Cleaner shrimp

Its not a brittle star I don't think at least I believe this is it Saltwater Aquarium Invertebrates for Marine Reef Aquariums: Serpent Sea Star, Fancy Tiger Striped

and I do have a sealed lid with a 2 inch sandy bottom I found him sleeping in it last night haha, I was told it might eat feather dusters but I don't have any so thats not an issue I wasn't planning on getting any either. Today he helped the hermies tear apart krill he thoroughly enjoyed himself. Im glad to hear it eats the pyramidellid snails though and fireworms though I have never had any. I still sadly have not seen the cleaner shrimp.

 

Don't worry, he will be fine in a few days. I have had mine for about 6 months and now I hand feed him. It is so cool, he actually comes to the top of the tank and takes his food right out of my hand.

 

My fire shrimp does that he is a little piggy!! I sure hope he comes out eventually and gets cleaning!!!

 

Did you look at the max. size for that starfish? 1 foot 2 inches. Yikes.

 

I noticed.. I of course asked when I got it, he said it wouldn't get much bigger, here is another link Serpent Starfish(banded) this is exactly what mine looks like. I keep finding 6 inches and then 14 and both species look very similar.

 

LOL... Just did a quick search on a few vendors websites, and there does seem to be a bit of confusion; both the banded brittle star and the banded serpent star go by the same scientific name Ophioderma appressium, although there are visible differences. However, the serpent star, which has no markings on the central disc, is the one that grows to the larger size and may prey on small fish and other inverts. Not quite sure though just how accurate that may be at this point...

 

Mine definitely looks more like the banded serpent which it what I was told it was... there are markings on the disk it looks identical to the one in the link I posted above, anyone else know?? lol I kept searching like you did and I kept getting 5-6 oh and 12-14.. I need to know if I should re home him!!! he doesn't seem to be causing trouble, just lurking in the rock work catching food when he can.

 

You are correct- I got it backwards. It's the brittle star that lacks markings and is listed as growing to the larger size.

 

whew! mine has markings.. I hope he doesn't get big. I have found several sites that say they stay between 5-6 which is what I was told. The guy seemed pretty knowledgable I tend to trust people that tell me NOT to buy something. I swear most stores will tell you whatever to get you to buy stuff, sad they don't care about the livestock, the store I bought it from seems too.

 

So the cleaner is still no where to be seen not even at feeding I have tried looking in the rock work for him, but its like he never existed.. im getting worried now!