What eats Asterina Stars?
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: Invertebrates
Forum Description: This is the place to ask questions about invertebrates.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=39025
Printed Date: November 28 2025 at 12:33am
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Topic: What eats Asterina Stars?
Posted By: Crzyfshguy
Subject: What eats Asterina Stars?
Date Posted: February 27 2010 at 12:43am
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I am having a large increase in my Asterina population. I have also seen a few munching on zoos, so it is time for them to go. I know Harlequin shrimp do an awesome job, is there anything else that will touch them? Also, does anyone know where I can get a harlequin? ------------- 45G w/ leds 15G sump MP10es |
Replies:
Posted By: kellerexpress
Date Posted: February 27 2010 at 6:01am
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harlequin shrimp ------------- IM 30L Kessil A160we x2 |
Posted By: Jeffs_little_ocean
Date Posted: February 27 2010 at 11:53am
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I have also been looking for a way to slow the increasing asterina population in my tank. Birdworld had a harlequin afew weeks ago but it was $40 and I thought that was too much. Im still looking... ------------- Life is good....right? |
Posted By: sabeypets
Date Posted: February 28 2010 at 12:52am
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The Aquarium had one today. ------------- Shaun American Fork "Would you leave a dead cat in your kitchen till tommorow?" Builderofdreams |
Posted By: tropi_gal
Date Posted: February 28 2010 at 9:55am
| Does the harlequin shrimp eat larger star fish too? |
Posted By: tileman
Date Posted: February 28 2010 at 11:28am
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Yes. they aren't picky at all. One leg at a time ------------- 335G Reef TOTM. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2015/2/aquarium ReefKeepers TOTM Feb. 2012 http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index....k-of-the-month & |
Posted By: Riverton_Ten
Date Posted: February 28 2010 at 9:36pm
| I'd be happy to come and help you scrape asterina off your tank's glass . I always have a few, but never too many. My kids love them. So if you're in the mood to get your hands wet, I'll come over and we can have a good ol' time reducing your population. I'll take as many as we can pull out. |
Posted By: Sculpin
Date Posted: March 01 2010 at 1:06am
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I had an asteria problem a few years back and those little retarded looking starfish didn't know what hit them when I dropped a couple of harlequin shrimp in there. They cleaned it out in about a month and I haven't seen one since. The only problem is your left with shrimp that only eat starfish, but they are really cool and chocolate chip stars are cheap so feeding is not so bad. Heres a pic-  Micah |
Posted By: ClarkWGrizwald
Date Posted: March 07 2010 at 7:58pm
| aquatic dreams had one yesterday man. they will probly get moreon tuesday |
Posted By: providence
Date Posted: March 08 2010 at 12:37pm
| I love aquatic dreams and know they will order you one and hold it for you if they dont have one if they do have one they will save it |
Posted By: SmokeyBear
Date Posted: March 16 2010 at 10:35am
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It's amazing to me how fast a couple of those 'cute' shrimp can wreak havoc on a starfish population in a tank. They seriously feed nonstop on little star feet. Once they run out of food (starfish) the ones I had died off. I thought they would just scavenge around, but nope, they died. This was before I knew about this site.... Could have posted them cheap for someone else to control their star population. |
Posted By: downhill_biker
Date Posted: March 16 2010 at 11:35am
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The thing is...those little white starfish aren't bad. They are good! Why is everyone trying to get rid of them. Thats like taking and wanting to kill all your pods or killing all your snails...
------------- Make sure you post your best pictures every month in our POTM forum. |
Posted By: SmokeyBear
Date Posted: March 16 2010 at 11:39am
They reproduce so fast though, that if not taken care of, in three months you've got way more than you want. If you've got an acrylic tank, and you get one under your magnet (which isn't hard to do since if left unchecked they are all over the walls of your tank) you've now got scratches. So while they can be good for your tank, you don't need them in there. Plus I read somewhere that they will eat stylophora or cats paw. |
downhill_biker wrote:Posted By: Shane H
Date Posted: March 16 2010 at 11:53am
| I successfully used harlequin shrimp to eradicate these stars from my tank. Be prepared to offer LIVE chocolate chip stars (or similar) to maintain the harlequins once the asterina are gone. They will take individual arms, if they are fresh (still moving). For some, it is hard to remove the arm of a seastar to feed. I had issues when feeding whole chocolate chip stars and had to resort to feeding an arm a week. I had two harlequins to feed. |