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Catching Mini brittle sea stars


Jhead85

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Any idea how to catch these little guys..started out with a few and now 8 months later there getting outta hand somewhat and I wanna give some away but haven't figured a way to catch or trap em..I'm kinda maxed out on putting anything else in the tank to eat them.. Thoughts?

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If they're like the ones I had they probably live mostly in your live rock. So one thing you could try is to get a bucket or similar container and put the pieces you can take out of your tank into it one at a time and blast the rock with a powerhead or turkey baster. That should rinse at least some of them out into the water of the bucket, at which point you can just strain them out. This won't get all of them, by any means, but it should get some. As far as that goes, if you're close I'd be happy to take some off your hands once you get them separated. Good luck!

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Please excuse me in advance, I am exhausted, but I have a lot of experience with these guys so I want to help.

 

You could try something like a small hole fishnet pantyhose with food. But you are also going to get bristle worms if you have them. Brittle stars like crevices, anything they can stuff their tiny bodies into (I have them in my thermometer, powerheads, pumps, overflows, clam shells). They will come out at night so if you turn off ALL the lights they should come out and you can start picking them out. If they are in say, a powerhead, when brought out of the water the brittles will start leaving the powerhead in search of water as well, which is a good time to grab them (this does not always work 100%, if you take out a rock they might not leave). Let me know if you need any more help.

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I've also noticed that I can grab some out of my tank if I have a few pieces of flat rock on top of each other for a week or so. They move in between the two rocks and all you have to do is pick up one and grab them off the other. Find some cheap slate or something.

Edited by Bruleyii
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