baby serpent stars

[treesprite]

So far at any given time, the number of little hitchhiker serpent stars I can see is at least 15! They started out very hard to see, but now they are too big to retract their arms into the holes in the LR, so I'm thinking maybe a way to get them out.

 

Any suggestions for how to lure out small serpent stars? I want to put a couple in the nano until or unless they get too big for it.

 

Do the ones with brown-banded legs get bigger than a few inches? They look like this but really small: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Di...cfm?pCatId=1742

Edited September 20, 2007 by treesprite

[HowardofNOVA]

Forrest,

 

WHY?

 

Great additions to your tank!

[treesprite]

Forrest,

 

WHY?

 

Great additions to your tank!

 

 

I just want to put a couple in the nano, which should be up and running this weekend. If they turn out to be full-sized stars, they won't all fit in a 45 gallon tank and then for real I'll have to get rid of some.

[HowardofNOVA]

Takes a long time for them to grow of that size!

I get excited when they get bigger than a 1/2 dollar!

[Leishman]

micro stars are called micro stars for a reason. I have thousands in my tank, I pulled out a dead coral last night that had to have had 20+ on it. You will never have to remove them for having too many, if you do do get one of there....

 

[zotzer]

Forrest,

I bet if you transfer a rock to the nano, at least one will go with it.

Tracy

[treesprite]

I don't think these are going to stay so little. They used to be really hard to see with thread-thin arms that seemed like a solid color, and now they are clearly banded and have arms that are 1" to 2" long (which makes the stars 2" to 4" in size). I should clarify that there were caulerpa hitchikers, not liverock hitchhikers. The woman in the shop where I got the caulerpa had asked me if I minded that there was baby starfish in it.

[Nitro Junkie]

from what i know they come out at night. Try a lights out period at night and catch a couple looking for food.

[treesprite]

from what i know they come out at night. Try a lights out period at night and catch a couple looking for food.

 

Kind of hard to catch anything in the dark.

 

The only thing I can think of is to take one of the rocks out of the tank and put it in the nano until the things move to a different rock. The problem is that they are only in the big rocks that have big holes, the only one convenient to remove is the clown cave roof, and I would have to take it to my job where the nano will be, then back home again.

[toastiireefs]

i just found a really cute banded brittle star in my tank its soo little

[treesprite]

i just found a really cute banded brittle star in my tank its soo little

 

 

If these do get bigger and yours doesn't get bigger, I'll give you one.

[YBeNormal]

Do you have room to add another piece of LR to your tank? If so, add a rock, wait for stars to populate it then move the rock to the sump.

[BeltwayBandit]

Turkey baster. Gently suck them up off of the rock with it, or blast them off and catch them in a dip net. Also, if you place a small piece of rock where it is easily accesible, leave it for a few days and then pick it up there will probably be several stars under/on the rock. Just move the rock, or pick up some of the stars from underneath it.

[jnguyen4007]

I just found a small star fish on the wall of my tank next to a snail that I have. it's body is much more solid than that treesprite found. I even went on liveaquaria site to see if I could find a picture of it that they sell but couldn't. Maybe someone can tell me what kind it is. It doesn't have long arms like that of Treesprite, but rather short and the whole frame structure is stubby, and the color of it is like that of a typical rock. This is the first time I've seen it. Don't know where it came from. Just thought it was cool having it in the tank.

 

James

[Rascal]

I just found a small star fish on the wall of my tank next to a snail that I have. it's body is much more solid than that treesprite found. I even went on liveaquaria site to see if I could find a picture of it that they sell but couldn't. Maybe someone can tell me what kind it is. It doesn't have long arms like that of Treesprite, but rather short and the whole frame structure is stubby, and the color of it is like that of a typical rock. This is the first time I've seen it. Don't know where it came from. Just thought it was cool having it in the tank.

 

James

 

asterina?

[davelin315]

Stick a small jar in there with a piece of raw shrimp or even just flake food and then set it on the bottom of the tank near rock. They should come running when they smell the food and then they won't be able to climb out of the jar and you can easily transfer them over.

[treesprite]

Several suggestions to think about. Thanks.

 

I too have the little white mini starfish that aren't serpent stars - those I know never get bigger, and they don't particularly interest me. I think a lot of people have them.

 

Aren't asterinas a type that bothers corals? How do we know if they are asterinas or just some other little white starfish?

[davelin315]

Asterinas will typically lack any sort of symmetry. They are usually brown in varying shades and have the appearnace of a rough skin. They have a whitish underbelly as well. If you have too many they may bother your corals but in most systems they don't pose any problems.

[magnetic1]

Was searching trying to figure out what I saw tonight after lights out...

 

At first I thought it was a bristleworm, it was super tiny, but when I was target feeding and moving stuff around, I ended up finding out it was a tiny bristle/serpent star

 

Now I know why the heck I got this stinging on my fingers when I placed the frag in my tank!!! Holy crap it stung! ANy idea how long the "sting" lasts? My finger feels like it has a splinter stuck in it for the past few days.

[treesprite]

I didn't know that they could sting.

 

What color was it? I have teensie weensie white mini=serpents and then have brown striped baby serpents that I believe are juveniles or regular sized serpent rather than minis - they are STILL growing and I have never seen one of the size these were when they hitchhiked into my tank.

 

They all come poking out of the holes when I put food in the tank , and I imagine are a nice part of the cleanup crew. What I hope is that they keep growing so that I'll have a few dozen trades to make, but they seem to grow slowly.

[Guest webshout]

I've got a bunch of these all oer my rock. I think it's pretty cool. I've allso seen one sticking it's arm out from behind a PH. I don't think they sting though. I've handled the rock lots of time barehanded (I've since switched to gloves ), and never had a problem.

 

I think you got hit by a bristle worm. Those can hurt like H-E-double hocky sticks, from what I've heard.

 

William

 

Just noticed that there is an auto edit that changed he** to the hockey sticks. Cute. I won't test the limits of it's editing ability though. ;-)

Edited February 18, 2008 by webshout

[magnetic1]

I didn't know that they could sting.

 

What color was it? I have teensie weensie white mini=serpents and then have brown striped baby serpents that I believe are juveniles or regular sized serpent rather than minis - they are STILL growing and I have never seen one of the size these were when they hitchhiked into my tank.

 

They all come poking out of the holes when I put food in the tank , and I imagine are a nice part of the cleanup crew. What I hope is that they keep growing so that I'll have a few dozen trades to make, but they seem to grow slowly.

 

Hrm, maybe it was a bristle that got me from somewhere else. The one I was looking at last night though was def. a starfish. Just super small.