mark.payton Posted October 17, 2021 Share Posted October 17, 2021 I found this tiny starfish today. Must have come in on a piece of live rock?? Anyway is this something I should get rid of or is it a cool bonus? thanks 2 Quote Link to comment
PeterU Posted October 17, 2021 Share Posted October 17, 2021 Asterina, good. When I did a google search about mine, the results were about 50/50 on whether they are good or bad. I decided to follow the positive and have left mine alone. 1 Quote Link to comment
Chris's Fishes Posted October 17, 2021 Share Posted October 17, 2021 I'd keep it. There are supposed to be some bad ones that can munch on coral, but I've never come across them. Mine have always just been cool little additions. Quote Link to comment
rough eye Posted October 17, 2021 Share Posted October 17, 2021 both ubiquitous and fine. really nice photo by the way. 2 Quote Link to comment
DaJMasta Posted October 17, 2021 Share Posted October 17, 2021 There are some species that are coral eaters (and in these cases, they only eat specific kinds of corals), but the vast majority are harmless and will just reproduce in your tank. Unless you're seeing them on a coral which is getting damaged, I would say leave it alone and enjoy the biodiversity. If they ever get to be a problem or you just don't like them, maybe you can borrow a harlequin shrimp for a few weeks to get them cleared out. Quote Link to comment
mark.payton Posted October 17, 2021 Author Share Posted October 17, 2021 Thanks everyone for the helpful advice. I really didn’t want to get rid of the little guy. And the pic is thanks to my wife, she’s the one that found it. Quote Link to comment
NoOneLikesADryTang Posted October 17, 2021 Share Posted October 17, 2021 I’m going to take the other side, because I’ve caught them eating zoas. I pull them now, whenever I see them in my tanks. There certainly could be varieties that don’t bother corals, but the ones we have, have shown a propensity to chew on zoanthids. Quote Link to comment
ef4life Posted October 17, 2021 Share Posted October 17, 2021 36 minutes ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said: I’m going to take the other side, because I’ve caught them eating zoas. I pull them now, whenever I see them in my tanks. There certainly could be varieties that don’t bother corals, but the ones we have, have shown a propensity to chew on zoanthids. I concur, but I don’t feel they necessarily target healthy zoas, but if there is a decline in their health they are in it like white on rice 1 Quote Link to comment
ef4life Posted October 17, 2021 Share Posted October 17, 2021 Side note - everyone calls them asterinas, but apparently they may not be or are not really asterinas, they are in the asterinidae family, but they are possibly a species of aquilonastra starfish. 1 Quote Link to comment
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