Question about tank mates / Tank Size...

[Verbalkint]

Ok.. Basically.. after a long hiatus from SW aquariums, due to moving all over the country and back.. .I am back in the hobby..

We still have our one, original purchase.. a Green BrittleStar. He's around 11" along his longest point when spread out..

Now.. let the questions start.

1: He's (the star) is in a 29g tank with nothing but sand and liverock. Is there any type of tankmate (fish pref) that he WONT try to eat?



2: is 29g big enough for the star? My tank is kinda lopsided.. meaning the liverock is mostly off to one side, taking about 2/3 of the footprint of the tank.. the last 1/3 is bare sand.. I just like the looks of it better than a tank stuffed full of liverock.


Thanks.

Also.. I am building a lighting hood using screw in CF lights, rated at 15w, 5500K.. not sure of the CRI on them..

I have 2 running right now, will most likely finish up wiring the final 4 this evening / weekend for a grand total of 6. Would this be sufficient light for some soft corals, such as button polyps, etc?

By the way.. The Star has already eaten the hermit crab.. We actually witnessed it. The crab had just molted, and the star seemed to KNOW it was vulnerable.. It took less than 30 seconds before the star had him wrapped up.

Again, Many Thanks.

D

[melosu58]

It just seems like to me that something that big should be in a bigger tank. Your lighting once you have all 6 in would be OK for low-medium lighting.

[tecwzrd]

Curious but how old is your star and how big was it when you bought it? I've had mine for 6 months now and it’s grown to about 9"-10" and was about 7" when I bought it. Mine usually only comes out from the multiple holes it digs under the lr when I feed it.

IME Brittle stars are not really that active and personally I think a 29 gal would be big enough as long as it’s getting enough food and your water parameters remain perfect.

I haven’t seen my brittle go after any live fish. It did eat one of my peppermint shrimp but am pretty sure the shrimp died on its own and not because of the star. Usually the star will just go over my hermits (in the shell) and my fish avoid it when it’s on the move.

Do you supplement its food source or just let it scavenge? I feed mine a fingernail sized piece of raw shrimp every other week and discard anything not eaten within 1 day.