WallyBackm May 22, 2008 Share May 22, 2008 I bought a brittle star about 18 months ago. During the day I can only see his legs coming out from underneath a rock. Last night, about an hour after lights out I turned the lights on quick, to find him out and about. He is now probably a foot long with the center a few inches in diameter. So ugly it honestly scared me. Do these things stop growing? Also, I now have about 30 mini ones scattered about the tank. What's up with this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaryL May 22, 2008 Share May 22, 2008 thats a pretty nice size for one. they arent the prettiest thing but they help with the cleanup a little. i think its about full grown. i'm sire i will be corrected if i'm wrong are the little ones kinda gray and white? i used to have a boat load but they only got about the size if a dime and they just stayed in the rocks. they are normal hitchikers and harmless IMO. FWIW... i turned on my lights real fast one night and its disk was kinda undulating...reminded me of invasion of the body snatchers for some reason...creepy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeltwayBandit May 22, 2008 Share May 22, 2008 FWIW... i turned on my lights real fast one night and its disk was kinda undulating...reminded me of invasion of the body snatchers for some reason...creepy. Thats the good stuff! We have so many critters that we are unaware of in our tanks. I love seeing the creepy crawlies when the lights are out. BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WallyBackm May 22, 2008 Author Share May 22, 2008 yes, the disc was moving up and down and seemed to be segmented. It was revolting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integral9 May 22, 2008 Share May 22, 2008 yes, the disc was moving up and down and seemed to be segmented. It was revolting. That's just it eating or pooping. It uses the same hole for both. I watched mine eat a bit of silver side once and that's exactly what it did. Totally like something out of aliens. Mine never caused any problems, but grew accustomed to my feeding shedule and stopped cleaning up around the tank eventually. Instead he would just extend his arm out and filter feed the food I put in the tank for the fish. He ate a free floating mushroom once (it had dropped off the 'seed' rock). After that I pulled him out and took him back to the fish store. He was probably 15" from tip to tip then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WallyBackm May 22, 2008 Author Share May 22, 2008 Normally he just grabs bits of whatever I put in there with his gargantuan legs. I dont mind that so much because I don't see his disgusting head. But if I ever have to witness his terrible visage again I may just break down my tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leishman May 22, 2008 Share May 22, 2008 I found my ~18" BS pulling a WWF move on my yellow tang in my old office tank. I got inbetween but was too late, the YT tang died later that day and the BT went to 'the reef tank' in their live sand tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite May 22, 2008 Share May 22, 2008 What kind of brittle star is it? I used to have one of the greens and had to target feed it every other day so it wouldn't eat my fish. It would hunch itself to match archway "roofs" in order to be able to drop on top of unwary creatures. I ended up getting rid of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WallyBackm May 22, 2008 Author Share May 22, 2008 Leishman, this scares me. I have a hippo who, like most hippos, camps out at night between the rocks. He is a large hippo but that monstrous abomination could likely take him down. I think it's time for him to go. In that regard, anyone want a disgustingly atrocious starfish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Ric May 23, 2008 Share May 23, 2008 Leishman, this scares me. I have a hippo who, like most hippos, camps out at night between the rocks. He is a large hippo but that monstrous abomination could likely take him down. I think it's time for him to go. In that regard, anyone want a disgustingly atrocious starfish? I've heard that Green Brittle Stars were notorious for getting big attacking fish. I have a Red Brittle Star that's about a foot in diameter and have had no problems...so far. 'ric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite May 23, 2008 Share May 23, 2008 Some places sell the greens as part of cleanup crew packages, so me doing an impulse buy assumed it would be safe... I got home and researched it, then went out to buy a pair of long tongs to keep it well-fed. They get too big to be banished to the fuge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancer99 May 23, 2008 Share May 23, 2008 Green hairies = bad. Anything else (no matter what size) = good. Isn't that right? -R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite May 23, 2008 Share May 23, 2008 Green hairies = bad. Anything else (no matter what size) = good. Isn't that right? -R I believe that's what I've read in reading around the net. I don't want anymore brittles or serpents (besides my minis). My desires are purple linkia star to eat sponge and nardoa star to eat asterinas. There was a nardao at Aquarium One the day of the social but I wasn't up to getting it at the time, wasn't going straight home. I wonder if a nardoa would eat so many that I would run out of food for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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