Sperant sea star

[cgthebeast]

So I have a 25g reef around 3 months old that had a clown, a mushroom coral, 2 hermits, a turbo snail an that's about it. I want to ad more to my clean up crew but have heard mixed reviews of theses sea stars. Any info would be awesome

 

[gboduszek]

They do get big eventually. Around a foot or so with their arms extended but it should be a great addition. I have one about 6" in my 20g right now. They do hide all the time so a sighting is kind of rare. Most of the time you will just see there arms coming out to grab food when they smell it. My favorite is the harlequin or sanded serpent. Pretty cool looking in my opinion

 

[mr_X]

I like them too, and never saw them behaving badly. You will probably have to feed it, since they eat large food. If you have a lot of food hitting the bottom and sitting, then this might be a good idea, but if not, it's not going to help much and you'll need to feed it. This will do nothing to "clean up" the tank. It will actually increase the bio load a bit.

 

[cgthebeast]

Alright, cool. I have a couple of dead spots behind my rocks where food gathers, so I hope it helps with that. I love sea stars an oddballs like that in particular. What would be the best food to feed them. I heard a few stories were they have went after small fish an such. Would there be problem with smaller fish such as neon gobies an such?

 

[mr_X]

They don't go after anything healthy. I'd hand feed it pieces of meaty foods. It will take it right from your hand.

 

[cgthebeast]

They don't go after anything healthy. I'd hand feed it pieces of meaty foods. It will take it right from your hand.

Cool, so silver slides an raw shrimp. So stay away from the green brittles, but would the banded work?

 

[mr_X]

The serpents without the brittle arms have been pretty good as far as I have seen. I have even kept the red brittle, and that went well also.

 

[cgthebeast]

Alright, I think I'm going to stay away from from the brittles to be on the safe side. I saw a post with a 10+ banded sea star the awhile ago, it's awesome. Thanks for the help

 

[Jaxy]

I agree with Mr. X. My serpent star hasn't touched any of my other live stock. I've actually seen my fire fish and yellow watchman goby sharing the same cave with her at times. As far as cleaning, it will come out and comb the sand after feeding but that is about it. They can be quite friendly. My serpent star along with my cleaner shrimp will often times come out of their caves and attach on to my hand when cleaning the glass.