Do Brittle Stars eat fish?

[Be11yDancer]

I keep getting the answer no.

BUT on page 77 of REEF SECRETS by /nilsen & Fossa. There is a picture of one eating a goby.

A molting shrimp of mine completely disappeared, just the molt left and now a my Yellow Tail blue Damsel is gone. He was the size of a quarter.

I'm afraid my Mandarin will be next!!!

I paid $30 for what was labeled a Hot Rod star. He's yellow with black spines.

He's the only suspect besides the filter and I snooped around in there and found nothing. All of my fish are too tiny to eat each other. Unless a cardinal Banngai could?

 

[rayman]

i personaly dont think they have the ability to 'catch' a healthy fish, now sick and or dieing maybe. but i still answered no on these grounds

 

[GSchiemer]

Larger green brittle stars (Ophiarachna incrassata) can and will eat healthy fish, while most other species are harmless, so let's not condemn all sea stars.

Greg

 

[Anonymous]

A brittlestar is not going to be able to catch a healthy fish in general.

Most likely, the fish was on the decline.

I have 2 HUGE brittles in my tank...about a foot across at least arm to arm. Never seen them do anything to harm a fish, and will retract from motions of fish.

 

[Be11yDancer]

Larger green brittle stars (Ophiarachna incrassata) can and will eat healthy fish, while most other species are harmless, so let's not condemn all sea stars.

Greg

Yes to be specific, it's a green one eating the gobie in Reef Secrets.

Could this yellow star really be a green star, just a shade differences?

He is not large, but he has grown some in the few weeks I've had him, which makes him even more suspect!

 

[rayman]

bellydancer could you give a complete list of what is/was in your tank

 

[Be11yDancer]

i personaly dont think they have the ability to 'catch' a healthy fish, now sick and or dieing maybe. but i still answered no on these grounds

So could an incapacitated shrimp waiting for his shell to harden after a molt be a meal for a green brittle star?

 

[Be11yDancer]

bellydancer could you give a complete list of what is/was in your tank

3 cleaner shrimp, Yellow tailed blue damsell (well, he's gone now), royal gramma, clown, cardinal banggai, Mandarin fish, 3 small lettuce slugs, 2 feather dusters (one is BIG), yellow brittle star, banded serpent star, 5 tiny hermit crabs, snails, green star polyp.

 

[Anonymous]

i personaly dont think they have the ability to 'catch' a healthy fish, now sick and or dieing maybe. but i still answered no on these grounds

So could an incapacitated shrimp waiting for his shell to harden after a molt be a meal for a green brittle star?

Absolutely I would think. And there are species, from what I remeber, of brittles that could trap a fish, but I dont think you can normally get them in the trade.

 

[sslarison]

I dont think they can catch most types of fish. Maybe a slow moving type or a sick one.

 

[Anonymous]

A Green Brittle can catch a large healthy fish.

 

[rayman]

i personaly dont think they have the ability to 'catch' a healthy fish, now sick and or dieing maybe. but i still answered no on these grounds

So could an incapacitated shrimp waiting for his shell to harden after a molt be a meal for a green brittle star?

hurm about the same % as a coral banded shrimp eating a cleaner shrimp during molting

maybe .. i lost a cleaner shrimp but found its molt and the only suspect is a coral banded shrimp

 

[starr]

I have a med size so called fancy brittle star that looks just like the pic of the yellow one other then mine is red. I have lost a damsel to him. I know it was him b/c I have watched with my own eye's at night when I get home from work when all the lite are out as he stalks my green clown goby. I think tonight I am going to catch the goby and put him in my other tank. I try to keep the brittle star fill but he still likes to chase the small fish around the tank.

starr

 

[GSchiemer]

Larger green brittle stars (Ophiarachna incrassata) can and will eat healthy fish, while most other species are harmless, so let's not condemn all sea stars.

Greg

Yes to be specific, it's a green one eating the gobie in Reef Secrets.

Could this yellow star really be a green star, just a shade differences?

He is not large, but he has grown some in the few weeks I've had him, which makes him even more suspect!

Yes, your specimen is most likely Ophiarachna incrassata. The coloration varies depending upon the location and depth that they are collected.

Greg

 

[Anonymous]

If he can catch one he'd eat a fish.
My green bristle star ate my shrimp. No idea how he caught them, but he managed it. After that I got in the habit of dropping a chunk of some kind of fish in for him to eat about once a week. I had no more mysterious disappearences after that.

 

[Anonymous]

No idea how he caught them, but he managed it.

They set up a cage using their legs. In the dark a fish (or invert) looks to the cage as a protective place to sleep. Once inside the Star closes the legs and has the animal to consume at leisure.

 

[Be11yDancer]

They set up a cage using their legs. In the dark a fish (or invert) looks to the cage as a protective place to sleep. Once inside the Star closes the legs and has the animal to consume at leisure.

That's sounds like my brittle star, he's always got all his legs up, unlike the serpent star that is usually feeling around the floor. And my damsel who never had a place he called home was always experimenting with hiding places.

Great info, thanks Jasen. Now I gotta get rid of him . . . .

 

[Anonymous]

Larger green brittle stars (Ophiarachna incrassata) can and will eat healthy fish, while most other species are harmless, so let's not condemn all sea stars.

Greg

Yes to be specific, it's a green one eating the gobie in Reef Secrets.

Could this yellow star really be a green star, just a shade differences?

He is not large, but he has grown some in the few weeks I've had him, which makes him even more suspect!

Yes, your specimen is most likely Ophiarachna incrassata. The coloration varies depending upon the location and depth that they are collected.

Greg

Red, yellow, and green morphs are the most common.

 

[Anonymous]

BTW, Dizzy (RDO member) has pictures in the Fossa/Nilsen "The Model Reef Aquarium" of his serpeant star babies of the O. incressata. They're in all colors, green/yellow/red, and were from the same tank/depth/parent.

 

[GSchiemer]

In the case of "Dizzy," the variation in color was related to size. As they grew, they turned green.