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Asterinas

Bec it was Passover I switched my tank from pellets to mysis for a little over a week and the asterina population really exploded. Now I’m considering getting a harlequin …
Has anyone ever noticed that switching from pellets to frozen boosts starfish population, or was it a fluke?
 

MadReefer

Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
Not sure, maybe just timing. I also am starting to see them a few in my tank. This was in my sock holder today. It is about the size of a nickel and dark colored.
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Subliminal

NJRC Member
I like em. I hear there are different colors which do different (good and bad) things...but mine are all white and all right. Wait...
 

ericrodriguez

NJRC Member
I like em. I hear there are different colors which do different (good and bad) things...but mine are all white and all right. Wait...
Good and bad, this guys start to go after my lps too!! At first they only got to the Zoanthids eating mini colonies completely but after seeing them go after lps now I got the shrimp
 

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ericrodriguez

NJRC Member
I like em. I hear there are different colors which do different (good and bad) things...but mine are all white and all right. Wait...
Good and bad, this guys start to go after my lps too!! At first they only got to the Zoanthids eating mini colonies completely but after seeing them go after lps now I got the shrimp
 
I like mine. I'd just pick them off my glass every morning, every once in a while. Doesn't take long to make a dent in them and if they are "harvested" once in a while they got plenty to eat and pay no mind to your corals. I love them for a nano, because they keep the rocks very clean.
 

momof6kids

NJRC Member
I got a Harlequin a few weeks ago because the asterina problem got so bad. That shrimp wasn't in the tank for 5 minutes and those things were crawling up the wall to get away. Picked off tons of them every day for 2 weeks. Now it is much more reasonable. Never see the shrimp though.
 

Hallowhead

NJRC Member
There are good and bad, some eat corals and others don't. Harlequin is great and will wipe thru them, just need to supplement when no more
 

Mark_C

Staff member
Officer Emeritus
NJRC Member
Moderator
I don't mind astrinas. I look at them as part of the CuC and like looking at the unusual shapes.
Also, harlequins are voracious eaters, they will go through a score of astrinas a day. You have to be ready to feed it chocolate chip stars (or such) to sustain it (some keep multiple choc chip stars and razor off a leg every day or two as a feeder).

And agree with Erna, the one time I put a harlequin in a tank there were literally hundreds of astrinas climbing the glass in the middle of the day.
Never figured why.

As a D&D player I think of it this way...
Even though the title of the game is Dungeons & Dragons, dragons are insanely rare in the game.
Why? Because if you run into a dragon you might as well rip up your character sheet as you're all going to die. But not because of fire, poison gas, acid, claws, spells (yes, dragons in D&D are highly intelligent), or big nasty teeth.
Dragons have a magical/chemical aura around them, and as they approach a mortal creature it is hit with a wave of overwhelming, debilitating terror, hopelessness, and impending doom, it's only thought to escape.
The romantic in me likes to think that harlequins possess this same trait.
 
The way I understand it the darker they are the more likely they may munch on corals.

Not scientific but I heard it from multiple people.
 

mwil79

NJRC Member
From doing a whole lot of reading about aaterinas, this is what I've come up with. While 99 percent are not "eating" your coral they are however eating the algae collected on them. Starfish eat by expelling their stomach onto the food to dissolve it, unfortunately what the algae sits on may also be partially digested which is why they end up being considered a pest. I have a harlequin in my frag tank that I want to say I drop a full sand sifter in there about once a month.

If anyone wants him to clean up their tank let me know I would be willing to sell or trade him.
 
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