Can anyone identify this Starfish

[Tmaida17]

I got some live rock from a pet store the other day and it came with 2 brown starfish. One is about 3/4th inch in length and the other is just a baby I think and is like 1/ 5th of an inch. I came up short on google trying to figure it out so I was hoping someone on here could tell me. I think its a Florida Bay starfish but I don t know. I posted a pic

 

[MacDracor]

The little one sounds like an Asterina Star. The big ones looks like one, but I don't know that they get that big. Some people consider them a nuisance because they can reproduce pretty quickly. I just periodically pick a couple out of my tank and toss them. I think they're pretty cool. I've heard that some types have been known to munch at corals, but I think mainly the darker grey ones.

 

[Tmaida17]

Oh ok, I ll have to look them up on google. I don t have any coral yet and being that I only have a 30 gallon aquarium I think I m going to keep it fish only until I get a bigger one. Good to know though, and if they start reproducing maybe I ll start selling them haha.. Thank you!!

 

[MacDracor]

I doubt anyone will want to purchase asterinas. They're quite the resilient hitchhikers.
Example.
When inititally setting up my 29 (now moved into a 45), I really didn't understand how it all worked, and make some serious mistakes. My hydrometer was a useless piece of crap that would give me wildly different readings. Not realizing this at first, my specific gravity probably bounced between 1.000 and 1.5 (!!!) for several hours while trying to make it work. Like, I'd get a false low reading and add a bunch of salt directly to the tank (idiot! LOL) then it would read too high so I'd pull some out and add freshwater.... yeah.
Next day, Asterinas started roaming the tank. Still have all of them except those that were unfortunate enough to crawl onto my Galaxea Rescue project (has it's own thread) and were plucked.
I'd recommend just enjoying them, and throwing away any that you decide are too many. I do like seeing them, but I would never pay money for them. LOL

What's your setup? Is this your first foray into the world of saltwater?

 

[Tmaida17]

Yes this is my first saltwater challenge. Lol I have a 29 gallon aquarium with 40lbs of live sand, 28lbs of live rock, a Aqua Clear filtration system, a pump for water flow, Fluvale heater, 2 clownfish, 1 Lunar Wrasse, 1 peppermint shrimp, 15 turbo snails, 7 hermit crabs, a bubble anemone and some extra shells in case the hermits want to change shells.

 

[Mrc8858]

Imo That's a bit much on the turbo snail population especially if this tank is fairly new.. they have a massive appetite and can clear whole panes of glass single handily in a day or 2

 

[Tmaida17]

Ya I know I planned on giving some to my 2 friends bc they both have tanks and the web site I got them on had a buy 10 get 10 free is why. When the site sent them there was no heating pad and most of my shipment was dead so I had them send me new ones bc they didn't move for 24 hrs then they came to life so I had 40 total so I gave some to my 2 friends and they are new set ups too. I don't know anyone else with a saltwater aquarium so I had to keep the rest of them.

 

[Mrc8858]

You could always call a lfs and see if they'd be willing to give you store credit for them

 

[MacDracor]

Store credit is always good! You could also see about posting in the for sale section that you're looking to give some away. How long has the tank been setup? Welcome to saltwater! It's freaking awesome!
I'm fairly new to saltwater myself, just a couple months. So addictive...

 

[Tmaida17]

@mrc8858
What's LFS stand for?

 

[Tmaida17]

@mac
My aquarium is only a few months old as well, and I am as well addicted haha. I have another friend I recently found out she has a tank and i' m going to ask her if she'd like some. Everyone so far is doing good in the aquarium except my shrimp bc my Lunar Wrasse keeps eating them, so I have to look and see if there is a type of shrimp that can coincide with him or I might just give him to a friend that has a bigger aquarium. I'd hate to bc he's amazing to look at and has a fun personality.

 

[Mrc8858]

Local fish store

 

[Jlsardina]

They both look like asternias but use this site to look at coloration as some of these stars are coral predators....

http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchstars.html

 

[Tmaida17]

Oh ok.. lol. .The starfish is now deceased after 2 days.. Not sure why but he was floating one morning after I woke up. Thanks though. I'll keep that website in mind.