Reefland]

There are also some mini star fish that are white in color that as Bughead mentioned, are great little sand stirrers. What color are the ones you notice?

Regards,
Scott Z.

[LittleDevil]

YEs, They look just like those little guys. I dont have alot of coral now, but I plan to........ They are really hard to see, except when there are on the glass or the gravel floor.

So i should flush them huh????

Matt;)

[Reefland]

If they are as icemark posted, you may have a problem with them. The problem is there are probably so many and they are so small it's going to be hard to get them all!

Scott Z.

[Firefish]

Get this...I never had any in my tank for years. Then I moved into my new house and transfered everything back into the 155. 2 weeks later there must have been hundreds of them all over the glass and rock. They are still there, but have not bothered any corals. They look like whatsin the pic. I'll post a pic of mine later....

[saltjunkie]

They reproduce by splitting thats why the arms are different lengths. mine were easy to get rid of. just get em out as you see them, they dont move too fast.