are britle starfish agresive
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Topic: are britle starfish agresive
Posted By: Nisha
Subject: are britle starfish agresive
Date Posted: January 17 2011 at 8:43am
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My britle starfish is wrapping around my feather dusters... also i got a new firefish and came in this morning and cant find him... this has happened a few times before with other fish the only other fish in the tank are 2 clown fish and the britle starfish... thought they were all comunity fish any help on what is going wrong thanks |
Replies:
Posted By: davser
Date Posted: January 17 2011 at 9:14am
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firefish can jump out of the aquarium if its open, i dont think it was the starfish, check around the aquarium to see if you can find the missing fish, i had dimond goby jump out and i found him under the couch
------------- It's not about what you know but about who you know |
Posted By: Davidwillis
Date Posted: January 17 2011 at 9:22am
| I had a large serpent star that would catch fish when they were sleeping. |
Posted By: Nisha
Date Posted: January 17 2011 at 9:47am
| I have a glass top on the tank and checked behind the tank only area that the glass dose not cover and still no fish...I got the britle starfish off the feather duster and the feather duster is almost totally out of his shell on the sand.. is this normal |
Posted By: jwoo
Date Posted: January 17 2011 at 10:09am
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Is it a green brittle star or black? The green have been known to eat fish and be aggressive. The black are docile and I've never heard anyone report a problem with them.
Also welcome to the board Nisha! ------------- None at the moment Soon: 72 Gallon Bowfront |
Posted By: Luckedout
Date Posted: January 17 2011 at 10:16am
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They're mostly opportunistic when it comes to fish. If the fish is dying they might grab them and finish off the job. This happened with my lawnmower blenny but he was looking skinny and out of it. With the feather duster, he's probably just hungry. How old is the tank? He might just be hungry and looking for anything. ------------- -Ben 90g Mixed reef www.body-balancechiropractic.com |
Posted By: go2sleep
Date Posted: January 17 2011 at 10:19am
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If he ate your fish his disk should be huge. It is amazing how big their disk gets after a big meal. Should look like a golf ball. ------------- Steve |
Posted By: Nisha
Date Posted: January 17 2011 at 10:39am
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I have had the tank set up for about 18 months now..It came from someone who had it for more then 3 years, I am really not sure what type he is as he came with the tank, up tell about 3 months ago it was basicly just a reef tank, with the starfish, tuxido urchind, anenamie, and the two clown fish. oh and the cleaning crew of snails, shrimp, hermit crabs and emerald crabs We have tried to add new fish as a lawnmower goby lasted about 2 weeks, cardnals- one gone in the morning other two by end of the next day. So this firefish was the next try I am not sure what we are doing wrong all the levels are good and everything else looks wonderful… thanks for any help |
Posted By: Luckedout
Date Posted: January 17 2011 at 11:36am
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Ok. Sounds like you could have a couple of problems not related to the starfish. Like i said, they're opportunistic and they can smell something dying off pretty quick. 3 Things come to mind to check. The first thing would be your water parameters. It would be helpful if you post them and a full tank shot to see if we can spot something you might be missing. The second thing would be your acclimation process. If you are losing fish within the first couple of days then you might not be acclimating them properly. The last thing would be, where are you getting your fish? Local reefer? Fish store? If you get them from from a fish store it's important to know how long they have had the fish and if the fish is eating. Sometimes they get them in from the supplier who just got them from Hawaii and the poor thing is stressed to the max, then you buy him and he doesn't make it.... ------------- -Ben 90g Mixed reef www.body-balancechiropractic.com |
Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: January 17 2011 at 2:23pm
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Didn't read the posts above buy I've met people who swear green brittles catch and eat fish.
Adam ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |
Posted By: Nikolai
Date Posted: January 20 2011 at 1:22am
| I had a red and black brittle star mangle my yasha haze goby, I had to pull it out of its arms. The goby lived, but died a couple days later from injury. He was a perfectly good health before, but he chose the wrong hole to call his home. In my experience they are definitely opportunistic feeders. |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: January 20 2011 at 11:10am
Sea Stars are not fish, btw. Keep these Stars well fed and they don't cause any problems. The key is to start this feeding from the beginning or don't keep Large Brittle and Serpent Stars at all, because eventually they will eat something they shouldn't. Once they have discovered how to catch fish it's hard to stop them. The larger the tank, the less likely they will become a problem, because a larger tank grows more of it's own food.  Nisha, How large is this tank  Oh, and Welcome to the WMAS/utahreefs Message Board. Please ask us more questions. We can probably help you with almost all your Reefkeeping needs. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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