brittle star question

Sundiego · #1 09/03/2007, 10:57 PM

Yesterday I got a brittle star. He is pretty big, and is a brown color. He never leaves his spot under the lr. Will he ever come out? I would like to feed him, but I cant even get my turkey baster near him.

Is this normal.

Thx Mark

liriel · #2 09/03/2007, 11:19 PM

Mine has never moved from the spot he found when I put him in there months ago. It's perfectly normal. I believe they are scavengars like other stars, and just eat whatever floats their way. probably wouldn't hurt to squirt food in his general direction with the baster!

kh6sat · #3 09/03/2007, 11:23 PM

I have a couple and have never seen them out since I put em in the tank. Every once in a while I'll see a tip of their arm sticking out from under a live rock.

jer77 · #4 09/03/2007, 11:26 PM

They are nocturnal so check them at night to see where they are. They usually come out then to eat any uneaten food or detritus.

rcerulli · #5 09/03/2007, 11:56 PM

sometimes i throw a quarter cube of some frozen stuff at him and he munches it. But yea they are completely nocturnal. Usually about 30-60mins after the lights go off i will see mine dart around the tank

Sundiego · #6 09/04/2007, 12:14 AM

Thanks for the info guys!

commabc · #7 09/04/2007, 12:14 AM

he is nocturnal, what eat ALL of your fish! i couldn't believe it, i had two of them, i got them with my clean up crew i ordered online. later down the road all of my fish started disappearing one at a time. i had no clue what was going on, i had my watered tested numerous times etc... finally someone asked me if i had a brittle in my tank? needless to say, i finally got those bastards out as quickly as possible, it was NOT easy though, i pretty much ruined all of my rock work. i put them in my refugium. i should have put them outside and poured some gasoline on them and watched them burn, but i'm a nice guy. i highly recommend getting rid of it asap, before it starts getting rid of things your not gonna want to. those guys ate both clown, blue hippo, 6 line wrasse etc... almost everything that was small enough. it was alway done at night in the dark too.

rcerulli · #8 09/04/2007, 12:18 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by commabc
he is nocturnal, what eat ALL of your fish! i couldn't believe it, i had two of them, i got them with my clean up crew i ordered online. later down the road all of my fish started disappearing one at a time. i had no clue what was going on, i had my watered tested numerous times etc... finally someone asked me if i had a brittle in my tank? needless to say, i finally got those bastards out as quickly as possible, it was NOT easy though, i pretty much ruined all of my rock work. i put them in my refugium. i should have put them outside and poured some gasoline on them and watched them burn, but i'm a nice guy. i highly recommend getting rid of it asap, before it starts getting rid of things your not gonna want to. those guys ate both clown, blue hippo, 6 line wrasse etc... almost everything that was small enough. it was alway done at night in the dark too.

The consensus is that any fish consumed by a green brittle (AKA green death) was sickly to begin with as most small fish are very agile. Mine has yet to eat a fish but who knows what the future will hold.

doadster · #9 09/04/2007, 01:02 AM

They are very light shy. I usually see mine in the morning when the lights are off waiting to be fed a shrimp. The minute the lights turn on it darts for the rocks....I have had a few fish missing thoulgh, I just know I would miss not having him in the tank, there awesome to watch

jon99 · #10 09/04/2007, 01:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by commabc
he is nocturnal, what eat ALL of your fish! i couldn't believe it, i had two of them, i got them with my clean up crew i ordered online. later down the road all of my fish started disappearing one at a time. i had no clue what was going on, i had my watered tested numerous times etc... finally someone asked me if i had a brittle in my tank? needless to say, i finally got those bastards out as quickly as possible, it was NOT easy though, i pretty much ruined all of my rock work. i put them in my refugium. i should have put them outside and poured some gasoline on them and watched them burn, but i'm a nice guy. i highly recommend getting rid of it asap, before it starts getting rid of things your not gonna want to. those guys ate both clown, blue hippo, 6 line wrasse etc... almost everything that was small enough. it was alway done at night in the dark too.

The green brittle stars are the ones known to at times eat fish. They usually go after slower moving bottom dwelling fish like maybe a goby or a mandarine. I had mine for 5 years and it the only thing it ever ate was a pepermint shrimp and a blood shrimp. Both always stayed at the bottom and hid under rocks and in cracks where the star could get them. Never bothered my skunk cleaner shrimp. My tan/brown brittle was much less active. It dug under a rock and would stay there for months with only the tips of its arms sticking out waiting for food. It's perrfectly normal. These should not bother anything in your tank to my understanding. Good luck

doadster · #11 09/04/2007, 01:29 AM

Thats funny the only thing my brittle ate was a pepermint shrimp and a sleeper golby.............:-)