pesky little starfish's!

wow I have a population explosion of those pesky little star fish....you know the kind. they are purple center and white along the outside of them.

If i had to guess as to the number of them in my tank it would be in the thousands. what can i add to my tank to control these buggers?? I know Harlequin shrimp feed only on star fish but will they target these little guys??

once and awhile i will find a "fancy" little star fish. with very bold purple and pink colors all over it... I am curious to where they came from??

I have not added any LR or anything other than a fish in the last year....seems the explosion has occurred in the last month..

 

There beneficial. You should leave them alone. But if you cant a harlequin shrimp will do. Oh there just hitchhikers, I find stuff in my tank all the time. go figure.

 

I would have to say don't get a shrimp. Most of the time they dont eat asterinas star fish. Odds are your starfish are just feeding off of coralline algae or tiny microbial stuff on the rocks. Once their food source has been reduced, so will their population.

 

sounds good...i will leave it alone.

 

I have had 3 harlequin shrimp and they ate every little starfish they could find. I would let the asterina population grow to where they were everywhere then I would pick up a harlequin shrimp and let him go to town on them. A few weeks later when I didnt see many starfish I would sell the shrimp to a local reefer that wanted one. Wait for a year or so and the population would be that where I needed another harlequin shrimp. I have done this 3 times and it workes perfectly so far. I dont keep the harlequins because I dont want to have to buy a starfish for it to eat.

 

good call... i see them now and then at the LFS. if it gets to become more of a nussience ill consider that route