High Tide Aquatics

brittle stars on my acro

A_Lee

A_Lee

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I acquired a new Acropora colony from a fellow reefer, and upon introduction to my tank I noticed there were a bunch of mini brittle stars at the base of the colony. I went ahead and picked the big ones off, which was actually most of them. Is it okay if the smaller ones stay on it? Or they irritate the colony to death? I'd imagine that in the wild this would occur, but am seeking a second opinion.
Thanks
 
I would get rid of them. They are probably harmless (most just eat diatons) but they can be like flatworms in that they multiply very quickly and become both unsightly and possibly troublesome.

Just my 2 cents.
 
unsightly? I think they look super cool! Every time I feed the tank I see the black and white stripped arms come out of every crack and hole looking for food :D
 
Well, I have them on my rocks, and I don't have a problem with those. I do have a Acropora colony on a big disk, on a bare bottom tank, so I am not sure the brittle stars will jump off the Acropora colony -where as if I had sand, they would feel more at ease and protected from any possible predation. I took a couple of the larger ones off, but there are a couple (2-3) small ones on it.
BTW ... do staghorn corals typically extend their polyps?
 
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