Can Serpent Sea Stars kill Shrimps?

[sen5241b]

I put a skunk cleaner in my tank a year and a half ago. I put  Serpent Sea Star, Fancy (Tiger Striped) a few months ago and shortly thereafter the shrimp vanished. Could the Serpent Sea Star have killed it? All the shrimps I've had never last more than 2 years.

[Bruleyii]

From what I remember reading they can even kill small sleeping fish. I may be mixing them up with another though.

[madweazl]

I've never seen one attack something living. I suppose this is a possibility during the molting process though.

[davelin315]

It's really only the green serpent stars that are predatory like that.  The others are pretty docile.  If it ate the shrimp, it was most likely dead or dying already (or could have molted and been laying there for the picking).  The green serpent stars will trap fish and eat them along with just about anything else - I have seen this happen so can vouch for how voracious they are!

[sen5241b]

Good info. Thanks. My Sea serpent is "not guilty".

[treesprite]

My purple was getting predatory when it got bigger, indicated by the fact that It was arching itself up and just staying that way, waiting for prey. It was getting big, so I think it really just needed bigger chunks of food.

[sen5241b]

My purple was getting predatory when it got bigger, indicated by the fact that It was arching itself up and just staying that way, waiting for prey. It was getting big, so I think it really just needed bigger chunks of food.

 

Mine is a voracious eater. I hand fed him a big pellet the other day. I would guess even a small fish can wiggle from it's grasp.

[SandJ]

My brittle star is about 20" across. It lives under a rock, only seen it out once to spawn. I have seen peppermint shrimp and a diamond goby under the same rock, but the brittle star has never bothered them. I do target feed it a couple times a week with a 1/2" square of LRS.

[treesprite]

Mine is a voracious eater. I hand fed him a big pellet the other day. I would guess even a small fish can wiggle from it's grasp.

What they do is arch themselves up underneath an overhang of inside a cave, so they can just drop on the fish directly at the oral disc all at once... fish never has a chance to wiggle away.

[madweazl]

Fed my tank today and mine grabbed a small snail to munch on but quickly tossed it to the side in pursuit of PE Mysis.