Baby Starfish???

[deftonesfan]

So today i was moving some rocks around and found this thing zooming around the glass is it a starfish or something else? Also found some yelow star poloyps :) got some decent hitchhikers on my rock.

[Mugster]

Starfish yes, baby no. That's about the size they grow to. I have hundreds of them. They're mostly nocturnal and are beneficial to your tank.




:hi1:

[ajx22]

Do a search for Asterina spp stars.

HTH,

[Mugster]

Do a search for Asterina spp stars.

HTH,




Thanks AJ, I was just looking for their name. :thumbsup:





:hi1:

[deftonesfan]

Neet :) Ive seemed to have gotten rid of the aptesia, still get the odd little one, but under control thanks for your help:)

[reefgeek110]

If I remember correctly I had read that some of these guys can be zoo eaters, I think it was from garf.org but I not 100% sure about that. That being said I have many of these starts as well with quite a few zoos that seem to do just fine. I'm only posting to see if anyone else has heard of the occasional zoo eater stars like the one posted here?

[Tanks Alot]

hey I got some too, and though they were babies
the wealth of knoledge on the site is amazing...scary, but amazing
:hihi:

[frontosa_guy_dan]

I have a number of these also, I had no idea what the name of them was either so thanks for posting this :) you aren't the only one who got some answers lol :)

[shayneh]

I like watching them split apart.....they are my daughters favourite thing to look for in my system.

[Payner]

I have watched them eat the polyps of my acans, then the acan just recedes and dies. It's like the starfish gives the acan rtn. Ever since I have picked out every asterine starfish I see, I haven't lost any more corals! I have also seen them eating my acros. Some say they are beneficial but I find them to be harmful in my tank!

[ajx22]

I have watched them eat the polyps of my acans, then the acan just recedes and dies. It's like the starfish gives the acan rtn. Ever since I have picked out every asterine starfish I see, I haven't lost any more corals! I have also seen them eating my acros. Some say they are beneficial but I find them to be harmful in my tank!

You're waking up a 2-year old thread...

Regarding Asterina spp stars - there are different types. Some are predatory and not beneficial - most, however, are harmless algae eaters.

[J_T]

Well, since this thread has been resurected, I will slap a couple more pictures to it!

Macro shot
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e328/Jammor/Expansion%20tube/Microstar2.jpg

And one that has just recently split
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e328/Jammor/Expansion%20tube/Microstar.jpg

[Tanganyika]

I have them in my tank also, they don't seem to be doing any damage to corals, most of the night they are on class, unlike start fish,hey look funny

[chrismayu]

I had a major problem with these starfish things. they were eating the coraline on the rocks. ;(

I ended up tearing apart my tank and removing as may as I could find.