Brittle star in my lil' tank?

[Moe_K]

Hi,
I'm thinking of getting a brittle star.
I have a 20 gal tank with a yellow coris wrasse and a tuxedo urchin.
There's also a leather coral in there and some zoanthids.

Would a brittle be compatible?
Anything I shuld know before I buy?

Thanks.

 

[aweeks95]

i'm not sure on it compatability...although i see no problems...but, i would worry about space for it to rome. they do get quite large plus they might knock over some of your corals. my tank is 15g and i have smaller frags in it so i'm sure you're in the same boat....maybe....i would think that the star would wander around the tank and end up plowing over your corals on a regular basis....just MPO.

ANDY

 

[petesreef]

Moe,

if you decide to get one, I have one that you can take off my hands.

Pete

 

[NanoReefer]

I have heard brittles can catch fish when hungry, serpent stars are less likely to do so. Food for thought at feeding time.

 

[Moe_K]

I've always used brittle star / serpent star interchangeably.
What's the difference?

 

[denvig]

You can see all the diffrent types here.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=528
The Brittle Stars are listed as Semi-aggressive and the Serpent Stars as Peaceful.
I have always heard that the green Brittle type may eat fish.

 

[dedfish]

Moe, let us know what you decide for your 20. I'd be interested in your decision.

 

[JohnK]

I second the "brittle stars" eat fish concern. Think of brittles as the green prickly ones or other ones with spines all over them. "serpant stars" would be the smooth ones. I usually see green brittle stars, (black) brittle stars, or black and tan banded serpant, tan serpant, orange serpant as trade names in the shops.

If I was you I would go out of my way to find an orange serpant star. They look really cool and I would assume that they behave the same as other "serpant stars". Someone, I think it was Leo, said they ship poorly so use caution. Otherwise the more common serpant stars are drab looking but great reef inhabitants.

Any of the above (including the brittles) are really interesting to keep, they will smell food and come running (as a starfish runs) in a matter of seconds. When I had green brittles they appeared to mate a couple of times. Nothing came of it but they were clearly, um, hugging pretty seriously.

 

[petesreef]

this is the one htat I have and if it can get its hands on small fish, it will eat them.

 

[NanoReefer]

I have a red serpent star and it has never tried to catch a fish nor has it really acted aggressively towards my fish, it seems to enjoy scavenging. I was told that the brittles may eat fish if hungry, I think if you feed them enough and regularly they "may" be ok. I always spot fed my star a good chunk first because he will steal it(this was my only problem with the serpent and spot feeding it first has fixed the problem) from my corals/anemones when I spot feed them. I was keeping it in a 20L and now everything is transfered to a 29gal.

 

[smcnally]

I have one of these.

It hasn't bothered a thing in the tank and cool to watch when it comes out.

 

[redpaulhus]

How about putting in a bunch of the mini-stars ? I know the ones in my liverock and 'fuge seem to max out at about 1 inch across (I think these are the same ones Greg sells - some white, some striped).

Every time I feed my tank, a million little striped arms reach out from the liverock - very cool to see.

 

[dad300]

I have the minis too.. but I also have some that look like the minis but get to be about 4-6 inches across.