Opinions on mini brittle stars?

[caas1496]

Interested to see how people feel about the brittle stars in their tanks. Do you have large ones? Small ones? Love or hate them? 

 

I am fascinated to watch their little arms sticking out everywhere and my girlfriend names them all after philosophers. 

[Tamberav]

I have the mini ones and I love them, they do a good job keeping the rock clean... poking their arms out and wiggling has to dislodge debris! My tanks always seem cleaner when they are present in large numbers. 

[billygoat]

I think they're great! I have tons of brittle stars of various sizes and I consider them great cleaners. The single annoying thing I've ever noticed about them is that they go nuts for Reef Roids, to the point that their frenzied grabbing sometimes irritates the corals I am trying to feed. That's a pretty minor detail though. All in all I think they are a wonderful addition to a well-rounded aquarium ecosystem.

 

I definitely don't name them after philosophers though... I think I'd run out of names before I got halfway through the compliment of micro brittles in my tank. 😄

[Tired]

They're useful little cleaners, and I got mine on purpose. If you ever get too many, they'd probably be easy to trap out in bottle traps, or tilted shotglasses like people use to catch crabs. And I guarantee you there's people who'd want your spares! 

[Seadragon]

Where do you guys usually buy them?  I'm not sure if I've ever seen the mini brittle star variety for sale.  Also, what are the downsides if they explode in population?  Is there anything negative about them besides they can irritate corals when you broadcast Reef-Roids?  Can they deplete the sand of microfauna?

[Ratvan]

2 hours ago, billygoat said:

I think they're great! I have tons of brittle stars of various sizes and I consider them great cleaners. The single annoying thing I've ever noticed about them is that they go nuts for Reef Roids, to the point that their frenzied grabbing sometimes irritates the corals I am trying to feed. That's a pretty minor detail though. All in all I think they are a wonderful addition to a well-rounded aquarium ecosystem.

I've noticed this too with the reef roids. Also my Red headed gobies if given the chance will feed directly from the pipette they love the stuff. I love them and probably enjoy watching them in my rock work as much as the GSP or Xenia in the sway.

50 minutes ago, Seadragon said:

Where do you guys usually buy them?  I'm not sure if I've ever seen the mini brittle star variety for sale.  Also, what are the downsides if they explode in population?  Is there anything negative about them besides they can irritate corals when you broadcast Reef-Roids?  Can they deplete the sand of microfauna?

A couple of places I mail order coral from have them in the UK. Not much help but we're a LONG way from the choice others get around the world so I would think they'd be out there?

[Tired]

I'm pretty sure they eat detritus, not microfauna. As for buying them, hobbyists and some LFS may have them, and would likely be happy to sell you some extras. Or you can get them in chaeto from some places, though that's mostly by luck.