Star fish

[Peppz]

Hey everyone,

I just noticed this the other day and to me it looks like a star fish, the only thing is I have not had any star fish nor have I added anything to my tank in over 6 months

Where could it have come from and is it a star fish or something else?

I also had a red mushroom appear around the same time but I assumed it's the reincarnated version of the one that bleached a few months ago

Have any of you experienced anything like this before?

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Asterina stars. They come in with live rock or corals, very common. There are good and bad ones. They multiply by splitting. They can become a pest whether they are the good or bad ones, because they reproduce like rabbits. So even if you have the good ones, you can have too much of a good thing. The upside is once you start to get too many you can add a harlequin shrimp to help control the situation. But be prepared, to let a friend borrow it once your population is eliminated, otherwise it will starve to death. Unless it adapts to tank food or you add a CC star to munch on.
They in reality are not actually Asterina stars they have a different name @ISpeakForTheSeas can enlighten you with that.

 

[VintageReefer]

I just had to get a harlequin shrimp…my asterina species eats Zoanthids

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

I just had to get a harlequin shrimp…my asterina species eats Zoanthids

That sucks... I get nervous when I see them around a Zoa frag... But so far next day, same number of zoas less algae... But yes, I too got a harlequin, because it became ridiculous.

 

[VintageReefer]

That sucks... I get nervous when I see them around a Zoa frag... But so far next day, same number of zoas less algae... But yes, I too got a harlequin, because it became ridiculous.

I looked at just my overflow and counted almost 70, mostly smaller ones and thought this is getting out of hand, Zoanthid eating variety or not. So I got a bounty hunter.

 

[Peppz]

That sounds like it's going to get out of hand quite fast. Is there any other options? I'm in Sydney those shrimp are close to $1000, when they are available which is not often and out of budget hahaha

 

[Tonycass12]

That sounds like it's going to get out of hand quite fast. Is there any other options? I'm in Sydney those shrimp are close to $1000, when they are available which is not often and out of budget hahaha

What?! They are only like 30$ here in the states

 

[VintageReefer]

Mine was 50$ at LFS and I traded a green star polyp rock for one making it essentially the same value as weeds

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

They in reality are not actually Asterina stars they have a different name @ISpeakForTheSeas can enlighten you with that.

Yeah, they're actually called Aquilonastra starfish - they reproduce through fission, so they drop part of their body (sometimes half of it, sometimes just a piece like a leg or two) then both pieces (dropped and undropped) regrow into complete stars that can repeat the process.

That sounds like it's going to get out of hand quite fast. Is there any other options? I'm in Sydney those shrimp are close to $1000, when they are available which is not often and out of budget hahaha

Bongo/Tiger Shrimp (Phyllognathia ceratophthalma) reportedly eat them (and brittle stars), but given their rarity here in the States, I'd guess they won't be much cheaper for you.

 

[Peppz]

What?! They are only like 30$ here in the states

If only I was joking. No one has them here at local stores probably because they would be expensive for them to store and not many people wanting to spend the money to purchase them

 

[VintageReefer]

I’ll sell you mine 500$ shipped!

 

[VintageReefer]

If only I was joking. No one has them here at local stores probably because they would be expensive for them to store and not many people wanting to spend the money to purchase them

Here is a breeder who ships to Australia. I don’t know how to contact them outside of Reddit.

 

[Tonycass12]

I wonder what warrants the high cost in Australia. I mean they are even closer to you sourced from the wild then they are for us in North America.